Pascal Siakam needed 25 shots in this game to score his 21 points. That’s not good efficiency, in fact, that’s bad efficiency, but I’ll let it slide since he did some good things late. Also, if Siakam is going to be the second option on offense, you expect these kinds of games from him every once in a while. He can’t drop 44 every game.
Siakam’s enthusiasm for taking shots got me thinking: what would happen if I, DownToBuck, were to go to one of his semi-regular pickup games and make it a point to attempt at least 25, if not more, shots? I’ve narrowed it down to two major outcomes:
Outcome 1 (the bad outcome): My teammates would hate me for never looking to pass, and they would hate me even more for my inability to finish any layup that is contested by at least one person who stands over five feet tall. Our team would probably lose and I would probably score around 16 points. Pickup games don’t generally last long enough for one guy to shoot the ball twenty-five times, but this is a theoretical scenario where we’re playing to fifty.
Outcome 2 (the good outcome): Teammates and opponents alike would watch in awe after I drain jumpshot after jumpshot like I’m prime Alex English. After dropping a sixty-burger and leading my team to victory, my team hoists me on their shoulders and parades me around the park like I’m royalty. Which I am. Anybody who shoots jumpshots as accurately and consistently as me deserves to at least have the title of “duke”.
Duke DownToBuck. Snazzy. I like that one.