'We're definitely better than last year': Pascal Siakam

Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam discusses roster cuts approaching, how many minutes he's prepared to play in the final preseason game and the roster heading into the 2022-23 season.

影片文字轉錄稿

- Have you've spoken to Justin about his situation? And what advice have you shared with him as final roster cuts approach?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Oh, I mean, the same thing. There's a lot of people in fighting for the spot. He's gotta keep fighting every single day. Come in, show your work, and I mean, at the end of day, that's all he can really do, right? Just show your work, be dedicated to it, and they're gonna make whatever decision is there.

Then, I mean, you can't control that. You can control what you can control. Just do what you do. Go work hard, and-- yeah, that's it.

- Do you like having these long stretches in between games? Or can it get a little bit too monotonous with all the practice?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Oh, I mean, it's fine. I mean, I do that every day anyway. I already be in the gym every day. [INAUDIBLE] all games, so it's normal.

- Do you think you guys need the time? I know Nick was saying a few days ago that there are a couple of guys that are kind of getting back into shape, and--

PASCAL SIAKAM: Oh, I mean, yeah, I think it's good 'cause, again, we can always get better, right? So whatever momentum we can get as a team and just getting even more, kind of like to understand each other and just play off of each other. The more time you get, the better, to just figure out how you want to play and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses and trying to correct our weaknesses and just do whatever we do best at the highest levels.

- Pascal, do you need, like, a long run on Friday, like 33 [INAUDIBLE] minutes' time ready for a long week?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Right. Yeah, I mean, I think-- I've been trying to increase minutes as I go. To be honest, I want to play whatever-- I mean, I can-- if it depends on me, I would play right now. So I don't really care about it that much because I feel like obviously the game is different.

It's really different. But I just feel like, yeah, I'll be capable to play my normal minutes. But I think we have a lot of guys that are trying to make the team. There's a lot of things going on.

So I'm not really worried about it. Whatever the team really want me to do, I'mma do that. But we communicate about-- I try to increase every game a little bit.

- Are you feeling [INAUDIBLE] good?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel good.

- [INAUDIBLE] 40 in the next game.

PASCAL SIAKAM: 40? [CHUCKLES] No, we're gonna try to cut down on the 40s again. That's what they said, so we should--

- Pascal, the floor has stayed relatively the same. But what's been the biggest difference that you've noticed going into this year, or the preseason, with the team?

PASCAL SIAKAM: I mean, I think everyone is getting better. I think everyone's getting better. It's like everyone is working on their games. And we try to improve as a team. Again, we're trying to play a little better as a team moving the ball, [INAUDIBLE]. and different things that we can do to, like, be hard to guard, I think, as a team. I think especially with our lineup, just being people switch a lot. So having ways to keep being effective and run our offense.

I mean, I think, yeah, we got a good team. We added a couple of pieces. We just want our [INAUDIBLE] to get better. I think that, as the season, goes, we're gonna get better. But we're definitely better than last year.