Former NBA player and Toronto Raptors assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse was so happy to see Pascal Siakam dominate Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

Stackhouse coached the Raptors' D-League and later G League affiliate for two seasons and built a strong relationship with Siakam. Pascal was the best player on the court in Game 1 of the Finals, as the talented swingman erupted for 32 points while shooting a staggering 82.4 percent from the field.

Stackhouse, now the head coach at Vanderbilt University, is one proud guy.

“I felt like a proud papa watching that,” Stackhouse told Frank Isola The Athletic. “It was great. That’s what the development league is supposed to do. Those were three guys (Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell) with a lot of pride who all worked hard. They earned it.”

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Siakam is a finalist for the 2019 Most Improved Player of the Year award. This is a guy who raised his scoring average by 9.6 points from 2017-18 to this season. The Raptors have found a gem in Siakam and are looking forward to seeing him develop as the years go by.

It's a good thing the Raptors didn't include Siakam in the DeMar DeRozan-Kawhi Leonard trade last summer. The Spurs reportedly wanted Siakam, but Masai Ujiri was adamant about keeping the youngster since he'll need a player to build around if Leonard leaves the team this summer in free agency. In the NBA, you always have to plan for the worst.