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The Toronto Raptors announced Saturday they have signed center Jakob Poeltl (YAH-cub PUHR-tuhl) and forward Pascal Siakam (Pass-CAL See-AH-kum) to rookie scale contracts. Both players are under contract through the 2017-18 season, with two team option years to follow. The Raptors selected Poeltl with the ninth pick and Siakam with the 27th selection in the 2016 NBA Draft.
All players selected in the first round of the draft are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to start their NBA career right away. So, these signings are standard and were expected.
Poeltl, 7-foot, 248 pounds, played two seasons at Utah and one season (2013-14) for the Arkadia Traiskirchen Lions in his native Austria. He was the 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year, an Associated Press second-team All-America and the recipient of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s top centre. Poeltl averaged 17.2 points (second in the Pac-12), 9.1 rebounds (fourth in the conference) and 1.6 blocks (eighth in the Pac-12) in 36 games this past season. He ranked first in the Pac-12 and seventh in the nation in field goal percentage (.646). As a freshman, he contributed 9.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 34 contests. He earned Pac-12 All-Freshman team honours and was named to the CBSSports.com Freshman All-American team. He led the conference and ranked fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (.681).
Siakam, 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, played two seasons at New Mexico State. He averaged 20.3 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 34 games in 2015-16 en route to unanimous Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year honours. He led the nation with 27 double-doubles. The native of Cameroon was the 2015 WAC Freshman of the Year, averaging 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 34 outings. He paced the conference in field goal percentage (.572) and blocked shots.
