Is he the best IGL in NA? No. Is he the best Initiator in NA? No but he isn't the worst either. Let's be honest, Shahz hasn't had the best circumstances with this team in 2023. To start with, he didn't have a coach for most of the yr and he had one it was a rookie coach. SicK, arguably the most important player on this roster was suffering a role crisis and then took a sabbatical in the middle of the Challengers tournament. Even though he green lighted it, signings like kanpeki, shroud weren't the most inspiring in terms fielding a competitive roster. To me it feels like the org wanted to wait for franchising and wanted to make do with clout for the mean time. I can't blame all that on ShahZam only. With 4 competent players and a good coaching stuff alongside him I still think he can deliver.
TL:DR- ShahZam didn't have the best set of circumstances in 2022 with SicK leaving, no coach to getting a sub per coach and then the org not being committed to winning. With a competitive and competent roster in 2023 he can still deliver. Bar FNS and may be dephh, I don't see many IGLs that can do the job better than him.