Serge Ibaka wanted the chance to possibly expand his game, explore the limitations of his talents, and see if he had more to offer than just being the third wheel – or sidekick, in emergency injury situations – in the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook dynamic. The Orlando Magic, desperate to make a playoff push no matter how many young assets it would cost the franchise, gave Ibaka the opportunity he wanted by freeing him from Oklahoma City. A little over a month into the season, Ibaka had already understood the downside of getting what you want as the Magic trudged through another empty, dubious campaign with him serving as leading man.
“I knew in the beginning it wouldn’t be easy,” Ibaka told The Vertical in December. “I’m understanding everything is not perfect right away. I’ve been in a worse situation before than this.”
Ibaka started his career on a lottery team, but the Thunder were building toward something that eventually resulted in six playoff appearances in seven years, four trips to the Western Conference finals and one trip to the NBA Finals. The Magic continue to build a monument to mediocrity, as evidenced by Tuesday’s trade with the Toronto Raptors, a team that has decided to toss in its chips to challenge LeBron James and a Cleveland Cavaliers team that suddenly appears vulnerable because of a knee injury to Kevin Love.
Toronto now has a shot-blocking, court-stretching big man whose familiarity playing alongside two ball-dominant scorers should ease his transition with All-Star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Orlando now has to account for a round of baffling decisions in which Terrence Ross and the worst of the Raptors’ two 2017 first-round picks are all they have to show for Ibaka, Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Ersan Ilyasova, Brandon Jennings and Tobias Harris – the costly price for reckless impatience.
Serge Ibaka may again find success being a third option. (AP) More
Though Ibaka wasn’t enough to overcome the failings of a misguided organization, he should fit in well with the Raptors. Ibaka shares an agent and spends part of his offseason training in Las Vegas with Lowry – who put the Raptors on alert with his blistering criticism earlier this week – and Ibaka could be a veteran defensive complement for Jonas Valanciunas, or flourish paired in smaller lineups with Patrick Patterson. Ibaka has also improved his shooting, with career-high percentages from both the foul line and the 3-point line. Team president Masai Ujiri has chased the two-way big man for years, given his work in Africa, and even tried to pry him from Oklahoma City last summer.
Ujiri’s move signals that his team has no interest in continuing the usual backslide that comes from losing to James in the Eastern Conference finals. James has faced five different teams during his run of six consecutive conference finals appearances. Chicago hasn’t returned since losing to James’ Miami Heat in 2011, with Rose suffering a left knee injury in the first round the following season. Boston hasn’t returned since falling to James in 2012, with the Celtics losing Ray Allen that summer and shipping out Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett a year later. Indiana met James in back-to-back seasons but was out of fuel for the rematch, burned out by an overly aggressive chase and internal friction; now Paul George is all that remains. In his first year back in Cleveland, James swept the 60-win Atlanta Hawks in 2015, and they haven’t come close to resembling a contender since then, with Paul Millsap the only starter remaining from that squad.
The Raptors started the encore to their first conference finals appearance looking like a team that was intent on getting back. They were arguably playing above their heads – especially with the tear that DeRozan couldn’t have been expected to maintain – but the current funk since the calendar year began might’ve been the impetus to avoid settling. They’ve lost 15 of their past 25 games and allowed Boston, Washington and Atlanta to move ahead of them in the standings. Once Millsap was removed from the trading block, Ibaka was the best available fit, and Ujiri went for it.
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