Serge Ibaka: The “Other Guy” For the Oklahoma City Thunder
By Shawn Woods
The Oklahoma City Thunder features a player that carries the team on one side of the floor. He’s the perfect mixture of grace and ferocity. He might be OKC’s best (healthy) player. He is Serge Ibaka.
Let me make one thing clear, Russell Westbrook has been the best player in the NBA over the past month. He has averaged 32 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds and 2 steals on 45 percent shooting in the past 17 games, per Basketball-Reference.com. He’s made more plays that leave your jaw scraping the floor than anyone in the NBA not named Steph Curry. But Ibaka does so many things that go unnoticed, so many things that are so unique for a man of his stature and so many things that are vital to a successful team.
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Offensively, Serge does things that only the truly elite are capable of. He is shooting 46 percent from midrange, which is better than LaMarcus Aldridge, Curry, Carmelo Anthony and about any other shooter you can think of. He has also stretched his range to the three-point line this year, taking more threes during the 2014-2015 season than the rest of his career combined (while making over 37% of them).
It does seem like Serge’s love of the midrange shot (and now the 3-pointer) has taken away from his effectiveness at the basket. He’s averaging the fewest amount of offensive rebounds and free throw attempts in his career all while his minutes have increased this season. His true shooting percentage (a variance of field goal percentage that takes into account 3-point attempts and free throw attempts) is the lowest of his career, and his average shot distance has increased by almost four feet from last season (from 10.6 feet to 14.4 feet). But for whatever you feel about Ibaka on the offensive end, he’s still a net positive and it isn’t even his biggest contribution.
I was one of the biggest advocates for Ibaka winning the Defensive Player of the Year last season. Joakim Noah had a fantastic season, but Serge is showing us again why he should be considered among the best defenders in the league.
Data from nba.com’s SportVU cameras
This chart shows some of the elite rim protectors in the league. The players at the bottom left of the graph don’t challenge many shots, but the shots they do challenge don’t go in. The players at the top right of the graph challenge a significant number of shots but aren’t very effective.
And then there’s Serge.
Serge challenges more shots than anyone on this list (tied with Nerlens Noel with 9.4 attempts at the rim per game) and the third most in the league (behind Pau Gasol and Gorgui Dieng) all while carrying the second lowest percentage in the league at 40.8 percent (Rudy Gobert leads the league at 39 percent).
There is a difference between being a “shot blocker” and being a “rim protector”. Dieng is in the top-20 in the league for blocks while averaging fewer than 30 minutes per game, but he allows opponents to shoot almost 57 percent at the rim. Andrew Bogut just barely cracks the top-15 in blocks but forces opponents to shoot under 41 percent at the rim. Ibaka is both an elite shot blocker and an elite rim protector leading the league with 155 total blocks on the season. This video from last year’s playoff series against the L.A. Clippers shows how effective a deterrent he is:
Serge is one of the most unique players in the league due to his ability to be paired with any big man in the league. Have a shot blocker that isn’t effective more than five feet from the rim? No problem. Need a rim protector to help hide your big man that can’t play a lick of defense? Got it. Need a big man to help space the floor for your guards that can’t shoot? He can do that too.
It’s easy for casual fans to notice players that score because their contributions can be measured in the box score. Ibaka has the capability to produce those types of stats, but what he is truly elite at is only noticed by those who choose to pay attention.
Without Russell and KD the Thunder wouldn’t have had anywhere near the success Oklahoma City has witnessed for a few years now. But without Serge playing at his best, the Thunder won’t be able to achieve the success that every NBA player covets.