2015-2016 Season Grades: Serge Ibaka

It was a difficult season for Serge Ibaka. He was the subject of many of Thunder fans’ criticism for some of the post all-star break struggles the team had. All coming after Sam Presti declared on media that he may have had the best summer out of anyone. To be fair though, Ibaka’s role changed more than anyone else on the team under Billy Donovan.

Offense

With Kevin Durant out most of last season, Ibaka’s evolution into more of a stretch 4 continued. He started taking 2.5 more 3’s a game than he ever had. There were complaints that Ibaka was playing too far away from the basket and shooting too many 3’s. This was by design and as he shot 37.6% from 3 it’s hard to argue with taking a considerable volume. There were some downsides of this transition. His offense rebounding saw a predictable drop off as he started playing farther way from the basket, his shots around the rim plummeted and even his mid range shot attempts took a slight dip.

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Fast forward to this season with a new coach and being asked to stay more on the perimeter even with Kevin Durant back. Where he was on the court was not the only thing that changed, he was also asked to do more than he had in previous seasons. His role on this team on offense in previous seasons was to just run the pick and pop and occasionally roll to the basket. Now he was asked to be a go between around the free throw line as the Thunder made an effort to move the ball from side to side more. He also spent several possessions a game in the corner, which as he later said can lead to some disengagement on the defensive end.

Not all of Ibaka’s problems came from changes in his role. His shooting declined this season. It was the third consecutive season his true shooting % declined and so much so that at 53.3%, it’s his career low. Most of this drop due to his 3 point percentage dropping 5.0% and his free throw percentage dropping 8.4%. Role change or not, that is concerning for a 26-year-old who should be entering his prime.

Defense

Much like his role on offense change so did his role on defense. In years past under Scott Brooks, the Thunder’s defensive schemed relied on an aggressive show and recover. If you are unfamiliar with this terminology, SB Nation describes showing the pick and roll as “The screener’s man creates at least a healthy arm’s-length separation (and usually more) between himself and the screener. The player then takes two to three long slides and tries to string the ball handler out, preferably moving him back towards center or sideline to sideline. The ball handler’s defender should have aggressively fought over the top of the original pick by then and should be closing back in on the man with the ball. After stringing the ball handler out for a few dribbles, the screener’s defender then recovers to his original man or rotates to a potential shooter on the back.”

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This scheme allowed the Thunder to take advantage of Ibaka’s athleticism. Their current scheme under Billy Donovan is a more conservative and has the screener’s man drop back. This forces the ball handler into the mid range while his defender fights over the screen and recovers. It was an adjustment made to make things easier on Enes Kanter, Steven Adams and an aging Nick Collison. This change in scheme may have diminished some of Ibaka’s effectiveness as evidence by his drop in ESPN’s Real Plus Minus statistic, where his defensive dropped from 4th among power forwards last season to 54th this year. That does not mean Ibaka is now the 54th best defender at the power forward position, but more so illustrates impact on defense has been diminished relative to his teammates.

Grade: C-

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