Toronto Raptors: 5 goals for Serge Ibaka in 2017-18

5. Improve defense

Serge Ibaka is slowly slipping as a three-time All-Defensive Team selection, as he has declined every year since first earning that distinction. Look no further than his current defensive rating in Toronto of 108 and Defensive Box Plus/Minus -0.5.

However, this does not appear to be a true regression due to Father Time. He is just at age 27 in his eighth season, logging over 17,000 minutes. He is considered a veteran, sure, but with a full offseason of preparation and acclimation in Toronto, we should see his defensive IQ improve.

There may be a correlation between Ibaka focusing on offense more than defense, however, specifically looking to get attempts from the outside more than ever in his career.

Last season he set a career-high 4.5 attempts from beyond the arc, and also set a career-low in blocks. While in this new generation of basketball we are finding many players expanding their range to be more versatile on offense, it can take away from focusing on their defensive game plan. Perhaps it is over-analyzing how some players approach the game, but it is hard to overlook and not question increasingly bad habits on defense.

Ibaka had hopefully spent his summer polishing his defensive game and returning to his prior All-Defensive days, with that being a top goal for 2017-18.