Toronto Raptors: Serge Ibaka’s excellent season being overlooked

Amidst the strong team play and major acquisitions, some have failed to realize the exploits of Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka.

You can be forgiven if Serge Ibaka isn’t the first player you associate with this year’s Toronto Raptors.

This is a franchise that Kyle Lowry has helped build. A franchise Kawhi Leonard took over the day he came over from the San Antonio Spurs last summer. A franchise Pascal Siakam will lead someday (and someday soon, at that). Meanwhile, Ibaka simply shows up to work each night and consistently puts up strong numbers, arguably the best of his entire career.

At the beginning of the season, coach Nick Nurse seemed unsure as to how he would utilize Ibaka on a nightly basis. He was coming off the bench from time to time as Nurse worked on balancing the rotation.

But it became clear early in the season that keeping Ibaka off the court was destined to be a mistake for Toronto. In a road game against the Los Angeles Lakers in November, Ibaka dropped a career-best 34 points in a win that cemented the Raptors as a legitimate title contender. The big man hasn’t hit 30 points since that night, but the Raptors expect consistency from him and that’s what they’ve been getting.

For the season, Ibaka is averaging 15.9 points per game, on track to be the highest scoring average of his career. He’s also grabbing 8.1 rebounds per game, which puts him on course for the second highest rebounding average of his career.

Ironically, he is getting this done despite some of the worst 3-point shooting of his career. His shooting slump pins his 3-point accuracy at 26.1 percent, the worst since he added a long-range game to his arsenal around the 2012-13 season. Imagine what’s going to happen to his numbers if and when he snaps out of this shooting funk.

Of course, Ibaka used to stake his reputation on being a defensive stud. Once upon a time, he was a three-time member of the All-NBA Defensive First Team. He’s also led the NBA in blocks twice. He won’t repeat that feat this year, though he will likely lead the Raptors in blocks (1.3 per game).

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While his defense is in decline, Ibaka has more than made up for it on the offensive end. Prior to Saturday’s slate of games, Ibaka placed fifth in the NBA with a 115.8 offensive rating – again, without the benefit of even one made 3-pointer a game.

Nurse is on a hunt to cover up the growing inefficiencies in Ibaka’s game. The acquisition of Marc Gasol, for one, gives the Raptors a player with steady defensive ability who can spell Ibaka in a late-game situation where clutch defense becomes an asset.

Outside of those moments, Ibaka needs to be on the court as often as possible. He’s quietly averaging more points than Lowry, more rebounds than anyone else on the Raptors, and has a higher PER than anyone on the team besides Leonard and Siakam.

Opponents would be unwise to forget about Serge Ibaka when they face Toronto in the postseason.