NBA: Ranking 30 best power forwards for 2019-20

After an odd season in which he began the year as a starting center and finished it as a top reserve for the NBA champions, Serge Ibaka is set to return to his roots and play the 4 for the Toronto Raptors in 2019-20.

This is a ripple effect from the Raptors losing Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in free agency. With his departure, it’s expected that NBA Most Improved Player Pascal Siakam will slide into Leonard’s vacant spot at the 3, with Ibaka moving in to take over for Spicy P at the 4.

Ibaka enjoyed a resurgence last season, averaging 15.0 points per game — just off his career-best — to go with 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game, shooting 52.9 percent overall, but tailing off to 29.0 percent on 2.3 3-point tries per game.

As a backup to Marc Gasol in the postseason, Ibaka had 9.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 20.8 minutes per game in the playoffs, shooting 47.7 percent overall and going just 9-for-38 (23.7 percent) from deep in 24 games.

Ibaka is entering his 11th season and he’s not really the Iblocka he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the early 2010s, when he led the league in blocks in both 2011-12 and 2012-13.

He will need to rediscover his shooting form, as he was a 39.1 percent shooter on 4.0 deep tries per game in 2016-17 and hit 36.0 percent on 3.9 attempts a night in 2017-18.

But Ibaka can still finish, hitting 75.8 percent of his attempts in the restricted area, and his mid-range game was also solid last season as he canned 51.7 percent of his shots from 16 feet out to the 3-point line.

Toronto played 1.2 points per 100 possessions better when Ibaka was on the floor last season, but this year’s team will have a very different look, with Norman Powell slated to start at the 2 in the wake of Danny Green heading to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ibaka is Toronto’s second-leading returning scorer behind Siakam, a surprising development for a guy who has never been a top option save for his short stint with the Orlando Magic in 2016-17.

Does his game still translate to playing the 4 at today’s pace? We’ll soon see.