Ibaka finally feeling at home
CHICAGO — The days of Serge Ibaka running the floor while scanning the Raptors bench for a coach trying desperately to signal what play his team has cued up are over.
That trial by fire period when he arrived in mid-season last year was necessary given the lack of preparation time, coupled with the limited practice time he had given his arrival time.
Without a training camp, with just three games with the starting point guard Kyle Lowry in the lineup under his belt before the playoffs began, it’s not a stretch to suggest Ibaka never really did find a rhythm in that first half season in Toronto.
But that’s behind him now and it’s a much more confident, much more comfortable Ibaka that stops on his way into Friday’s final preseason shoot around before last night’s tuneup with the Bulls to chat with a couple of media types.
“It has meant a lot. It feels good,” Ibaka says having a full training camp under his belt with his no longer new team. “It feels different to start with this group of guys in the beginning of training camp. Having Kyle Lowry (something he didn’t have for his first 21 games as a Raptor) and everyone healthy and together is something I was looking for.”
Just these past two weeks in which the team conducted a fourday training camp in Victoria and then had another four full days in Honolulu have done for Ibaka more than the 23 regular season game and 10 playoff games a year ago ever could.
“When I first got here last season I really didn’t have time for anything,’ Ibaka said. “It was just go and play and then we will figure out things later. Now I’m actually learning the way this team plays and I’m trying to adjust my game to that. We are playing a different style and now we are learning it all together, in the beginning. Not me coming and they already know everything and I just have to play. Now I know the way the team wants to play on both ends of the floor.”
But it’s more than just feeling comfortable on the court with his teammates. Now Ibaka feels like he actually belongs.
“I really feel at home now,” Ibaka said. “I feel like Toronto is home now. I feel like I’ve known these guys for a long time now. We know each other. I’m not new now. These are my teammates and my friends and this is my team now. I feel more comfortable now. I can just go out and play.”
That sense of freedom is even larger this season given the less structured read and react offence the team has gone to. Ibaka is loving all of it.
Head coach Dwane Casey cautions Ibaka the player hasn’t changed. He’s just in a much better headspace.
“He’s more comfortable, just starting from scratch, seeing things from scratch is a big difference for him,” Casey said. “He’s still the same player, the defender and shooter but just seeing the offence and defence philosophies develop from the beginning is a huge plus for him.”
Casey has seen enough players go through mid-season team changes to know the trials and tribulations that creates.
“We talked about how it was going to be a challenge coming in new in the middle of a season and guys had been successful running those sets,” Casey said. “We weren’t going to change the sets all at once, he understood that and that’s why it’s important now to come in at the beginning and pick up things. Don’t skip any letters of the alphabet and that’s where it’s a big plus for him. In an NBA setting, if you’re going in the middle of a season, that’s probably the most difficult time, when you go to a new team at a trade deadline.”
Ibaka wasn’t horrible by any means a year ago but the feeling is that being more comfortable in his surroundings will boost his production at both ends of the court. In Toronto his three-point success rate was a little better than it had been in either Orlando or before that in Oklahoma City. But his overall shooting percentage was down in Toronto compared to both previous NBA stops. His blocks were down significantly but that too could reverse course based on what Casey is seeing from Ibaka this year.
“He’s done a good job,” Casey said. “He loves the defensive drills, which I like. He enjoys the defensive part of practice.”