[high floorParticipant]

Welp, I wouldn’t want to be the team offering him a huge contract this 2017 offseason! The eye test says it all in this case.

Oh my goodness… where do I start. His defense has fallen off a cliff. He is not providing any kind of a presence on that end, is not contesting jumpers or shots within the paint, and quite frankly is not providing any kind of leadership. I’m really concerned that this is an irreversible trend. And if you’re not giving your all for a quality defensive coach like Frank Vogel… then IMO it’s not going to happen for most anyone else. 

On offense…. Lol. He lacks any kind of aggression or variance in his game. All he needs to do is demand the ball & hit the offensive glass & he would easilly have a career high in scoring and shot attempts.Why isn’t he taking advantage of this opportunity, particularly on a team that needs someone of his experience level to step up??!!??!!

Taj Gibson torched him in 26 minutes last game, and the word is out that Ibaka is no longer a deterrent at the PF or C position. 

Orlando is officially damned if the do, damned if they don’t with him. If they sign Ibaka for what him and his agent will push for… they’ll have a $100 million dollar albatross contract for a quickly declining player. Or they’ll let him walk and thus have given up Oladipo (who they could’ve kept as a restricted free agent) and their 2016 lottery pick for absolutely nothing in return. It’s not looking good at all for Magic fans this year or the future

 

  

[SubZeroParticipant]

This is why I was glad we let him go and couldn’t believe everyone was talking about how we just misused him and got fleeced in the trade. I watched basically every Thunder game that was on tv last year, and yeah his role had been diminished from years past, but his stats were not a result of his role. His role was a result of his ability that he has left, and it was clear it’s not what it used to be

I’m not saying this for a fact but sometime last season I was convinced he was a lot older than we think. I know a lot of talk came around about that but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. His bounce is not near what it was his first 5-6 years, and 27 year olds don’t fall off like this without injuries

[Robb_CParticipant]

So you think Serge Ibakas stats and Stamina fell off because his age? Because I think it happened because Ibaka cant take HGH anymore due to NBA testing for it..

[SubZeroParticipant]

Lol that could be true too, I don’t know much about that. Either way, glad we got something out of him while his value was high

[Robb_CParticipant]

When you noticed him falling off, is right around the time the league passed the HGH doping blood test… 

[Hype Machine]

 Man Ive raised the topic of PEDs on this forum previously. The unanimous consensus is that PEDS dont help an NBA player, so its not worth the risk. And very few use them. 

So yeah….Its honestly not worth the discussion due to the naivity. 

Sometimes I want to name a whole bunch of everyones favourite players who  I know are/were juiced to their eyeballs…but sometimes for these fans ignorance is bliss… so I dont. 

The NBA takes drug testing on a case by case basis.

If youre a disposable player like OJ Mayo…you get caught. If you’re a highly marketable and popular player..you get a warning.

Lebron James and Michael Jordan are both absolute roid freaks. Dont reply to this comment if you disagree…theres nothing you can write to convince me otherwise. 

[markfitz14Participant]

This is not advertised much then that they are testing for HGH now. I hadn’t even heard this. So litterally not one player has been caught doping yet then? That sounds a little fishy. 

[Robb_CParticipant]

 OJ Mayo was suspended two years for getting caught taking DHEA.. 

 

[The Scare Crow RisesParticipant]

I think he needs to be in a role off the bench, if not for anything but to extend his career, Gordon should be a Starting PF in the NBA, Hezonja a SF, trading VO for Serge is going to be a huge mistake in hindsight because now they’ll need a SG going forward (Fournier seems like a 6th man)

 

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 If Ibaka doesn’t play defense or do anything on offense as a starter, why would coming off the bench help him? 

It might help Orlando because he’s not useful anymore as a starter but what does coming off the bench do to change what’s wrong with him?

Ibaka looks to me like a guy – a classic case for a lot of big guys – who developed a decent jump shot and fell in love with it. He seems way too content to just spot up and shoot 17 foot (or further) jumpers. He doesn’t have the ball skills to drive on people and that’s fine. But he doesnt crash the glass, he doesn’t role to the rim. He basically stands around and waits at the elbow or the corners and shoots outside shots. 

The man is averging 5 rebounds per game. That’s unacceptable for a guy as big and as athletic as him. I don’t really care about the shot block numbers because he was always a guy who chased blocks rather than playing good defense and I don’t know enough about how he’s playing to know if he’s improved as a team defender at the cost of some of those blocks but for a 6’10 guy to only average 5 boards…something is wrong. 

 

 

 

[BeastMode716Participant]

 a 3rd or 4th option on a team…… Fans see a player have a big game or great playoff series b/c a particular match up works out & then they start to believe he could be a star if given the opportuntity.

I Luv’d Ibaka with the OKC Thunder as a Defensive Rim protector & 4th option on offense when they still had Harden & then a 3rd option after Harden exited

People just don;t understand that the average NBA player when not paid attention to can shoot the lights out & attack the Rim with reckless abandon b/c there is open space when you are on the court with Stars like Durant & Westbrook….. Even the average NBA players need just a Tiny bit of space to thrive

When a guy like Ibaka goes to a below .500 team & he is now on the Radar of the Defense & they can Key on him that space vanishes & the length of NBA defenders bothers the shooter &  he is what he is – what he Always was, a good but not great player & an inconsistent scorer.

 

 

 

 

[warson24]

The Oladipo-Ibaka trade was a high way robbery at the first second of the trade, and just became even worser for the Magic with Serge’s poor play.
A lot of poor management decisions this summer in Orlando

 

[JordoParticipant]

 it’s crazy how the magic cleaned house fairly quickly a few years back and built some nice young pieces and now they don’t exactly know where they’re going. Who’s the future building block of that franchise? Payton? Gordon? Henzonja? If they don’t lock themselves into bad contracts in 2017 FA, they might be able to rebuild their rebuild. 

[CynthiaParticipant]

I seen this coming a mile away, I knew this trade was going to be very lopsided for the Thunder. As you all know I’m a Thunder fan, I’ve watched Ibaka steadily decline for two years straight, it was obvious that trend was not going to stop, it wasn’t a slump he just simply reached his peak.

Whether it’s because he’s really older than he claims (this was a big deal back when he was drafted), potential doping, or whatever else it doesn’t matter. Thunder fans seen this decline, and when we heard we were giving him away for a young stud in Oladipo everyone was happy. Don’t get me wrong we loved Ibaka, he became a household name in Oklahoma.

At this point Sabonis is balling, he seems to already be capable of running that PF slot as a rookie and should only get better from there. Oladipo is already becoming a fan favorite, like Sabonis I think he can only improve as well.

I know it’s early, but I didn’t expect to be 6-1 after losing Durant. The team seems to be overachieving a little bit at the moment but they’re definitely better than people expected them to be. Adams has become a reliable scorer, Sabonis is already looking great and producing, Oladipo putting in work on offense and defense. Kanter is still flirting with averaging a double-double despite lack of minutes. It’s a shame Payne got injured though, because I will admit I’m not a fan of Semaj Christon at all…pretty sure we can do better than that just simply from the free agent pool right now.

Anyways, tons of cap space even after the big contracts that were extended. Sky is the limit, like I said they may be overachieving just a bit right now but they’re definitely a top 15 and possibly top 10 team still, and only looking to improve.

Sorry Orlando.

[Robb_CParticipant]

Well Cynthia Rob Hennigan is a terrible GM.. He reminds me of Poor Gil from the Simpsons..Always getting the bad end of a deal, hes completely out of touch as far as setting up an NBA roster, Hes never came off to me as a guy that knows the game.. His roster and staff hires are questionable at best.. Jacque Vaughn being hired was a complete disaster, It blows my mind that he still has a job.. I know kids in middle school, who play NBA 2K who could piece together a better roster..

I shook my head when the magic drafted Aaron Gordon, I called him a Tyrus Thomas clone. Few years later that comparison looks spot on.. Another blunder by Hennigan.

 

 

[blackflash234Participant]

Thanks God my Raptors didn’t trade for him. 

[GBeeParticipant]

 Lol at people blaming his "decline" on lack of PEDs.  No amount of PEDs would’ve improved his game skill-wise or mentally.  Serge is what he is and what he is is better suited as a 3rd or 4th option, and NOT as the defensive anchor.  His skill improvement has plateaued. He’s a got beautiful jumper, with extended range but he has no counter for it.  If he gets closed out on he doesnt have the ball control or skill on the move to put the ball on the deck.  Also, while having a good jump shot helps in the post for turnarounds, his footwork is mechanical and he has a tendency to get knocked off balance bc he plays with a relatively high center of gravity.  He’s pretty much strictly a jump shooter, yet you can’t play him in pinch post action as a hub bc he doesn’t see the floor well.  Defensively I say he’s NOT an anchor bc he’s still undisciplined, doesn’t read the game well and he can still be rooted out of the paint bc he doesnt play with good leverage.  Even if he blocked less shots, Adams had better tools to be a defensive anchor bc he’s more disciplined, doesn’t break integrty to chase blocks and he plays with better leverage.  

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I was one of those guys who thought Ibaka would do better with a bigger role, but I was wrong. It’s still early, but I agree with all of the comments in this thread, especially GBee. 

The Thunder won that trade in a major way. 

 

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