I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided that I can’t remember a single thing about Serge Ibaka’s 56-game stint in Orlando. I clearly remember all the stupid trades Orlando did involving him, both to get him and to send him away, but nothing regarding actual basketball on an actual basketball court. I sorta remember him hitting some sort of game-winner? Not the actual shot, but the fact that he did it. Does that count?
I will not add to Magic fans’ misery by telling about how badly they messed up the Ibaka situation. They already know, anyway.
Ibaka is having a career year scoring the ball right now. Those conspiracy theories about him being older than advertised still are propped up by his ever-declining block numbers, but it might be more likely that he just likes scoring now. And who can blame him? When I’m playing pickup ball, I’m not really interested in blocking shots. Mostly because I can’t (cursed as I am with white boy hops), but also because scoring points is way more fun.
In almost every case, increased scoring would bring more glory to the player, but for Ibaka, man, those early-career block numbers were SICK. He’d have to score 30 per game to outdo his 2011-12 shot-rejecting performance.