Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” There’s been a lot of cursing done among Raptors fans recently, but this morning Masai lit a candle.
I’m not going to lie, I’m going to miss Terrence Ross. He brought a dimension to this team the last two years that they needed at times, and I wish him all the best in Orlando. Norman Powell now gets the minutes to develop that he’s earned, and the pressure that comes with it. Powell’s had the benefit of low expectation thus far in his career, as when he was asked to step up it was always because someone else had either been injured or disappointed. That’s about as negative as I’m ready to go here today though, because there’s so much more to talk about on the positive side of things.
Ibaka is such a natural fit for the Raptors, and he’ll slide in to the starting lineup beside Jonas Valanciunas to replace the revolving door the team has had at the position this season. Ibaka defensively brings a mobile presence who can block shots and will be a solid help defender and should buoy that end of the floor where the team has struggled recently. On the offensive end, Ibaka is a fantastic spot up shooter at the position, in the 74th percentile this season averaging 1.09 points per possession. As a post-up player he has struggled this season, but a year ago in Oklahoma City he managed 1.00 PPP and placed in the 87th percentile. Ibaka is also shooting 38.8% from three-point range this season, and might even improve on that mark in Toronto. Earlier in his career the majority of his attempts came from the corners, where he’s taking just 5.6% of his long range attempts this year, and he should see an increase in these attempts with the offense the Raptors run where they often use their forwards as outlets off penetration by DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Even more than the fit with the starting lineup though, the bigger attraction of Ibaka lies in the versatility he brings, where you can use a multitude of lineups with varying combination of big men to match up against opponents. Ibaka can play next to Patrick Patterson to create a quick, defensive lineup that can switch on the perimeter against smaller teams, with both players being excellent defensive presences. Played next to Bebe, you end up with a shot-blocking group that can deter any attacks at the rim effectively. It’s easy to imagine, against teams that use a bigger player at the small forward position, you could utilize Ibaka at the power forward spot and Patrick Patterson beside him as the other forward in a bigger group, where Patterson has been effective guarding players such as Serge Ibaka and Paul George at times.
This move also allows Patrick Patterson to maintain his presence coming off the bench when he returns from injury, where Dwane Casey prefers him, and with Cory Joseph, Norman Powell and Lucas Nogueira keeps the team’s strong bench intact. This is especially meaningful with the team having struggled over the last two years whenever Patterson wasn’t on the floor, whether he started or came off the bench, and it would be reasonable to expect that being able to have Ibaka for the minutes Patterson sits should mitigate that. This would also allow Patterson to not have to play long stretches of minutes, such as in the playoffs when he frequently played 12-18 consecutive minutes due to the lack of good options at the position. This should allow Patterson to become a more effective player, even aside from pairing the two forwards together.
The other benefit on the offensive end is that it allows the Raptors to maintain a shooter in the frontcourt at all times that the defense has to respect, which should open up space for Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas to work in the paint as well as helping them punish opponents for over-committing when double teams do come.
I’m not going to pretend this solves all the issues for the Raptors – as I wrote yesterday, the team simply needs better playcalling in late-game scenarios regardless of the personnel on the floor. But Ibaka will help on both ends of the floor in many situations, and should the playbook open up in those tight fourth quarters, he’s another very, very good option to help the Raptors win close games. This is the forward-thinking move the team needs to compete this year, and let the salary concerns of the summer wait until we see how far this group can take the Raptors.
