Revisiting Serge Ibaka, Orlando Magic ponder what could have been

The Orlando Magic reunited with Serge Ibaka for the first time and are seeing the benefits of small ball. That leaves them wondering what if with Ibaka.

112. 38. Final. 131. 81

Acquiring Serge Ibaka was always an imperfect decision. Ibaka was an ideal rather than a reality.

In some ways, he was the perfect power forward for this generation of small ball. An athletic big who can block shots at the rim and get out on the perimeter and defend guards. His presence even as late as the Western Conference Finals last year against the Golden State Warriors was game changing. He could step out and hit a jumper just as much as he could post up and finish around the basket.

That is at least the ideal. And for an Orlando Magic team that had a solid center without much experience protecting the rim. For the longest time, Ibaka was the guy to bring in.

Dreams rarely ever go according to plan, of course. The Magic brought Ibaka in, paying a hefty price to do so, and the team floundered. He never meshed well with the team around him. And the team struggled to make him a good fit.

Coach Frank Vogel and several players on the team admit now the Magic had to play too many players out of position to try to make everything work. With the Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors heading to the Playoffs, the Magic are sitting there asking what did they do wrong when it came to Serge Ibaka?

Ibaka’s contribution to the Raptors’ 131-112 victory over the Magic at Air Canada Centre on Monday was meager — 16 points and seven rebounds. Then again, it was still pretty huge.

True, Aaron Gordon burned him on plenty of backdoor cuts and lobs to the basket. Ibaka’s athleticism is not what it used to be. But Ibaka still caused havoc for the Magic.

With Orlando playing small, Ibaka became the X-factor. The team still had to respect his post game and his outside shooting. And when a smaller player switched on to him, he demanded a double team. That opened up Toronto’s 3-point shooting — 10 for 15 in the game.

More from Orlando Magic Daily

Undoubtedly, Ibaka has found more success playing a supporting role in Toronto. In his 56 games in Orlando, he averaged 15.1 points per game. In the same field goal attempts per game, Ibaka is averaging 14.6 points per game with the Raptors. His statistics are virtually the same as they were in Orlando.

But his success is undeniably different.

Part of that is the team he is playing on. The Raptors do not rely on him to carry the offensive load as the Magic did. Part of the experiment with Orlando was to give him that opportunity to explore his talents fully. The Magic gave him his first high-usage playing time in his career.

Ibaka, with DeMar DeRozan playing alongside him and players built around them, has a more clearly defined role. The team has a greater purpose too with the Playoffs in focus. That was something that quickly slipped away in Orlando.

But the other part is Ibaka seems to be in the position and role that fits him better and fits his future in the league better.

In Toronto, Ibaka has played 35 percent of his minutes at center, according to Basketball-Reference. The Raptors still play him with Jonas Valanciunas for a bigger front court. But the minutes Ibaka plays at center are still very effective.

The Magic? Orlando did not even give it the opportunity. According to Basketball-Reference, Ibaka played only five percent of his minutes at center. The Magic just did not go to it at all.

If there was a regret in Ibaka’s three-quarters of a season in Orlando, it was that the team never tried this possibility.

Ibaka told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel on Monday morning at shootaround that he went to coach Frank Vogel about playing some center and doing some small-ball lineups. It just never came together. Vogel told Robbins on Monday he felt somewhat constrained with the roster’s construction. Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo were also critical players he felt he had to play.

Orlando could not figure out a way to make it all work. And it hurt the franchise in the short term. The Magic invested a lot in Ibaka and their plans to go big flopped incredibly.

For what little good Gordon gained as a small forward, it is clear since the All-Star Break he will be more productive as a power forward. That was apparent even in Monday’s game with Aaron Gordon roaming and flying around the basket. That simply did not happen.

Yet, there is a bit of a what if in all of this. And it will remain as part of the analysis of this disappointing season.

For so long, the Magic wanted someone with Ibaka’s potential anchoring their defense. When they finally got him, they shifted so much of their plan around that they lost the forest for the trees a bit. The Magic seemed to overthink things.

Or they miscalculated where their team and the NBA was headed. The team clearly lacked the offense and shooting to support a defense-first roster. Especially when the defense struggled so much.

The Magic and Ibaka seem to have no regrets over what happened in the first three-quarters of this season. Publicly both the Magic and Ibaka have said as much.

"“I remember in the beginning, I was so excited,” Ibaka told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “Even mentally I was so fresh and excited about the season. But in life sometimes the way we try to do things, or the way we think things can go, may not happen. That’s the case out there in Orlando. But I had good moments there.“At some point, there was no more pressure, and it was just frustration.”"

The team tried an experiment as far as they could. It did not work. And the parties moved on.

About the only thing the team did not try was the one thing everyone thought was so obvious — Ibaka and Gordon together in a small-ball lineup. Now that the Magic are playing small full time, they are seeing the benefits of that style of play.

Next: Grades: Toronto Raptors 131, Orlando Magic 112

Too late for a player with Ibaka’s talent. And too late to save the season.