24 replies to this topic

[2016Champions]

Ibaba is one of the premier shotblockers in the league, and after coming 2nd in DPoY (Defensive Player of the Year) votes last season there's no denying he's a good defender, but is his defense getting a little overrated? John Hollinger seems to think so:

 

 

 

Serge Ibaka

+ Athletic, long-armed, shot-blocking ace still learning fundamentals.
+ Overrated defender who struggles against floor-spacers. Good rebounder.
+ Very good midrange shooter. No post game and poor offensive instincts.

Analysis
There's a lot more to defense than blocking shots, people. Ibaka finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting based on his phenomenal shot-blocking total, but the Finals really underscored how far he has to go to be an elite defender overall. Ibaka's shot-blocking skill is second to none -- his 5.38 blocks per 40 minutes led the league comfortably (see chart) -- but he still struggles mightily against face-up 4s and in the finer elements of help defense.

Overall, then, he was merely decent defensively. The Thunder were better with him on the court but not dramatically so (2.8 points per 100 possessions), while Synergy Stats rated him in the middle of the pack. The Thunder didn't act like he was a vital defensive cog, either, often opting to keep Kendrick Perkins or Nick Collison on the court instead of him.

 

http://www.thunderfa...player-profiles

 

That's an old article so it's possible Ibaka has improved, although he does rank 260th in defending spot-up shooters by Synergy Sports this season which is still a problem, and while that kind of thing might not be such a problem if he was a center, in a league full of power forwards who can shoot it is becoming more and more necessary that your power forward at least makes an effort to close out on shots well. The defending champion Miami Heat does a great job of stretching the floor with Shane Battier at powerforward, but it's one thing to not close-out poorly and another thing to not even know when your man is:

He's guarding Battier, finds himself in the low post area with Perkins and then COMPLETELY FORGETS HIS ASSIGNMENT because all he's focused on now is anticipating a move by LeBron and blocking the shot. Nevermind that Durant is already doubling him, and Perkins is already down low to help. Thus Battier (a 44% 3pt shooter) gets wide open for a 3.
 

 

See below how Ibaka stacks up with the other DPoY candidates this season according to RAPM (Regulized Adjusted Plus Minus):
 

>>Kevin Garnett 4.0
Tony Allen 3.8
Tim Duncan 3.6
Paul George 3.5
Omer Asik 3.5
Dwight Howard 3.3
Marc Gasol 2.9
Thabo Sefalosha 2.9
Larry Sanders 2.9
Josh Smith 2.6
Andre Iguodala 2.7
Tyson Chandler 1.9
Joakim Noah 1.7

Serge Ibaka 0.9

http://talkingpracticeblog.com/

 

By no means are any of these statistics perfect and neither is John Hollinger, but at the very least you have to ask yourself: Is Ibaka an overrated defender? One thing's for sure, as a Rockets fan dreading the first round playoff series with the Thunder which starts tomorrow, I sure appreciate Patrick Patterson (39% 3pt) alot more now than I did before we traded him for the unproven rookie Thomas Robinson.

[thejohnnygold]

Bottom line is we need Terrence Jones or D-MO to get some run, knock down some shots early, and force Ibaka out of the paint (to clear the path for the guards) or pay the price from outside.  In reality, what this actually means is we are likely to see lots of Delfino at the 4 ...let's hope he gets hot from outside and shoots 50% (or better!) on his threes.

 

What I would rather see is Parsons play some PF and put Delfino/Jones/D-MO at SF...it's risky, but worth a try.

[2016Champions]

If Ibaka is going to leave Delfino wide open like that, Delfino might actually score on Ibaka more than Ibaka scores on him. 

[thejohnnygold]

Good point.  With no post game to speak of it just might work out in our favor...until they go small or put Collison in.

[2016Champions]

Collison doesn't have that great of a post-game either. 

[thejohnnygold]

He's crafty and a solid finisher--I've always thought he was under-rated.

[2016Champions]

I think he's underrated defensively, great charge taker, but offensively he's not going to hurt you much. 

[Steven]

Jones will destroy Ibaka.

[2016Champions]

If Jones makes his 3's, but that seems unlikely lol

[bboley24]

Id take him over Omer... and I love Omer.

[Cooper]

Ibaka's defense looks pretty damn good right now

[2016Champions]

If you guys noticed, 3 of Ibaka's blocks came while Greg Smith is on the floor. When we played small ball Ibaka wasn't make much noise defensively. That's what we need to keep doing--take Ibaka away from the rim--if you take Ibaka's shotblocking out of the game his defense becomes very overrated. I've seen alot of games (including the finals) where he gets so hungry for blocks that he will leave his man wide open to stay near the rim, this is something we can take advantage of.

 

I hope McHale reads this, stop starting Greg Smith! We made a really good run this game when Delfino was at the 4 against Ibaka, and if we do that all game we have a much better chance of winning. Don't get me wrong, I like Greg Smith, but the fact he lets Ibaka camp under the basket all night is the reason Greg Smith was -34 tonight.

[ale11]

If you guys noticed, 3 of Ibaka's blocks came while Greg Smith is on the floor. When we played small ball Ibaka wasn't make much noise defensively. That's what we need to keep doing--take Ibaka away from the rim--if you take Ibaka's shotblocking out of the game his defense becomes very overrated. I've seen alot of games (including the finals) where he gets so hungry for blocks that he will leave his man wide open to stay near the rim, this is something we can take advantage of.

 

I hope McHale reads this, stop starting Greg Smith! We made a really good run this game when Delfino was at the 4 against Ibaka, and if we do that all game we have a much better chance of winning. Don't get me wrong, I like Greg Smith, but the fact he lets Ibaka camp under the basket all night is the reason Greg Smith was -34 tonight.

 

I get your point, but even though we spread the floor, Lin and mostly Harden will keep attacking the rim. Most of the times they are going to shoot, and when they do, Ibaka is as good disrupting shots as Omer is, and he is going to keep getting his blocks anyway, maybe not as much as playing C or with Smith in the lineup, but still...

[2016Champions]

Well, the game we beat them in the regular season was a game we started Delfino at the 4 and had Delfino play 42 minutes. And tonight Greg Smith had the worst +/- by far. Just saying...

[Steven]

Greg Smith isn't athletic enough to match up with Ibaka. Start T-Jones. He is long and athletic enough to match up with Ibaka. But no we go to a 7 man rotation with Delfino at the 4 useless chump. The same lineup cost us the lakers game and the 7 seed. FIRE McHALE!!!!!!!

[2016Champions]

Lakers and Thunder are two completely different teams, Pau Gasol has a post-game and Ibaka doesn't. 

[thenit]

Ibaka just owned the paint against us. Even with Delfino we couldn't get layups or points in the paint without anyone else blocking us. Martin had a block, Collison, etc. Ibaka puts the fear in Lin, Bev , Parsons and Harden. How many times did we get a layup when Ibaka was on the field? 

I think Lin, bev and Harden got one each, everything else he either blocked or forced them to a bad pass or shot. He changed the shots. I don't think he is overrated, as I don't think Westbrook is overrated.

[2016Champions]

He was huge in game 1, no doubt about that. We're doing a terrible job of taking him out of his game. 

[thejohnnygold]

Until we stat knocking down threes they have no reason to worry about anything except protecting the paint.

[2016Champions]

So many wide open looks tonight, Ibaka blew rotations all night and got extremely lucky our shooters seem to have forgotten how to shoot.