Everything Serge Ibaka

[Joey]

I heard Masai is doing a presser right now on Sportsnet, anyone know which one?! lol

I think the regular one. Its on channel 22 for me.

[The Great One]

Can someone give me the coles notes? Are we evaluating and growing now? Or Growing and evaluating? lol

I don't know about coles notes but i'm eating some coleslaw right now.

[Rand]

Just saw what Tim & Sid showed. Masai didn't sound too confident that he fits Raps well. He said "we'll see" in the remaining 27 games.

[JamesNaismith]

Can someone give me the coles notes? Are we evaluating and growing now? Or Growing and evaluating? lol

I barely caught the end now but it seemed like a straight forward presser. Masai acknowledged that the team was struggling and he hopes Serge can provide the spark (shitty pun not intended) to get the Raptors going again and gain some momentum.

I was surprised in a way to not seem him his usual giddy self whenever he makes an announcement of a player. Didn't express any happiness about the move, not sure what to make of it.

[iblastoff]

so this is hilarious. orlando basically gave up oladipo, sabonis, and ersan ilysasova for ross and a late first rounder.

[Bendit]

Just saw what Tim & Sid showed. Masai didn't sound too confident that he fits Raps well. He said "we'll see" in the remaining 27 games.

"We'll see" and "Honestly" are two of Masai's staples in an interview. He is never fully committal publicly. He also said he has been pursuing/looking at Ibaka for sometime now. That's his man. Ultimately no one can say how the fit really works until the team gets on the floor. The consensus has to be it will work.

[S.R.]

Masai is a Sith Lord, he reveals nothing to non-force users. Also has a great poker face.

Least revealing interviews ever.

[Rand]

I think our payroll next season is going to be BONKERS. I'd think we'll have a payroll second to Cavs and Warriors. We better be in conference finals for years with this. Yet somehow I just don't know if the talent level of this team justifies having a payroll as high.

but heck, if we're in conference finals every year competing, I'm ok with it. once the other kids mature maybe we can contend for a championship.

[S.R.]

Viewing for later:

[S.R.]

I think our payroll next season is going to be BONKERS. I'd think we'll have a payroll second to Cavs and Warriors. We better be in conference finals for years with this. Yet somehow I just don't know if the talent level of this team justifies having a payroll as high.

but heck, if we're in conference finals every year competing, I'm ok with it. once the other kids mature maybe we can contend for a championship.

Want to be a top 5 team, gonna have to pay for it.

[JamesNaismith]

so this is hilarious. orlando basically gave up oladipo, sabonis, and ersan ilysasova for ross and a late first rounder.

They definitely lost....they did the second they sent out Dipo.

Not that I think Oladipo is going to become a star in the league (especially since Russ isn't going to let the offence run through anyone else). But for a young team on barely the beginning of a rebuild (Dipo, Gordon, Vuc) as a franchise they should have looked past the next year or two and long term Oladipo. He has potential (that won't get shown in okc) to be a really good SG in the league, probably just not all-star level and that's not a bad piece to have long term. They thought super short term and got burnt BUT...

I do think Ross is going to look a lot better than what he did here especially with a green light as a starter and a league that increasingly grows reliant on the 3 ball. It won't surprise me if T suddenly becomes a 18+ppg in the next couple of years and really I think Dipo's potential would only be a few points more. Add to that if you follow what is being called a super draft this year they could in fact end up drafting a player potentially as good as Sabonis, maybe even better. Not just based on fluke odds of someone falling through but the talent and potential in the draft is so deep there are fairly good odds that you can get someone that good that late. Sorry for the long rant while they definitely took a L on these trades, it's not as bad as some may think.

[JamesNaismith]

so this is hilarious. orlando basically gave up oladipo, sabonis, and ersan ilysasova for ross and a late first rounder.

They definitely lost....they did the second they sent out Dipo.

Not that I think Oladipo is going to become a star in the league (especially since Russ isn't going to let the offence run through anyone else). But for a young team on barely the beginning of a rebuild (Dipo, Gordon, Vuc) as a franchise they should have looked past the next year or two and long term Oladipo. He has potential (that won't get shown in okc) to be a really good SG in the league, probably just not all-star level and that's not a bad piece to have long term. They thought super short term and got burnt BUT...

I do think Ross is going to look a lot better than what he did here especially with a green light as a starter and a league that increasingly grows reliant on the 3 ball. It won't surprise me if T suddenly becomes a 18+ppg in the next couple of years and really I think Dipo's potential would only be a few points more. Add to that if you follow what is being called a super draft this year they could in fact end up drafting a player potentially as good as Sabonis, maybe even better. Not just based on fluke odds of someone falling through but the talent and potential in the draft is so deep there are fairly good odds that you can get someone that good that late. Sorry for the long rant while they definitely took a L on these trades, it's not as bad as some may think.

[Chr1s1anL]

Damn, Lowry you couldn't get upset 2 weeks ago?

Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk

[Scraptor]

Serge has the potential to completely change this team. And like I said before, he automatically becomes the best defender we've ever had, even if his defense has taken a hit.

I don't know if he automatically gets that title, Doug Christie was a beast. Christie was 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the NBA in steals per game with the Raptors.

Serge is now 11th in the NBA in blocks per game, and 44th of 95 power forwards in DRPM. In 2013-14 he was 5th in DRPM, then 5th, then 36th last year.

Still a great fit for us but I'd like to see him earn the best defender ever title first.

[Joey]

I don't know if he automatically gets that title, Doug Christie was a beast. Christie was 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the NBA in steals per game with the Raptors.

Serge is now 11th in the NBA in blocks per game, and 44th of 95 power forwards in DRPM. In 2013-14 he was 5th in DRPM, then 5th, then 36th last year.

Still a great fit for us but I'd like to see him earn the best defender ever title first.

Well fair enough, I meant "defensive pedigree" I guess.
He's a 3x All-Defensive 1st Team, and 2x Blocks leader. Anchored the defense of a couple of Finals bound teams, and leads the NBA in cumulative blocks since 2008-09.