By John Denton
June 24, 2016
ORLANDO – With so much of the draft-night chatter historically resulting in nothing of substance, Orlando Magic GM Rob Hennigan didn’t know exactly what to make of the brewing negotiations for shot-swatting forward Serge Ibaka leading up to Thursday’s NBA Draft.
Would these talks, like so many of them in draft’s past, go nowhere at all and basically result in being ``kick-the-tires’’ reconnaissance? Or, as an excited Hennigan hoped, would the Magic finally be in a position to acquire the difference-making defender that they have so desperately needed for four seasons?
``It was interesting that (Ibaka) became available and I was surprised,’’ Hennigan admitted in the early morning hours of Friday. ``I’m not quite sure why (Ibaka was available), but it was surprising.’’
Having known Ibaka well since he first discovered the basketball talent from the Congo back in 2008, Hennigan jumped at the chance to trade for the versatile power forward. Orlando’s GM talked with Oklahoma City GM and close friend, Sam Presti, throughout much of Thursday, and after the Magic executed the No. 11 pick, the landmark deal to acquire Ibaka was officially agreed upon.
While the Magic were forced to surrender guard Victor Oladipo, rookie center Domantas Sabonis and the partially guaranteed contract for Ersan Ilyasova – something that puzzled many Magic fans on social media – Orlando’s brass couldn’t have been more elated about the transaction. Inside the Magic’s draft room, CEO Alex Martins, Hennigan, assistant GMs Scott Perry and Matt Lloyd, new head coach Frank Vogel and a host of scouts and staffers high-fived and hugged, celebrated and cheered, sighed and smiled.
Finally, at long last, the Magic had the kind of difference-making player who fits exactly what they want to do both offensively and defensively in this small-ball era of the NBA, Hennigan thought.
``We had a high sense of urgency to find veteran pieces that could help this team,’’ Hennigan said with conviction. ``But they had to be the right veteran pieces and we think that Serge fits what we were looking for.’’
Having stock-piled the roster with young talent by utilizing lottery picks each of the past four years on the likes of Aaron Gordon (No. 4 pick in 2014), Elfrid Payton (draft-day trade in 2014), Mario Hezonja (No. 5 pick in 2015), Andrew Nicholson (No. 19 pick in 2012), Devyn Marble (draft-day trade in 2014) and Oladipo (No. 2 pick in 2013), Orlando entered Thursday hoping to use its assets to acquire a difference-making veteran with big-game experience. The Magic made a 10-win improvement in the 2015-16 season, but their belief is that they could have been a playoff team had they had more veteran leadership and a defensive anchor in the middle.
Enter Ibaka, a 26-year-old forward/center who has led the NBA in total blocks four years in a row and made three straight All-Defensive teams previously in his career. Even though Oklahoma City pushed Golden State to a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals, Ibaka grew disenchanted with his shrinking role with the Thunder as they played Steven Adams and Enes Kanter more in the middle.
Ibaka, who was in Europe at the time of the trade, posted on Instagram on Friday that he was excited about the fresh start in Orlando. ``A new chapter begins. Very excited to join the @orlandomagic and ready for this new challenge in my career. Can’t wait to start working with the team and meet the Magic fans. #PureMagic’’
Ibaka averaged 12.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 79 games this past season. In the playoffs this spring as OKC beat Dallas, San Antonio and lost to Golden State in seven games, Ibaka averaged 12 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.33 blocks in 18 postseason games.
In 524 NBA games over the last seven seasons, Ibaka has averaged 11.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. He is a career 35.5 percent shooter from 3-point range and he’s made 137 of those threes over the past two seasons while working to expand his range.
Ibaka’s numbers have steadily dipped the past three seasons, going from 15.1 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.7 blocks a game in the 2013-14 season to 14.3 ppg., 7.8 rpg. and 2.4 bpg in 2014-15 and 12.6 ppg., 6.8 rpg. and 1.9 bpg. this past season. The Magic feel that the drop off in production was due to his decreased role and his forced move to the perimeter offensively. In Orlando, the belief is that Ibaka will once again be a dominant defensive player and a versatile piece offensively.
``Defensive versatility is huge and to have a guy who can not only protect the rim at the highest level, but someone who also has the skill set to switch out on smaller guards, in today’s small-ball NBA he becomes extremely, extremely valuable to what we want to do,’’ said Vogel, who took over the Magic as head coach in May. ``And when you add in that he fits into the direction that the league is going offensively with his ability to space the floor to the 3-point line … he’s a guy who really fits into the direction that we want to go.’’
Hennigan wasn’t clear about which side initiated the trade talks, but he allowed that there were ``a lot of mini-conversations’’ between the Magic and the Thunder that ultimately resulted in the transaction that has the potential to make both teams better in the season ahead. The GM’s extensive knowledge of Ibaka as a person and a player the past seven years helped him pull the trigger on a deal that ultimately came together over a 48-hour period.
Hennigan stressed that it wasn’t easy unloading Oladipo – in many ways the face of the franchise the past three seasons – but he executed a deal that should have wide-ranging effects on Orlando’s roster. Subtracting Oladipo frees up more shooting guard minutes for 3-point specialists Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja. And the Ibaka addition works because he can play power forward with center Nikola Vucevic and he can switch to center when the explosive Gordon is at power forward.
Over the past three seasons, the 24-year-old Oladipo averaged 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from 3-point range. However, Oladipo often duplicated the talent of point guard Elfrid Payton, he never made as much progress with his 3-point shot as the Magic hoped and his free throw and drive rates plummeted this past season. Hennigan called Oladipo’s reaction ``professional’’ when he informed him of the trade – one that the GM feels will make the Magic better.
``We have a roster that is really well-balanced now,’’ said Hennigan, the architect of the Magic rebuild over the last four years. ``It was important for us to balance it in a way that addresses a very glaring need. Serge’s ability to protect the basket and defend in a very versatile way, we feel that will help to fortify a weakness for us.
``We did have a log jam at the wing,’’ Hennigan continued. ``As difficult as it was to trade Victor, we realize in order to get something really good you have to give up something really good.’’
The hope now for the Magic is that the can still add something good in free agency to go with Ibaka. Disciplined spending in recent years combined with the February trades of Tobias Harris and Channing Frye have put the Magic in position where they could have between $35-$38 million to spend in free agency. Hennigan pointed out that Ilyasova’s minimally guaranteed contract – acquired in the Harris trade with Detroit – was key in making the trade for Ibaka because of the financial flexibility that it gives to OKC.
Some of Orlando’s finances will be used to retain the blossoming Fournier, a restricted free agent who had a career year last season. The Magic still need depth behind starting point guard Elfrid Payton, another scorer at small forward, some punch off the bench and more veterans to shepherd their young players.
Hennigan is hopeful that the Ibaka acquisition proves that the Magic will be aggressive this offseason. The team is serious about making the upgrades to get it back in the playoffs next spring.
``It’s just going to depend on what opportunities are there, what we think we can get and we’re going to be aggressive and proactive come July 1,’’ Hennigan said of the date when teams can start courting free agents. ``We will be (aggressive), but a lot of it’s going to come down to opportunities that we see. Like I ‘ve said all along, we’re going to be really aggressive, but we’re also going to be disciplined in how we attack free agency.’’
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