It’s the second big move this week by Pacers President Larry Bird as he looks to retool the team and make it a faster, sleeker group for new coach Nate McMillan.
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Domantas Sabonis was drafted Thursday night by the Magic before being traded to the Thunder. The Magic can easily replace Oladipo’s production through Evan Fournier, but Ibaka adds something the Magic did not have. By getting Oladipo, they have made this team better. He is a restricted free agent, and adding Oladipo would soften the blow if the Thunder weren’t able to resign him. Neither an all-star, but just below that threshold.
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Perhaps most importantly, it’s a sign to Durant that this is a team he will want to be a part of moving forward. Much of that was by team design.
Oladipo had ballhandling issues, and his shooting was streaky. And with Russell Westbrook on the court, Oladipo won’t be asked to handle the ball much.
Maybe watching the Durant and the Thunder play helped you get through a tough time, or he may just simply be your favorite athlete to watch. The team had the Golden State Warriors on the ropes in the Western Conference Finals and were only one win away from making it to the NBA Finals.
But the trade went beyond the son of Nigerian immigrants for the native of the Congo. Ilyasova was also thrown into this deal.
Here’s how Presti answered my question: “I don’t know”.
Bring him back and look to deal him at the trade deadline.
The Magic general manager Rob Hennigan issued a statement following the trade, saying he is excited about the versatility he believes Ibaka will bring to the team.
The good news: Ibaka is now Orlando’s best player. I think that’s reinvigorating for him. “She’s worked really hard for it so I was really, really delighted for her”. Instead, the Magic have cashed in a key building block in Oladipo and their 2016 lottery pick for a quality defensive player who will attract plenty of offers next summer. However, not long after that, we found out that Sabonis wasn’t long for Orlando. Sabonis being included also makes sense.
Sounds like Presti is being awfully nice to his old friend Hennigan.
So yes, we spent plenty of space talking about Ibaka’s declining value.
Then again, the Thunder are not counting on Durant leaving. Sabonis is a 6-foot-10 big out of Gonzaga who will immediately be enrolled in the Steven Adams School of Turning Raw Big Men Into Polished Centers and Want To Read Good Too.
The Celtics need a superstar to become a legitimate championship contender, and Boston was unable to parlay the No. 3 pick into that type of player via trade. Cousins is still young and at the beginning of his prime, and the Kings also selected center Willie Cauley-Stein with the No. 6 pick a year ago (which also was a reach).
There was talk that Oklahoma City was looking to trade Serge Ibaka, but it looked as though they weren’t sold on the idea of trading him. A free player, falling from the sky.
Ilyasova averaged 10.4 points for Detroit and Orlando last season. Last season was his most efficient as an offensive player.
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With Ibaka’s departure the Thunder lose a multi-faceted big man who was an excellent defender, rebounder and shotblocker, and had also developed into a more-than-handy floor-spacing shooter with three-point range. Orlando most certainly will start Serge Ibaka.
