Serge Ibaka

Serge Ibaka
Player information
Full name	Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila
birthday	18th September 1989 (age 30)
place of birth	Brazzaville , People's Republic of the Congo
size	213 cm
Weight	107 kg
position	Center / Power Forward
NBA draft	2008 , 24th pick , Seattle SuperSonics
Club information
society	Toronto Raptors
league	NBA
Jersey number	9
Clubs as active
2007-2008	CB L'Hospitalet ( LEB Oro )
2008-2009	Ricoh Manresa
2009-2016	Oklahoma City Thunder
000002011	→ Real Madrid
2016-2017	Orlando Magic
Since 02017	Toronto Raptors
National team
Since 02011	Spain

Serge Ibaka medal table
Basketball (men)
Spain
Olympic games
silver	2012 London	Spain
European Championship
gold	2011 Lithuania	Spain

Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila (born September 18, 1989 in Brazzaville , People's Republic of Congo ; now Republic of the Congo ) is a Congolese- Spanish basketball player. Since 2009 he has been playing in the North American professional league NBA , currently with the Toronto Raptors . Before that, he worked for the Oklahoma City Thunder for a long time .

Life

Ibaka comes from a basketball family. His mother Amadou Djonga played for the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , his father Desire Ibaka for the Republic of the Congo. Serge is the third youngest of 18 children. He lost his mother at the age of eight. When the Second Congo War broke out a little later , Ibaka and his family moved to the north of the country, to Ouésso in the Sangha Department , where he grew up for several years in poor conditions, without electricity and running water. After the Ibaka family returned to Brazzaville in 2002, his father was imprisoned in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo , where he worked as a dock worker. Until the end of the Congo War and his father's release in 2003, Serge Ibaka lived with his grandmother Christine.

Career

Start time

Ibaka began his career as a basketball player in 2004 in the youth team of Avenir du Rail and moved to Inter Club Brazzaville the following season , before he was spotted by European scouts at the 2006 U-18 African Cup in Durban .

After a brief stage in the French fourth division Etoile sportive Prissé-Macon , where he did not play because of problems with the transfer, he moved through the mediation of the African players adviser and former player Anicet Lavodrama even during the 2006-07 season by Spain in the junior team of CB L'Hospitalet, and in parallel played the Spanish U-20 championship with DKV Joventut .

Ibaka completed his first professional playing time in 2007/08 for CB L'Hospitalet in the LEB Oro , the second Spanish division. His strong season aroused the interest of numerous clubs in Spain and outside and in the 2008 NBA Draft , the Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder ) selected him in 24th place, but the Spanish first division club Ricoh Manresa finally signed him .

NBA

After only one season in the ACB league, Serge Ibaka moved to the NBA for the Oklahoma City Thunder, where the only 20-year-old averaged 6.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in just 18.1 in his first season Minutes per game. With seven blocks in the second playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers , he set a new NBA record for a player his age.

In his second season he was able to improve significantly in all aspects, began 44 of the 82 season games in the Thunder starting five and averaged 9.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. With a total of 198 blocked throws, he reached the highest value in the season statistics of the NBA and thus lived up to his nickname Iblocka . The Oklahoma City Thunder finished the regular season as champions of the Northwest Division . In the playoffs he and his team reached the conference finals after victories against the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies , where they lost 4-1 to the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks .

Ibaka in the jersey of the Thunder

Prior to the 2011/12 season , the team owners and the players union could NBPA not agree on a new collective agreement, which is why a lockout ( lockout ) was proclaimed. Ibaka then signed with Real Madrid in October 2011 to replace the injured Novica Veličković . For the Spaniards he played a total of 12 games in the league and the Euroleague before an agreement was reached between the players' union and the NBA team owners and Ibaka returned to Thunder in early December. On February 19, 2012 he succeeded against the Denver Nuggets with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks, the first triple-double of his career.

The Thunder finished the regular season again as champions of the Northwest Division and Ibaka, who was in the starting five in all 66 games of the shortened season, established himself as the best shot blocker in the league. With a total of 241 blocked throws, 3.65 per game, he led the respective statistics. At the end of the regular season he was elected to the All-Defensive First Team because of his strong performance in defense . Before the start of the 2012/2013 season, Ibaka signed a contract extension for 4 years.

Ibaka played for the Thunder until 2016 and has been a key player in the Thunder defense over the years. Nevertheless, his statistics decreased slightly, so that in the 2015-16 season with 12.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks on average, he put on the worst values ​​for four years. Nevertheless, he reached the conference finals with the Thunder 2016, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors .

Ibaka was transferred to Orlando Magic during the 2016 NBA draft . In return, Victor Oladipo moved to Oklahoma. However, after sporting failures, Ibaka was transferred to the Toronto Raptors six months later . In return, Terrence Ross and a first-round draft pick moved to Orlando.

National team

As a junior, Ibaka took part with the national team of the Republic of the Congo at the U-18 African Championship 2006 in Durban . His team finished the tournament in fourth place, he himself averaged 18.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per game in five appearances and was elected MVP of the tournament. He did not make his debut in the senior national team of the Republic of the Congo.

Ibaka (left) celebrates winning the 2011 European Championship

As early as April 2010, Ibaka, who completed his last leg as a youth player as well as his first two professional seasons in Spain and lives in Barcelona , expressed his desire to play for the Iberian national team in the future .

On June 21, 2011, the Spanish national coach Sergio Scariolo nominated him for the preliminary squad of the 2011 European Basketball Championship . On July 15, 2011, Ibaka received his Spanish citizenship and renounced his Congolese passport. In preparation for the 2011 European Championship, he made his debut in the Spanish national team against France on August 9, 2011 .

At the European Championship finals, Ibaka mostly came off the bench, averaging 17.2 minutes per game to 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. The Spaniards finally won the tournament, in the final against France Ibaka managed five shot blocks in just 3:43 minutes in the second quarter. At the 2012 Olympic Games he was again part of the squad, the Spaniards only failed in the final against the USA .

Achievements and Awards

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Western Conference Champion : 2011/12
• Northwest Division Champion (4): 2010/11 , 2011/12 , 2012/13 , 2013/14

Toronto Raptors

• NBA Champion: 2018/19

Spanish national team

• Olympic Games 2012 : Silver
• European Champion : 2011

Awards

• NBA All-Defensive First Team (3): 2011/2012 , 2012/13 , 2013/14
• Participant in the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge : 2011 ( Sophomore )
• Participant in the NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest : 2011
• Winner of the League ACB Slam Dunk Contest 2008
• MVP of the Reebok Euro Camp 2008 in Treviso
• MVP of the 2006 U-18 African Championship

Web links

Commons : Serge Ibaka  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official homepage (English, Spanish)
• Serge Ibaka - player profile on NBA.com
• Serge Ibaka - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Serge Ibaka - player profile on ACB.com (spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Serge Ibaka [@sergeibaka]: no! Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila is full name RT “@ kdurant35: @ sergeibaka9 is it real ??" Sergeballu LaMu Sayonga Loom Walahas Jonas Hugo Ibaka "”. In: Twitter. March 28, 2011, accessed May 7, 2020 . 
2. ↑ From the Congo to the NBA. Retrieved October 30, 2010 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Coming to America: How Serge Ibaka went from the Congo to the NBA. Retrieved October 30, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Serge Ibaka. Retrieved March 29, 2011 . 
5. ^ El Ricoh Manresa ficha al joven pívot congoleño Serge Ibaka, procedente del CB l'Hospitalet. Retrieved October 30, 2010 (Spanish). 
6. ↑ Serge Ibaka: The "It" Factor. Retrieved December 11, 2010 . 
7. ↑ Official Announcement. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 27, 2011 ; accessed on October 25, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Heat's James top vote-getter among All-Defensive Team picks. (No longer available online.) May 23, 2012, archived from the original on May 25, 2012 ; accessed on May 24, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Thunder lock up Ibaka with reported four-year extension
10. ↑ Thunder: Ibaka goes - Oladipo comes!
11. ^ Magic Acquire Terrence Ross and 2017 First Round Pick From Raptors
12. ↑ Schedule & Results. In: FIBA . Retrieved June 21, 2011 . 
13. ↑ People's Republic of Congo 10 - Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila. In: FIBA . Retrieved June 21, 2011 . 
14. ↑ El 'anti-Gasol' de los Thunder podría jugar con España. In: Marca . Retrieved April 25, 2010, June 21, 2011 (Spanish). 
15. ↑ Preseleccionados EuroBasket Lituania 2011. (PDF; 355 kB) In: feb.es. Retrieved June 21, 2011, June 21, 2011 (Spanish). 
16. ^ Nacionalidad española al jugador de baloncesto Serge Ibaka. In: lamoncloa.gob.es. July 15, 2011, Retrieved July 15, 2011 (Spanish). 
17. ↑ Palmarés del concurso de mates In: acb.com, accessed July 2, 2011 (Spanish)
18. ↑ Most Valuable Players 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: adidaseurocamp.com, accessed July 1, 2011 (English)