Toronto Raptors Acquisition of Serge Ibaka Puts Cleveland Cavaliers on Notice

By the hand of two equally compelling news breaks, the Toronto Raptors have gone from a slumping dark horse to an NBA Finals threat every team in the Eastern Conference must plan around—including the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Toronto's first jolt actually came courtesy of Cleveland, with the team's announcement that All-Star power forward Kevin Love will miss "approximately" six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

Cleveland will be fine, because LeBron James exists. But the absence of its third-best player creates a rare window of opportunity for those nipping at the heels of the Cavs.

Of all the Eastern Conference contenders, the Raptors reap the most benefits from this surge of hope, thanks to an extra shakeup from general manager Masai Ujiri. The Raptors sent Terrence Ross and the lesser of Toronto's two first-round picks in this year's draft to the Orlando Magic for Serge Ibaka, according to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.

This move represents the Raptors admitting their own window of opportunity is now, the state of the reigning-champion Cavaliers be damned. It also represents an admission of their recent struggles, having slipped to fifth in the East's standings, losing 10 of their last 14 games. Ujiri is an expert at balancing the future with the present, but this is his first gamble that tilts entirely toward immediacy—and he had no choice.

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Kyle Lowry is 30 and on the verge of receiving a mega-max deal in free agency. DeMar DeRozan's contract (five years, $139 million) won't look any better as he journeys deeper into it. Patrick Patterson will fetch $15 million or more per year during his own foray into free agency this summer.

For his part, Lowry sensed that reality was catching up with the Raptors. He sounded the alarm accordingly after they blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead against the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 12:

Getting Ibaka helps fix some of Toronto's most pressing defensive warts without butchering the offense—a crucial balance given how much a once-historic scoring machine is suffering through the recent slide:

The Raptors' 17th-place defense is at its most vulnerable around the basket. They rank in the top 10 of opponent field-goal percentage at the basket, but they're allowing more of those looks per game than any other team.

Bigs have carved them up when operating near the bucket. The Raptors are 29th in roll-man defense, and they're similarly ineffective when guarding against cuts (19th) and off screens (22nd).

Ibaka is a deterrent in many of these problem areas—someone who, unlike Toronto's other bigs, forces offenses to adjust before ever attacking.

Opponents are shooting 52.9 percent when challenging him at the rim, an uncharacteristically high number. Orlando's clunky rotations force almost everyone to defend out of sorts; dating back to 2013-14, Ibaka had never allowed a point-blank success rate higher than 45.1 percent. 

Though he has never been the ideal pick-and-roll defender and isn't the middleman you want switching onto evasive ball-handlers, Ibaka does a nice job of preventing off-ball cuts. If Toronto allows fewer looks at the rim and posts a defensive rebounding percentage better than their 26th-ranked mark (75.1), he's done his job.

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That Ibaka has the lowest assist rate in NBA history for someone with his game experience and usage would be a problem for most teams. The Raptors are an exception. Their offensive success generally isn't tethered to ball movement or dimes. They're tied with the Phoenix Suns for the league's worst assist rate (47.1), and only the Oklahoma City Thunder pass the ball less.

And still, they place second in points scored per 100 possessions.

Surrounding Cory Joseph, DeRozan and Lowry with players who don't need their own isolation or post touches is key. Ibaka is almost the anti-Jonas Valanciunas in this sense; he falls short as a pick-and-roll diver, but his three-point range renders him a better off-ball weapon.

It's a small miracle he's shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc after playing for one of the league's clumpiest offenses. His 37.2 percent clip on catch-and-shoot triples is already good and will rise off DeRozan's and Lowry's dribble penetration—as will the number of wide-open bunnies he enjoys per game (2.1).

Having Ibaka orbit the three-point arc helps offset what Toronto loses in Ross. The 26-year-old is a detonative-but-streaky shooter; his standstill efficiency from distance (35.6 percent) is inferior to Ibaka's accuracy.

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The Raptors are betting Norman Powell can absorb Ross' minutes and production. Powell has shown flashes of athletic brilliance on offense, but he's prone to more swings than Ross. Even so, he's a serviceable catch-and-shoot sniper and already less of a liability on defense. Get his overall three-point clip (34.7 percent) in check, and he's a demonstrative upgrade over his predecessor.

Keeping Patterson in this deal safeguards the Raptors against any drop-off their wings endure with the loss of Ross. While he has missed the past four games with a left knee contusion and is shooting under 40 percent for the season, his three-point acumen remains strong (36.3 percent), and he's an underrated defensive asset.

Which brings us back to the Cavaliers, who remain without J.R. Smith in addition to Love.

The six-game gap separating these two is unmanageable for the underdog this late into the season. But this says nothing of the Celtics, who are within striking distance of the Cavaliers and carrying the full support of Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle:

The Celtics pose a more serious threat to the Cavaliers than anyone else. At full strength, they have more bodies to throw at James (Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart), and bigs such as Al Horford and Amir Johnson are better at covering up blown perimeter assignments. And the Celtics have made defensive strides, posting a top-six rating over their last 11 games. 

But when's the last time we could say Cleveland absolutely, positively, needed to look over its shoulder without being slightly hyperbolic? That's where we're at now, a genuine threat level that includes not one, but two teams.

Where the Celtics already put the Cavaliers on notice, the Raptors with Ibaka are right there with them—demanding to be taken more seriously, even during a downward spiral, than they were last season. 

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast co-hosted by B/R's Andrew Bailey and Adam Fromal.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com or NBA.com and accurate leading into games on Feb. 14. Draft-pick information via RealGM.