Serge Ibaka Talks Thunder's Future, Billy Donovan and More with Bleacher Report
Serge Ibaka just wrapped up his sixth season in the NBA, during which he averaged 14.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks on 47.6 percent shooting, despite a right knee injury limiting him to a career-low 64 games. The power forward took time on May 27 to chat with Bleacher Report about his rehabilitation, new head coach Billy Donovan, the Oklahoma City Thunder's future and his work with the Serge Ibaka Foundation and Tackle Ebola's #ZeroCases campaign.
Bleacher Report: How is the rehabilitation process going following your right knee surgery?
Serge Ibaka: It's going really well. I have all summer, so I'm going to take my time and make sure I'm 100 percent, get back to work and prepare myself to be ready for next season.
B/R: This season saw Kevin Durant suffer the first real health-related setback of his career. Have you been able to talk to him about it, or do you have an impression of how he handled the situation?
KD: Yeah, I talked to him. He's in good spirits. He's a tough guy, and he understands the situation.
It's tough for all of us that we have no choice. All we can do right now is the best we can to get healthy this year and be ready for next season.
B/R: Russell Westbrook really stepped up in the aftermath of injuries to Durant and yourself. What were the biggest changes in Russ that you saw?
SI: I just him saw him mature. He was on his game.
Injuries happen. It is part of the sport. It happens to everybody. [Russ] matured, put the team on his shoulders and [tried] pushing us to the playoffs.
Like I've always said, one person cannot do everything by himself. Basketball is a team sport. And [Russ] did great. He did the best he could do to make the playoffs.
We wish that we could have made the playoffs, so that everybody could have seen all the good work he was doing.
B/R: Steven Adams made something of a leap this season. You've played alongside him for two years now. How does he make the game easier for you when you're both sharing the floor?
SI: Yeah, he's a hard-working player and good guy. He wants to learn. He works hard every day.
Everything I saw him doing on the court wasn't, to me, a surprise, because I know he can do that. And he's going to keep getting better and better every year.
When you play with players like him, Nick [Collison] and Enes [Kanter], they don't just make it easy for me. The fact they work so hard around the basket, it benefits everybody, not only me. They make it easy for everybody.
B/R: You mentioned Enes Kanter. How big of an adjustment was it to play beside him following that midseason trade? Were there any specific changes you had to make?
SI: No, it wasn't difficult. We were just playing basketball.
One thing you cannot teach is confidence. You can teach anything in basketball; the more important thing you cannot teach is to play tough, to play hard. He understood he didn't get a training camp with us, and we knew that too.
All he could do is just play hard every night, and that's what he did. And he was big for us, especially when me and Kevin were out.
B/R: Knowing he's going to be a restricted free agent, do you see him as a big piece of what you guys want to accomplish moving forward, leading into next season and beyond?
SI: Honestly, everybody's going to be a big piece. Everybody.
One player cannot win everything by themselves. In basketball, on a team, everybody is important. Whatever players we have on the team are going to be important, because we can only win together. So he's important for sure.
B/R: Now, the biggest story for you guys this offseason has been the hiring of Billy Donovan. Have you been able to speak with him yet?
SI: Yeah, of course. I got a chance to speak with him.
B/R: What's your impression of him to this point?
SI: I don't know him well, but he's a very smart guy. He's going to help everybody. He understands the process. He understands how to be successful. I really hope we're going to have a great next season.
B/R: You attempted and made more threes last season than through your first five combined, despite missing almost 20 games. What made you want to expand your offensive range so much?
SI: I think it was good for the team. And if it's working for the team, I'm going to keep working on it. At the end of the day, it's all about winning. If you're team doesn't win, nobody's going to want to talk about you.
If that means I have to shoot threes, to step back behind the three-point line and create space, so the team can work on offense, I'm going to do it.
B/R: Do you think your three-point range will still be as heavily featured next season?
SI: I don't know. We're going to see how it's going to go, so I don't know. We'll have to see during the season. But I'll spend my summer working on everything.
B/R: After factoring in this past season's injuries, the coaching change and the personnel changes, is this still a championship team?
SI: Yes, it is. That's something that's never going to change for us. We have that in our minds. I'm sure of it.
Everything that happened this year was tough. But we're going to be healthy next year, and we're going to try to go for it.
B/R: Could you tell us a little bit more about Tackle Ebola's #ZeroCases campaign and what makes it so important?
SI: Before this, through my foundation, I was already doing this kind of stuff. I love to do this kind of stuff. I like giving back to the community. That's always been my dream—focusing on education and health and telling children that anything's possible. That's some stuff I've been doing already, through my foundation.
When the opportunity came from Tackle Ebola, of course I was so happy. I felt blessed to be that person, so I joined Tackle Ebola to encourage people in the United States to stay involved in the fight against the disease.
That's why I wanted to show my support, because I am from Africa. That's where I balled, that's where I grew up. And there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in West Africa. It's important for us to fight against disease there. That's why [joining Tackle Ebola] made sense.
B/R: While there's still a lot of work to be done, are you happy with the progress you've seen since joining this campaign?
SI: Yeah, I'm happy with the campaign. The fact that they came to me and asked for my support, I was really happy to see so many people getting involved. It's going to be great to see even more people getting involved, so we can fight this disease.
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