LA Clippers: 3 goals for Serge Ibaka in 2021-2022 season
By Evan Desai
The LA Clippers are going to need Serge Ibaka to be a major factor toward their success this season if they want to win the Western Conference.
Ideally, he starts and earns the $9,742,000 that he is owed this year due to him picking up his player option this offseason. He may not start, though, considering that the Clippers also have Ivica Zubac on the team.
Serge Ibaka has a lot of responsibility on this team, but he can man it and live up to that potential. In order to get to where the Clippers want to, he’ll need to set some personal goals. As for what they should be, I have the answers:
No. 3 goal for Serge Ibaka in 2021-2022 season: Block a shot and a half per game
Serge Ibaka is still a good shot-blocker in this league. He averaged 1.1 blocks per game last season, and basketball players obviously don’t lose their length.
He still has those lengthy arms that can swat everything. Now that he’s getting healthier, though, we need to see him block even more than the amount of shots he did last season.
I’m not asking him to go back to blocking three a game like he used to do. He’s older now, and that’s unrealistic. I do, however, believe that he’s capable of getting that block number up to 1.5 per game.
He’s getting healthier, and he’s going to get a lot of minutes next year. We don’t even have a third center on the roster right now. Ibaka needs to reject everything in the paint.