NBA Draft Players to Watch: Serge Ibaka
Serge Ibaka (courtesy U1st Sports)*Reprinted from Dime #42, on sale now*
After championships are won and lost, the NBA, college and high school basketball lays its foundation in the summer months. With the draft, the AAU circuit and summer camps giving rise to new stars replacing the old — plus the world’s most-watched basketball tournament getting underway in Beijing — we give you this summer’s Players 2 Watch, this week focusing on the NBA Draft…
SERGE IBAKA
“I feel like I’m much better today than (I was) two months ago,” says 18-year-old Serge Ibaka, speaking French through his translator. “And I expect to be better two months from now.”
That prospect of continual progress is just one reason why Ibaka, a 6-10, 220-pounder from the Republic of the Congo who this past season played in Spain’s top pro league, is ranked highly on so many ’08 NBA Draft boards. The others would be his insane vertical, eye-popping athleticism, rapidly developing offensive skill set, and aggressive style that have him being compared to a young Shawn Kemp.
“You can say basketball is in my veins,” says Serge, who has 17 brothers and sisters and whose parents both played on the national team in his home country. Serge began playing when he was six years old in Brazzaville, Congo, where live NBA games weren’t broadcast but tapes were available. His early education included heavy doses of Michael Jordan, and later on, Kevin Garnett.
After a star-making performance at last summer’s adidas Nations camp in New Orleans, Ibaka again shined on American soil at the ’08 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. In a “USA versus The World” game against some of this country’s best high school seniors, Ibaka put up eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“He’s an athlete and he plays hard. He’s definitely got the athleticism for the NBA,” says high school All-American and Louisville recruit Samardo Samuels, Ibaka’s teammate at the Hoop Summit representing Jamaica. “I think he could make the jump this year and he’d get picked. He’s real good.”
Every year, the NBA Draft gives us a Serge Ibaka or two (or 12) – international men of mystery that are just as likely to become All-Stars as they are likely to never set foot on an NBA court. Ibaka, who also speaks Spanish and is gradually learning English with the help of hip-hop lyrics, is dead-set on being in the League, and knows he’ll be under a microscope when that happens.
“I just want to go step by step,” Serge says in French. “My dream is to play in the NBA, but that’s not easy. I know a lot of people say. ‘Serge Ibaka is very good, he’s going to the NBA.’ But only I know the hard work that I put in every day, and the hard work that’s necessary to get to the NBA. So I know I just need to keep working hard an to play good and good things will come.”
June 24th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Celts Fan, "Kobe, Tell me how my @$$ tastes" says:
“But only I know the hard work that I put in every day, and the hard work that’s necessary to get to the NBA. So I know I just need to keep working hard an to play good and good things will come.”
at least the kid’s got the right attitude. But his “star-making game” was 8, 8, and 2? After everything we’ve heard, you’d think he dropped 20, 10 and 5…
check out the uni too. it kinda looks like a spine. I can’t decide if it’s kinda cool or completely terrible…
June 24th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
I’m still in my mid twenty’s but even I can remember a time when nobody used the word “potential” when talking about the NBA draft. The NBA used to be a league for proven players. I caught the 1982 draft on NBAtv this morning and not one time did I hear an analyst use the word potential. Players once used college as a device to display and hone their skills. Those days have long passed. Now all we see is one or two legit pros and everybody else has potential.
Shit I wished I could get a million dollar job based on my potential. My mother always said I have potential. Unfortunately she wouldn’t have made a very good GM.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
imungloloupaw says:
hmmmm dime i think you should have mentioned that the he was the mvp of the reebok euro camp. dude was getting like 7 blocks a night during that camp..
June 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
imungloloupaw says:
hmmmm wait.. sorry, he wasn’t the official mvp but the concensus was that he was head and shoulders better than anyone else in that camp
June 24th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Remy N says:
Dude he is not the second coming of Shawn Kemp, freaking Shawn Kemp Junior dunks with more authority.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Homeless J says:
which Shawn Kemp Junior? from which baby mama? 1 through 12?
June 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Kobeef says:
I think Seattle is going to grab Ibaka with their second first round pick of the draft which would be great for them
June 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Austin Burton says:
There actually is a Shawn Kemp Jr. He’s a high school junior in Georgia and is getting recruited by some major schools.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
doc says:
Well give me Kemp Jr over this prick and his 8 and 8.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
makedr says:
Really? hard to believe.i heard this news times from many friends playing on a tall dating site http:___Tallmingle.com___ ,i did not believe, i think that they are know nothing but dating and love.
i am wrong.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Len Bias says:
According to Eurobasket.com, Serge did not play in Spain’s top league (ACB). He played in Spain’s second division (LEB Gold)
July 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
bertrand says:
slt frero cmt se passe les choses en europe que le bon dieu te donne plus de chance pour que le basket congolais evolue mais n oublie ton plus beau pays le congo quio restera le pays de tes reves .merci frero .signe bertrand la chose ………………………………………………………………………………..tiao .bne chance a toi …………………………….