Can Roy Hibbert Be An All-Star Big Man?
December 2nd, 2009 | by sweetbob |
Roy Hibbert was a stud at Georgetown and the Pacers were lucky to get him in the draft when they did. The Pacers haven’t had a serviceable big man since Rik Smits. Smits wasn’t a true big man, even though it was taller than most. He had a nice jump shot from about 12-13 feet from the rim. I don’t see Hibbert developing into a big man with range, but can he develop into a big-man who can bang in the paint and not get into foul trouble?
Hibbert has exceeded my expectations through the first 8 or 9 games of the season. If you look at Hibbert’s production and the win and loss records for when he scores double-digits, the Pacers are 5-2 when he scores in double-digits and 1-5 when he’s held to single digits. He has recently been taken out of the starting lineup in favor of Jeff Foster. The news reports do not mention any injury issues, just that he is in a slump. In the game against Golden State, he commited a foul on average of every 2 minutes that he was on the court. He only played 11 minutes and committed 5 fouls. If you take that average in a 48 minute game, he would foul out at the beginning of the 2nd quarter.
The Pacers need Hibbert to develop and the only way he can do that is for him to stay out of foul trouble. Teams are realizing that if they can go down-low early and work Hibbert, he will eventually end up on the bench with early fouls. Coach O’Brien knows this and maybe he hopes that having him come off the bench will help him adjust to the speed of the game, but so far it seems like it is backfiring.
Can Roy Hibbert be an All-Star big man? I think he has a shot, a great shot actually. Look at a guy like Erick Dampier, he struggled with the same issues in his first couple years in the league, but he got it straightened out. I believe Hibbert’s ceiling is actually higher than Dampier’s was and with the right coaches, he can turn into a force for the Pacers in the next few years.
Tags: erick dampier, jeff foster, jim o'brien, roy hibbert
By Brian Lucero on Dec 4, 2009
Idunno about Hibbert… if Al Jefferson can’t crack the All Star team I have a hard time believing Hibbert can, especially in the East where Dwight Howard, Brook Lopez, and even older cats like Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal and even Kendrick Perkins are having pretty good seasons. Never know tho.. even Ratliff made it once.
By Hum on Dec 13, 2009
You seem to have forgotten about Jermaine O’Neal. I would say he was a serviceable big man for the pacers.
By sweetbob on Dec 15, 2009
O’Neal was never a typical center. He is more suited to play his normal PF position. He wasn’t ever a paint-eater or big body to clog up lanes. He used technique to get his rebounds, he didn’t out-muscle guys.