Hibbert is 7'2, you can't teach 7'2 the guy doesn't have do allot to become a valuable piece. If he can board and not be turnover prone, and hit open shots he almost becomes an all star.
Except he can't rebound. He's 7'2" and he couldn't even get 7 rebounds a game in college. Do you know how frustrating that is to watch every game? You wind up screaming "Box out, for God's sake! Just box out one time!" the entire game. I live in DC and got to see a lot of his games on TV this past season. For his size, he is not a good inside player, at all. It is painful to watch Hibbert play, and that was just in college, when I couldn't have cared less if Georgetown won or not. I don't even like to think about how frustrating it would be to watch him play for the Celtics.
His rebounding is an interesting issue. IMO, it's difficult to predict if Hibbert is going to be a good/average/bad/terrible rebounder in the NBA (he's not quick and athletic enough to be excellent).
- Hibbert only averaged 26 minutes per game, almost the same he averaged in the 2 previous ones. There are 2 reasons for this: the first should raise a yellow flag and it's his stamina. Not a red flag because he's not going to be asked to play for or against running teams in the NBA. The other is nothing to worry about: he falls in foul trouble a lot because of touch fouls that aren't called in the NBA (at least those he gets in the paint, he also fouls a lot reaching outside but that's another story).
- Hibbert averaged 6.3 rpg. That's a scary number. But one has to factor his playing time and the (slow) pace of his team. His rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted are 10.3. Brook Lopes, another legit 7ft, averaged 11. Koufos: 9.9. McGee: 10.7. Not much of a difference (although it's still puzzling that his numbers decreased in his senior season, that's another yellow flag).
- Now, Georgetown runs the "Princeton" offense, a system that relies heavily in passing. It was the same offense Adelman ran in those famous and very enjoyable Sacramento Kings teams in the beginning of the century. This offense demands a big man with great passing abilities, like Hibbert, that is frequently asked to play in the high post. This hurts not only his scoring efficiency - as he rarely gets touches near the basket - but also his chances of grabbing offensive boards. I can understand why you don't consider him a good inside player - centers aren't true inside players in that scheme.
- When it comes to the deff. rebounding, there are two major philosophies: attack the ball or protect the space. Georgetown's coach follows very strictly the later one and that hurts Hibbert rebounding numbers. We have different opinions here, as I think he is quite good doing it (the boxing out). It's a very textbook and mechanical thing - opponent, pivot, blockout - but he executes it flawlessly. Once again, he's doing what he was told to do, what he does in practices. A good way to figure out if Hibbert is being effective in the deff. reb. would be by checking if the Hoyas as a team concede many off. rebs when he's on the pitch.
I'm not trying to be apologetic by any means and I agree that rebounding is a very serious concern when evaluating Hibbert. Just being able to block out is not very effective in the NBA - you need aggressiveness and intuition to survive under the basket. But I don't believe it's wise to conclude anything definitive about his rebounding just yet. Despite being a senior, he's still 21 (he's 19 months older than a junior like DeAndre Jordan, not 4 years). By all accounts, he's very coachable, intelligent and a very hard-working kid. That can very well be enough to allow him to learn how to follow and "read" a ball and going quick for the rebound instead of just blocking the opponent and wait. This is why NBA teams have development coaches after all.
Topic: Roy Hibbert - can the Celtics reach up to low 20's and draft him? (Read 25324 times)