Get Roy Hibbert Out! By Ant Taylor

 

If you've been watching the NBA Playoffs, I'm sure you're aware of Roy Hibbert's non-existence on the floor. Ant "the rANT" Talyor explains why Hibbert should be traded in the off season. Read his points after the jump.

Pacers Must Consider Trading Hibbert After The Season..

Indiana Pacers center, Roy Hibbert, has been a major disappointment to say the least. He doesn't pass the boxscore test. He fails the eye test miserably. I feel that if the Pacers do not make it until at least the NBA Finals (not saying they need to win it, but they have to at least make an appearance), then they should strongly consider trading Roy Hibbert. He are some reasons why..

1) He Doesn't Rebound

If you didn't know already, Roy Hibbert is 7'2" and weighs somewhere in the neighborhood between 275 and 290 pounds. During the regular season he averaged 6.6 rebounds per game (SIX POINT SIX!!! - teammate Lance Stephenson, who is a full 10 inches shorter, averaged 6.8) and in the playoffs its even WORSE, at 3.3 rebounds per game. Watching the games he looks slower and unmotivated. Now I understand his matchups (Pero Antic from Atlanta & Nene from Washington) may be a little tough because those two guys are great at stretching the floor by hitting long range shots and it draws him away from the rim. But he's allowing those same guys to drive past him to the rim. He looks slow. I don't know if he's out of shape (doesn't look like it) or what but he seems to be out of it.

2) His Body Language Is Terrible At Times

The next time Hibbert picks up two quick personal fouls, watch him when he goes to the bench. He has this mopey look on his face and he'll sit there with a towel over his head looking depressed. Now his attitude has gotten better. He's up off the bench, standing and cheering whenever his teammates do something great. But early in the series versus Atlanta it has been absolutely terrible at times. There was one instance where he didn't join his teammates during a time-out session. I'm interested to see what his attitude is if the Pacers trail for most of the series versus the Wizards like the did with the Hawks.

3) His Contract Is Horrible

In the summer of 2012, Hibbert signed on for another 4 years / $58.4 million (total) with the Pacers. At the time it was a great move because a) they didn't want another team to try to steal him away and b) he was on the rise. During the 2011-12 season (season right before he signed the deal) he averaged 12.8 points along with 8.8 rebounds. Not "elite" numbers but he showed great improvement back then. Since then, it progressively has gotten worse..

(pts - rebs - blks)

- '11-12 (season before last): 12.8 - 8.8 - 2.0

- '12-13 (last season): 11.9 - 8.3 - 2.6

- '13-14 (this season): 10.8 - 6.6 - 2.2

His blocks look great, but his points and rebounds have gotten worse. After this year officially ends, he would have 2 years / $30.4 million (total) left on his contract. You cannot continue to pay a guy an average of $15 million per year if he's only giving you 11 and 7 per night. In the playoffs, it has gotten even WORSE believe it or not..

(same as above)

- '12-13: 17.0 - 9.9 - 1.9

- '13-14: 4.6 - 3.3 - 1.4 (2 games recording 0 points, 0 rebounds: Gm 5 vs ATL & Gm 1 vs WSH)

The Pacers have to realize that unless the center is a dominant player (Dwight Howard) or makes a great impact on both ends of the floor (Joakim Noah, Marc Gasol), you cant pay him "elite" money. They could easily start Ian Mahinmi (brings energy) or bring in someone else who can do a much better job than Hibbert at only a fraction of the cost. They'll need to create more cap space to re-sign Stephenson and to upgrade at point guard (George Hill isn't cutting it but more on him some other time) and the best way to do that is to trade Hibbert. They cant use the amnesty clause because they already used it on James Posey back in 2011. The question is who is stupid enough to trade for him IF the Pacers decide to trade him.. I just hope it isn't the Los Angeles Lakers (my team).

(this is all just an opinion, no speculation from the media or anywhere.. for now)

Thanks for reading.