Post by Rog on Mar 9, 2017 2:16:08 GMT
The 69th nominee of the NBN Hall of Fame, Roy Hibbert, was an absolute monster defensively. He won multiple defensive player of the year awards, and was just a destructive force on that end of the court. We've seen other defensive monsters get denied, was Hibbert a complete enough player to get him over that hump or will he get similar treatment here? Let's take a look.
Career Stats
34.5 MPG, 13.3 PPG, 13.2 RPG, 1.9 APG, 3.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG, 2 TOPG on 40.9% from the field and 77.8% from the line
Best Season
Celtics(2012) - 16.1 PPG, 13.5 RPG, 1.8 APG, 3.9 BPG, 1.4 SPG, 1.9 TOPG on 42.4% from the field and 79.3% from the line
Career Highs
Points: 36
Rebounds: 28
Assists: 9
Steals: 6
Blocks: 12
Achievements
Championships: 2
Player of the Game: 94
Player of the Week: 0
Player of the Month: 0
Double Doubles: 644
Triple Doubles: 10
Accolades
2007 - All-Defensive Second Team
2008 - All-League Third Team
2010 - All-Star Game Participant
2010 - All-League Second Team
2010 - Defensive Player of the Year
2010 - All-Defensive Team
2011 - All-Star Game Participant
2011 - All-League Second Team
2011 - Defensive Player of the Year
2011 - All-Defensive Team
2012 - All-Star Game Participant
2012 - All-League Third Team
2012 - Defensive Player of the Year
2012 - All-Defensive Team
2013 - All-League Third Team
2013 - All-Defensive Second Team
2014 - All-League Third Team
2014 - All-Defensive Second Team
Arguments For Induction
- Hibbert was the single most decorated defensive-first player in league history, bar none. He finished his career playing in three All-Star Games, be named to four All-League Third teams and two All-League Second teams as well. Defensively, he was named to three All-Defensive Second Teams and three All-Defensive First teams. The biggest honor for a guy like Hibbert though, defensive player of the year, Roy won it three straight years(all while winning titles two of those years as well).
- It is arguable that Hibbert's defense was every bit as valuable to the Celtics title run as Childress's offense and CP3's distribution were. And I don't think that is an underestimation. Hibbert was named the best defensive player in the league, putting together three of the greatest defensive center seasons of All-Time. All told, Hibbert averaged a crazy 4.6 stocks a game for his career, a number that I'd love to have for just a single season for a player, Hibbert did those numbers of his career averaging 3.5 blocks and 1.1 steals a game. But during the bulk of his prime he did 3.8 blocks and 1.3 steals, which is absolutely unreal. Hibbert finished his career 3rd in blocks, despite having a somewhat short career, he retired at 33. Hibbert is by far, the greatest defensive big man to ever play the game, potentially defensive player period. That is Hall of Fame worthy alone.
- To not be a one dimensional player, Hibbert averaged 13.2 rebounds a game, which again for one season would generally get you on the leaderboards, but Hibbert averaged that for a career. Again, kind of deflated by his last two seasons and his rookie year, take those away and he was a guy who you could almost guarantee would grab you near 14 boards a game. In fact, he averaged at least 13.5 a game for ten straight seasons, averaging over 14 four times in his career, crazy. He also finished 7th in rebounds All-Time, pretty impressive.
- He wasn't entirely useless on offense, which should set him above guys like Scott Pollard. He averaged 13 points a game and had seasons over 15 points a game. He might have never been effective scoring, but he at least gave you something on that end to where he wasn't entirely useless like some players were.
- Overall, its a tough case to argue that someone with the awards Hibbert has, and the sheer stats in certain areas, that this dude wasn't a Hall of Famer. A guy who could, at his best, give you 15 points, 14.5 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1.4 steals, seems like a Hall of Famer to me. Also, this dude absolutely won in his career.
Arguments Against Induction
- It is arguable that hes not quite there in awards that aren't defensive awards. He wasn't considered a top three center for enough of his career, was he?
- He wasn't a total negative on offense, but he nearly was. Shooting 41% for his career is pretty awful. He took a lot of shots from players who were actually good at scoring. Plus he had a negative assist to turnover ratio, he just wasn't good at finding open guys when he got the ball in the post, period.
- Was Roy Hibbert the best defensive center of all time? Probably. But we've seen monster defensive guys fail to get the support they should in the past, what sets Hibbert apart? Shitty volume offense? Doesn't make a whole big difference to me honestly. Should a pure defensive player actually be in the Hall of Fame? The league really has to decide.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
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