Since the end of the 2016-2017 season, we haven't seen Hibbert on the NBA. The brevity of his peak and the rapidity of his fall are lamentable. Recently, the NBA once again came to hibbert's news. The 76ers officially hired Hibbert as a player development consultant whose playing career will never go back.
From being a mainstay against the Heat's Big Three to the rapid extinction of the NBA Stadium, Hibbert has tasted a variety of life. Hibbert's career is not legendary, but full of fantasy.
The height of 218cm is perhaps the biggest reason why Hibbert has been able to play in the NBA for 9 seasons. As a player with equally obvious strengths and weaknesses, he made the league teams very entangled in the draft. Hibbert's strengths are: he has a height of 218cm, has top-notch rim protection ability, and is good at completing the cap without fouls. However, his shortcomings are also prominent: sometimes he leaves the game inexplicably, his finishing ability is not good, and his rebounding is not good.
So he was only selected by the NBA at the age of 21, so his draft pick was only 17.
Soon, he was traded by the Raptors to the Indiana Pacers.
Fortunately, his NBA career has finally begun.
In the 2008-2009 season, Hibbert averaged 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, shooting 47.1% from the field.
In the 2009-2010 season, Hibbert averaged 11.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, shooting 49.5 percent from the field.
In the 2010-2011 season, Hibbert averaged 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 46.1 percent from the field.
Hibbert's on-field performance, as described in the Scouting Report, had its strengths and weaknesses clear. However, the advantage of the older draft is that it can quickly show immediate combat strength. Although Hibbert's performance is not so dazzling, his growth is obvious to all. The Indiana Pacers also gradually transitioned from playoff outsiders to participants. All indications are that Hibbert's growth has been beneficial to his career and has also benefited the team a lot.
The 2011-2012 season was the final year of Hibbert's rookie contract, and he went a step further. He averaged 12.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, shooting 49.7 percent from the field, a career-high. The Pacers also made a breakthrough in the playoffs, successfully reaching the second round.
In the second round of the 2012 playoffs, Hibbert ushered in the "nobleman" of his career. Hibbert's Pacers, led by the Big Three, met in the playoffs for three consecutive years. The confrontation between the two teams made a classic of that era and also made Hibbert's career a wishful thinking.
In the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Hibbert averaged 12.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, and the Pacers lost to the Heat 2-4.
In the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals, Hibbert averaged 22.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game, and the Pacers lost 3-4 to the Heat.
In the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, Hibbert averaged 10.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game, and the Pacers lost 2-4 to the Heat.
Admittedly, Hibbert was sluggish in the 2014 series with the Heat, but his presence did pose a great threat to the Heat. The heat's weaknesses in the interior were well known, and Bosh and Haslem were completely unable to stop Hibbert. The Heat's battle against the Pacers turned into an outside and inside race. Maybe it's a race against fate, with the Pacers being eliminated by the Heat for three consecutive years. The small-ball lineup meets the traditional lineup and ends in a small-ball victory.
The playoff loss doesn't define Hibbert and the Pacers, who are participants in this playoff classic. For Hibbert, the series against the Heat proved its worth, and there will still be teams willing to believe that traditional centers can compete with the era of tenacious small ball. For the Pacers, this is another peak in the history of the team, and the memory left behind is precious.
With the end of the 2012 playoffs, Hibbert's rookie contract expired. Whether it's the regular season or the playoffs, Hibbert deserves a higher contract. In particular, the series with the Heat impressed the teams in the league. The Pacers certainly didn't want to lose the All-Star big man, matching the offer the Blazers gave. In 4 years, 58.36 million, Hibbert ushered in the peak of his life.
From the rise of the 2011-2012 season to the strength of the 2014-2015 season, Hibbert experienced the most wonderful 4 years of his career. It was only when he was a young man that he failed to make his career further. But for a big man with a clear flaw in the 17th order, that's enough. Hibbert eventually became a two-time All-Star and was named to the Defensive Team of the 2013-2014 Season.
Maybe Hibbert instinctively did better, but in any case, that was his pinnacle.
Hibbert earned money and accolades for his outstanding performances in the series against the Heat. However, the trend of his career had been frozen at that time. As one of the representatives of the traditional center, he lost the showdown with the small ball storm. Competitive sports have always been results-oriented, and traditional centers are gradually being swallowed up. Hibbert's career was also drowned in the wave of small-ball storms.
The small ball play originated from the sun under D'Antoni's coaching, and the running and bombardment style of running and running in the clouds is very ornamental. The Heat of the Big Three period continued to play small balls because of the configuration of the lineup. The Golden State Warriors promoted Green to position due to David Lee's injury and promoted the small-ball play. Nowadays, the small ball storm has long swept the league and become the trend of the times. Talented centers such as Embiid, Towns, Jokic and others cannot reverse this trend.
The eventual formation of this trend depends on the achievements of teams that play small ball. Under D'Antoni's Suns, the regular season achieved impressive results and contributed to Nash's two regular season MVPs. However, the consecutive losses in the playoffs have made this style of play not widely recognized. In the era of the Heat's Big Three, the small ball play style reappeared in the league. Although it has suffered a lot against teams with traditional centers, it has been a certain success. Since then, this style of play has begun to spread in the league. The rise of the Golden State Warriors is due to the small ball play. The lack of a strong traditional centerhead makes other teams unable to dominate the Warriors' box. The Golden State Warriors had great success, and a small-ball storm eventually formed.
Hibbert and his Pacers coincided with the gradual rise of small ball play, and it was inevitable that they would be affected. After their consecutive playoff defeats, the balance of the times began to tilt in favor of the way they played small balls. Hibbert became an outcast of his time, and his career took a sharp turn for the worse.
In the 2011-2012 season, Hibbert averaged 12.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, the pinnacle of his career.
In the 2014-2015 season, Hibbert averaged 10.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and his performance has slipped.
In the 2016-2017 season, Hibbert averaged only 4.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game, and he has a hard time surviving in the league.
The small-ball era didn't completely destroy the traditional center, because Embiid, Downs, Jokic and others found their places in this league. But the small-ball era completely destroyed Hibbert's career, causing him to gradually disappear from the league. Since the 2016-2017 season, we have not seen Hibbert on the field. Hibbert, who had been extremely popular, was eventually eliminated by the small ball era. His rapid fall is a true portrayal of the evolution of the traditional center forward role.
After two seasons of fading from the league, Hibbert is back in our sights again. Only this time he was no longer a player, but a player development consultant. The big man who played in the NBA for 9 seasons finally found his home after two seasons of fading out of the league. Hopefully, in the position of player development consultant, Hibbert can shine his own light.
This is Roy Hilbert's story, it's not perfect, but it's true enough.