You're probably right in that I didn't give Hibbert the credit he deserves by calling him an average rebounder. He was his first few years, but he's certainly above average, maybe good even by now. He's not nearly on the level of a Marcus Camby, though, who's a rebounding machine and IMO gets underrated, because of his advanced age. I think all of the guys I listed are either better or close to Hibbert's level. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Hibbert is a scrub, I just don't think he's a max player. Again, I'm not crazy about him defensively (transition, p&r and post D against bigger/stronger guys, foul proneness) and I just don't think you can undermine Hibberts' poor stamina that greatly impacts the impact he's able to make, as he's pretty much limited to 30 minutes a game. You say I'm ignoring the other aspects of his game. Well, ok. So he's a decent offensive player with good basketball IQ. That's nice and all, but doesn't quite justify max money in my book. Not possible.
Not sure who the Rockets could get anyways. We have Morey so that's obviously a disadvantage in getting stars. They don't like nerds and numbers cruncher's. So they are not coming here. Morey should concentrate on the draft/trades.
That's fair. Marcus Camby in his younger days was a different story, I agree. I like what Hibbert brings to the table overall. He certainly has his flaws, but time is certainly on his side. He's going to command at least $10 million a year and that isn't too far off from the the maximum a team could throw at him. At this point, the Rockets don't really have many options not named Anthony Davis, but they pretty much chucked that out the window when they decided they wanted to be the "best of the worst" when everybody else (clearly non-playoff teams) decided to tank.
Of course you offer him his max. Just to keep the Pacers honest. Then sit back in your chair and wait 20 seconds before they match you +.
I don't think the Pacers will let him leave. But if Houston wants him badly and wants to have any chance of getting him, they probably will need to overpay him and I mean big time. Sad, but true I'm afraid...
Under normal circumstances this seems like a sketchy idea, but Kevin McHale as our coach gives me more incentive to overpay big guys. Especially younger ones.
Ok so we get Hibbert, then what? We still have 20 guys under contract and no playing time for them. First pare down the roster with trades. I don't care what you get back, future firsts, future seconds, whatever. If we're really going forward with these young guys, make space for them. Hibbert won't make us championship contenders. But if one of our young guys explodes into an allstar, that's a building block to add to Hibbert.
I'd go for a big youth movement, sign hibbert, resign camby. 1. Dragic/Livingston 2. Lee/Lamb 3. Parsons/White/Morris 4. Patterson/D-Mo/Jones 5. Hibbert/Camby Trading Lowry/Martin/Scola for future picks or perhaps some young talent. This lineup is young and unproven for the most part, but does have some upside. I could see Lamb/White perhaps evolving into a star. And I think Hibbert is a top 5 center in the nba. 1. Dwight 2. Bynum ... after that its a crapshoot. At the very best Lamb develops into a mold of T-Mac/K-Mart, Royce White develops into a star and D-Mo becomes a poorman dirk. With that, Parsons/Lee as role players, and Dragic developing in a solid starting PG, we could have something. At the very worse none of that happens, and we end up in the lottery and a chance to draft a superstar. A win-win if you ask me, because I think both above options are better than a one year rental of Dwight.
With a contract like that, two years from now we'll be begging someone to take Hibbert off our hands.
For all the venom being spit around here, that is a pretty realistic and hopeful scenario. I like it.
i wouldnt pay more than that either...unfortunately , anything NOT higher than that WILL be matched by Indiana
he is definitely worth that much - an all star, top 4 center in the league (after Howard, Bynum, Gasol), great passer (something key to McHale's offense), good shot blocker, and young. I feel like Indiana, however, will match just about any offer for him, including a max.
