Roy Hibbert Discussion 2015-16: No Buyout

Yes.

Most players with less than amazing athletic ability build a much better base of fundamentals at a younger age to remain competitive. Two reasons you see so many 7 footers with horrid fundamental games is that typically just being tall with a long wingspan is enough to get on the floor at the lower levels. Being athletic on top of that typically means you don't have to do anything else to get a starting position. By the time an athletic 7 footer gets to the Pro's the the "gap" between their athletic ability and that of others at their position is narrowed considerably and then fundamentals become much more important.

Disciplined players and driven ones can be separated a little from ones who are physically gifted IMHO. Bynum had maturity problems but he was able to become very fundamentally sound at this level. That was in part because he wasn't relied upon to be "the guy" in the middle because we had the luxury of Pau. Bynum had a level of discipline that resulted in he becoming a pretty complete player... albeit with some significant maturity issues and chronic knee problems.

Shaq on the other hand had such a significant advantage physically he never bettered his game at this level. It was obvious that he was not working on becoming better at this level and the stories of him shooting thousands of free throws in the offseason I think were mix ups between twinkies and Free Throws. Once he started to lose his advantage physically his game started to slide pretty rapidly. Imagine Shaq with a 12 foot face up jumper shooting 70% from the line. That easily could have happened.

A player who has been in the league for a number of years who is shooting below 50% from the free throw line is a liability. To me Jordan is a perfect example of that. The league agrees it seems as his FT's shot doubled in the playoffs over the regular season and the Clips were left with no timeouts in 4 playoff games because they had to get him off the court down the stretch. That is the definition of impact.

 

I think you nailed it with the bold above. That's exactly it IMO.

Yeah - Scott is the kind of guy to surround himself with yes-men. He's a stubborn, knuckleheaded guy. He's not an idiot by any means but he's not exactly the most open minded guy either. Phil had that characteristic but Phil was so hippie-ish in his ways that you know he was open to change. Byron seems pretty straight and narrow, and that's not a good thing.

 

I want Coop and Norm or Silk but they probably can't stand Byron

 

Really? I could see Nixon not being able to stand him but Coop and Wilkes?

 

There was a time when Hibbert was near the top of my wishlist (probably around No. 3). If he can get to that level again, he would make not a big but huge difference. Lack of defense has been the main problem (at least in my opinion) of this Lakers squad. If he pans out, he will not only help on this side of the floor immensely, but alo help initiate fastbreaks, which could be one of the bigger strengths of this roster .

Please just do something about his mental issues, I kind of fear he might wilt once Kobe gets at him for whatever reason.

 

A rook is always a rook just speculatin' but you know there's always sibling jealousy, like Fredo said "You're my kid brother and you take care of me?!"

 

I agree. I probably didn't phrase what I meant correctly. I don't expect Kobe to be somehow extra hard on Hibbert or have a bad relationship with him. It's just that Kobe can be rough in certain situations and sooner or later, Roy will be at the receiving end for something he does on the court. I'm kinda worried about his reaction when that happens

 

Kobe 3-4 years ago for sure. The last couple of years he's been much more of a mentor for everyone and has taken a more relaxed approach on the court. He knows he hasn't much time left on the court so he really wants to groom the next time to be successful. The Kobe I've noticed in interviews has been so much more relaxed, like he's always on vacation and not 100% basketball.

Doesn't mean he won't bring it in the court, it's in his blood. And if you're just goofin' off and playing half-witted, he'll let you know.

 

That's because he wanted George Karl...

 

Spending an hour or a even a day is quite different from spending an entire NBA season being under Byron Scott is what I mean.