Sports Illustrated’s Rob Mahoney and Ben Golliver ranked the 100 best NBA players going into the 2014-15 season. With Paul George excluded from the rankings due to injury, one might expect Roy to be the lone Pacer with a high ranking.
Instead Roy Hibbert, last year’s early-season Defensive Player of the Year favorite, comes in as just the 52nd best player in the league. That is one spot ahead of Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith and one spot behind Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson.
Hibbert doesn’t even finish first on his team, with David West ranking 47th. (The two expert writers have have yet to unveil their top 30, but its safe to say that West will be the highest-ranking Pacer.)
More than quibbling about the numbers, this shows just how far the big fella from Georgetown’s reputation has fallen.
Golliver talks about Hibbert’s accomplishments and importance last season.
"Even acknowledging that his postseason performance was atrocious, the vitriol sent Hibbert’s way was excessive; he is still a very good, very valuable player. The center made his second All-Star team in 2014, has been one of the top candidates for Defensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons and was the most important player on the league’s No. 1 defense last year."
It’s been talked about enough but the first half of the season was amazing. They had an Eastern Conference best 40-12 record at that point. Hibbert made the All-Star game. Times were fun.
Pre All-Star break, Hibbert had the highest on-court rating on the team. He was the anchor.
But Golliver also dives into his flaws.
"Though his lack of quickness requires schematic accommodation on both sides of the ball, Hibbert is fundamentally sound and unafraid of guarding the paint and protecting the rim. Those skills regularly bear game-changing fruit. It was also easy to miss the fact that Indiana finished with the East’s No. 1 seed and came within two wins of the Finals despite the firestorm that surrounded Hibbert’s struggles. His play wasn’t pretty, to be sure, but it didn’t single-handedly sabotage his team’s title shot either."
The struggles after the All-Star very real but also overstated a bit.
Hibbert shot a career-low 43.9 percent from the field last season. For some with his height and strength, it should not be too difficult for Hibbert to make over half of his shots during an 82-game season.
Led by Hibbert’s rim protection, the Pacers still finished first in defensive rating and were tops in other defensive statistical categories. He was miserable throughout the first-round of the playoffs but he picked it up a bit against the Wizards. He scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds in game two of that series.
He played O.K. in their two wins against Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals. This ranking may seem a high but going into this season he’s going to have a lot of opportunity to demonstrate any improvements he made during the offseason.
Do you agree with Sports Illustrated’s ranking? Disagree? Let it be known in the comments.