Roy Hibbert

Roy Hibbert

Hibbert facing Joakim Noah
No. 55 – Indiana Pacers
Position	Center
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1986-12-11) December 11, 1986 Queens, New York
Nationality	American / Jamaican
Listed height	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Listed weight	290 lb (132 kg)
Career information
High school	Georgetown Prep (North Bethesda, Maryland)
College	Georgetown (2004–2008)
NBA draft	2008: 1st round, 17th overall pick
Selected by the Toronto Raptors
Playing career	2008–present
Career history
2008–present	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star (2012, 2014) Consensus second team All-American (2008) 2× First team All-Big East (2007, 2008)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Roy Denzil Hibbert (born December 11, 1986) is an American-Jamaican professional basketball center with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He graduated from Georgetown University in 2008. He was drafted 17th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors and was immediately traded to the Pacers on draft night. He has represented the Jamaican national team in international competition; he was eligible because he has dual U.S. and Jamaican citizenship. On February 9, 2012, Hibbert was selected to his first All-Star Game as a reserve for the Eastern Conference.

Background

Hibbert was born in Queens, New York City to Roy, Sr. and Patty Hibbert. His father is originally from Jamaica and his mother from Trinidad. The family moved to Adelphi, Maryland when Roy was two. Around that time, the New York Post states that his parents introduced him to basketball after they had "tried to get him to play tennis, then golf, then the piano."

College career

Hibbert helped lead the Georgetown Hoyas to the 2006-07 conference championship.

Hibbert was named to the All-Big East Second Team in 2006 along with teammate Jeff Green. In 2007, he and Green were unanimous selections to the All-Big East First Team, with Green earning Big East Player of the Year honors. The two led the Hoyas to victory in the 2007 Big East Conference Championship for the first time since 1989 against the Pittsburgh Panthers; Hibbert contributed a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Before the 2007–08 season he was named Big East's preseason player of the year. He was also named a pre-season All-American along with the likes of Tyler Hansbrough, whose North Carolina Tar Heels were upset by Hibbert's Hoyas in the Elite Eight of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

Hibbert had repeatedly said that he planned to play all four years and graduate from Georgetown, continuing the tradition of graduating Hoya centers such as Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo. However, his performance in helping to lead the Hoyas to the 2007 Final Four catapulted him into lottery pick status. Hibbert declared his eligibility for the 2007 NBA Draft, but did not sign with an agent. On May 23, 2007, Hibbert announced he would return to school for his senior season. Hibbert said of Georgetown, "My heart was here. ... I feel like I have unfinished business here." Following the Hoyas' upset loss to Davidson in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Hibbert's collegiate career came to a close.

In college, Hibbert was often referred to as the "Big Stiff" from reporters and fans.

NBA career

Roy Hibbert posts up Marcin Gortat

Hibbert was drafted 17th overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 2008 NBA draft. On July 9, 2008, his rights were traded to the Indiana Pacers. On July 15, he signed his first professional contract with the Pacers.

In 2012, he was selected to the 2012 NBA All-Star Game as a reserve for the East. Playing just 10 minutes, Hibbert only recorded 3 points, on 1-3 shooting.

In Game 1 of the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs against the Orlando Magic, Hibbert recorded 9 blocks.

On July 13, 2012, Hibbert re-signed with the Pacers on a reported four-year, $58 million contract.

On November 21, 2012, Hibbert set a career high by recording 11 blocks as part of a 10 point/11 rebound/11 block triple-double in a victory against the New Orleans Hornets. The 11 blocks also broke the franchise record for most blocks in a single game, and Hibbert became only the second player in Pacers history (alongside Jermaine O'Neal) to record a points-rebounds-blocks triple-double.

In Game 3 of a 2013 Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the New York Knicks, Hibbert recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds in a Pacers win. In Game 6, Hibbert recorded 25 points and 12 rebounds, along with 5 blocks, including a significant block on Carmelo Anthony, which led the Pacers to the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals. Hibbert averaged 15.8 points and 3.8 blocks in this series.

During the post-game interview after Game 6 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, Hibbert was fined $75,000 by the NBA. Hibbert apologized for his comments in a statement released by the Pacers: "I am apologizing for insensitive remarks made during the postgame press conference after our victory over Miami Saturday night," he said. "They were disrespectful and offensive and not a reflection of my personal views. I used a slang term that is not appropriate in any setting, private or public, and the language I used definitely has no place in a public forum, especially over live television. I apologize to those who I have offended, to our fans and to the Pacers' organization."

Hibbert was selected as an All-Star reserve for the East in 2014. Playing only 12 minutes, he tallied 8 points on 4-5 shooting. At the end of the season, Hibbert finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting with 166 out of the 1125, losing to Joakim Noah, who had 555 of the points. Hibbert averaged 2.2 blocks per game.

During the 2014 NBA playoffs, Hibbert would end up having scoreless games in games 4 and 5 of the Pacers' first round match against the 8 seeded Atlanta Hawks. He would end up being the second All-Star to ever go scoreless in consecutive games in the playoffs, with the first being Jim King back in 1968.

International basketball

In the summer of 2007, Hibbert was the starting center on the U.S. team, which was composed of college players, at the 2007 Pan-American Games.

In 2008, he began to represent Jamaican national team. He has dual U.S. and Jamaican citizenship due to his father. He was named captain of the team in 2010 and represented them in the 2010 Centrobasket.

NBA career statistics

Correct as of February 17, 2014

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2008–09	Indiana	70	42	14.4	.471	.000	.667	3.5	.7	.3	1.1	7.1
2009–10	Indiana	81	69	25.1	.495	.500	.754	5.7	2.0	.4	1.6	11.7
2010–11	Indiana	81	80	27.7	.461	.000	.745	7.5	2.0	.4	1.8	12.7
2011–12	Indiana	65	65	29.8	.497	.000	.711	8.8	1.7	.5	2.0	12.8
2012–13	Indiana	79	79	28.7	.448	.250	.741	8.3	1.4	.5	2.6	11.9
2013–14	Indiana	73	73	30.2	.458	.400	.771	6.9	1.2	.4	2.4	11.2
Career		428	387	25.9	.472	.300	.732	6.9	1.6	.4	1.9	11.3
All-Star		2	0	11.0	.625	.000	1.000	4.0	1.5	.0	.0	5.5

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2011	Indiana	5	5	26.4	.444	.000	.706	6.8	.6	.4	1.8	10.4
2012	Indiana	11	11	30.9	.500	1.000	.667	11.2	1.1	.4	3.1	11.7
2013	Indiana	19	19	36.5	.511	.000	.806	9.9	1.4	.2	1.9	17.0
Career		35	35	33.3	.500	1.000	.763	9.9	1.2	.3	2.3	14.4

See also

• List of National Basketball Association players with most blocks in a game

Further reading

• Jordan Conn, "The Roy Hibbert Project: How the Indiana Pacers' All-Star Center Avoided Becoming a Stiff," Grantland.com, May 2, 2012.
• Tim Davenport, "Hibbertmania!" Pinwheel Empire, July 8, 2012.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• Official website
• Georgetown bio
• Roy Hibbert on Instagram