As a fervent fan of my almost-home town NBA franchise, I often check what other people think is going to happen in the upcoming draft. Speaking of which, is it just me, or has this draft been the most unpredictable in recent memory? It went from knowing the first pick, to knowing the first 2 picks, to not knowing what the hell is going to happen 1-10. There are just so many options, it's like a carnival game of popping balloons with darts. We'll look over the top 10 picks later, but I want to speak specifically of the 19th pick in Chad Ford's Mock Draft 6.0. Cleveland picks... Roy Hibbert. Uh, what? For the life of me, I can't understand why the Cavs - or anyone - would pick Roy Hibbert to play for them.
I guess, he's tall. And you can't teach tall!
First of all, from the Cavaliers side, they don't need some sluggish clone of Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I thought the whole idea, was to get an athletic scoring center. Okay, even a slightly unathletic one, I said scoring, right?
Second of all, from a league perspective, this guy is a terrible prospect. He's got tall, and he's somewhat efficient, and unspectacular, on both the defensive and offensive ends of the floor. But here's my biggest issues with him: 6.4 rebounds a game. That's right, this guy is seven feet tall and he's only managed to average 6.4 rebounds per game. I can't even understand how that works. How can he not average nearly 10 rebounds per game. I mean, he's taller than everyone on the floor. He's also bigger, so they can't get around him. I'm puzzled, perplexed, and confused.
That really has to be disconcerting for teams. That the one thing he should be able to do because of his unteachable quality he can't do all that well. In fact, what's really scary is that he only got double-figured rebounds five times all year, against such stalwarts as ODU (10), Depaul (11), Pittsburgh (10), and West Virginia twice (10, 13). What's more? He got 3 or less rebounds seven (!!) times. That's inexcusable no matter how you slice it.
Alright, so his rebounding is apparently not that great, but apparently neither is his work ethic, and personal basketball growth:
| SEASON | MIN | PTS | REB | STL | BLK | PF | FG% | FT% |
| 2004-2005 | 15.8 | 5.1 | 3.5 | .3 | 1.3 | 2.3 | .469 | .662 |
| 2005-2006 | 24.0 | 11.6 | 6.9 | .2 | 1.6 | 2.1 | .590 | .723 |
| 2006-2007 | 26.4 | 12.9 | 6.9 | .5 | 2.4 | 2.8 | .671 | .686 |
| 2007-2008 | 26.3 | 13.4 | 6.4 | .5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | .609 | .646 |
Throughout his career, Roy Hibbert has clearly been an average player at best, but why did he not get more than marginally better in his last 3 years? The jump from his freshman to his sophomore season is encouraging, he doubled just about every significant category; increased his free-throw and field-goal percentage, as well as points, and rebounds. But from then on he managed just under 2 points a game more and half a rebound less. His senior campaign by far was the most discouraging because his shooting, blocks, and rebounds all suffered while his offensive output was microscopically larger with nearly identical playing time.
I don't think he was any good at Georgetown. I don't think he'll be any good in the Pros, and I don't want him on my team.
