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| Roy Hibbert, Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team player, following the official administration celebration of the team's 2007 season. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Indiana's Roy Hibbert isn't averaging double-digits in points but is being paid double digits in millions of dollars this season. Even so, the regressing former All-Star center is confident he will eventually be the NBA's best at his position.
"People said I wouldn't be in the NBA," said Hibbert, the highest-paid Pacer at $13.8 million this season. "People said I wouldn't be a starting center, this, that and the other. I just prove people wrong. I'm having a slump right now, but in the grand scheme of things I'm going to turn it around and hopefully be the best when it's all said and done."
Hibbert aims to top Dwight Howard as the widely accepted best center in the NBA. A fake Hibbert Instagram account took a shot at Howard recently and gained some traction on the Internet before it was debunked – "I'm the best center in the league #[expletive]Dwight" it read.
"That wasn't me, but I will be the best center in the league one day," Hibbert said.
The Pacers' big man has some work to do. Through 20 games, Hibbert is averaging 9.8 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. He's currently at career-lows in field-goal percentage (38) and free-throw percentage (62). It's a far cry from last season's start, when he averaged 13.8 points and 9.6 rebounds in his first 33 games, numbers good enough to earn his first All-Star appearance as an Eastern Conference reserve.
After leaving All-Star weekend in Orlando, Hibbert has gone backward offensively and earning a big new contract this past summer – $58 million over four years – hasn't helped improve his game.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--struggling-pacer-roy-hibbert-expects-to-live-up-to--58m-deal--surpass-dwight-howard-as-nba-s-top-center--175516403.html
