I thought I heard that they had a little buyer remorse for paying him so much. Either way, Hickson has a higher PER and would give them a nice inside scorer to pair with Paul George. West is a FA this summer and that dude isn't worth what he probably thinks he's worth.
Except Hibbert impacts the game much more than Hickson. Swapping the two would be a huge mistake for Indy.
It could also be a huge mistake for the Blazers. Hibbert's contract is an albatross. He's locked in at just under $45 mill for the next 3 years.
I wish. Throw in an 'up and coming combo guard' from Duke and next year's draft pick (since we are about to lose this year's).
I would do it. The Blazers need a defensive center more than anything else, and Hibbert is most definitely a top 5 defensive anchor in the league. He would complete the "core" with Lillard, LMA, and Batum. I'm not too concerned about the cap, they will have enough to absorb Hibbert's contract and not run into the luxury tax. Then they can slowly acquire role players from the draft/MLE/trades, etc.
Exactly. Hibbert is a position of need for us. It would be worth overpaying him, and then re-signing Maynor. Maybe trying to draft the best possible scorer for the bench. I don't see how Hibbert impacts the game more though. Hickson pretty much puts up bigger numbers in every category other than blocks. Higher PER. Higher scoring average. Higher rebounds. MUCH higher FG %.
Defense is half the game. Hickson gives you absolutely 0 on that side, whereas Hibbert is one of the best.
Hibbert is the only "possibly" obtainable center I'm strongly interested in. The rest are either aging stop gaps while we pray Leonard pans out, or flawed and not much of an improvement over Hickson.
I Know what you guys are getting at, but where Hibbert is superior on defense, Hickson is vastly superior on offense. He's younger, and he will most likely command much less in terms of a contract. I don't see Hickson getting more than 8 or 9 million. Hibbert is currently at 13 million per year. They're about to spend big bucks re-signing Paul George. Indy is a small market without a rich owner.
I don't see Hickson as massively superior on offense. Great hustle guy, but he gets his stats because the defense is completely focused on stopping Lillard/Aldridge and the three point shooters. There's not as many offensive threats on the pacers. Put Hibbert on the Blazers and I'll bet his efficiency increases.
I disagree. Firstly, Hickson is pretty obviously much better on offense. 58% FG compared to Hibbert shooting 42%. 13 PPG compared to 10 PPG All while attempting a full shot less than Hibbert. Also, the Pacers have their own share of offensive weapons. Paul George, Danny Granger, David West. It's not like they're devoid of scorers on that team. That's why they're winning so much.
There's a difference between overpaying a good defensive player to fill a gap in your roster, but making a role player your highest paid player over the next three seasons just seems short-sighted. BTW - Call me crazy, but I'm wary of 7'2" centers that average 8.1 rpg.
I believe Ben Golliver just called JJ Hickson fools gold and compared him to Kris Humphries saying last season he was putting up all these great numbers, got the huge contract and is out of the Rotation in Brooklyn. Ben said it on Talkin Ball
This summer is really our only chance to add a few difference makers. Aldridge is coming up for free agency in another year or two (at which point he will be our highest paid), we've got Dame to think about, and then there's guys like Matthews and Maynor. This will most likely be our only shot at cap space for a while. We have to overpay if we want to bring in someone that will "move the needle" so to speak.
