Is Roy Hibbert the next Morris Almond?
There's no way lightning can strike twice, right? After walking out of Morris Almond's draft workout last year thinking he had to be the Jazz's first-round pick, it was hard not to feel the same way about Georgetown's Roy Hibbert on Wednesday.
Hibbert said he would "love to come here" and "loves watching [the Jazz] play" and would "love to try to be like a little cog" in the Jazz system and would "love to come in and try to help" what's a winning franchise already.
"God, we're becoming a destination point," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said when asked about the Almond/Hibbert similarity. "Isn't that amazing what a point guard does for you?"
Hibbert said he told his agent to get him to Utah for a workout and even told the reporters who were at the practice facility Wednesday: "Hopefully, I'll see you guys a lot more next year, if I have my way."
If he winds up with the Jazz, Hibbert can learn from Carlos Boozer. Hibbert volunteered that he has a tape of Boozer's post moves that he watches. "He can score the ball really well in the paint and he's just an aggressive player," Hibbert said.
O'Connor called Hibbert a "proven product" and said the visit to Salt Lake City was largely to get to know Hibbert as a person. The Jazz put Hibbert through some pick-and-pop shooting drills, but O'Connor already knows what he can do as a player.
O'Connor said he saw Hibbert play in person in the Big East Tournament as well as in a game against Syracuse. Troy Weaver, the Jazz's former director of player personnel and now Seattle's assistant general manager, scouted Hibbert regularly out of the Washington, D.C. area.
The Jazz have a need for a backup big man and Hibbert is likely far closer to a finished product after four years at Georgetown than Kyrylo Fesenko, the 7-foot-1 center from Ukraine the Jazz drafted in the second round last year.
But O'Connor said the Jazz would not be looking solely at big men with their No. 23 pick in the first round.
"Don't get locked into a position on us," O'Connor said, "because if we feel like there's somebody that stands above everybody else at our pick, we're going to take him no matter how deep we are at that spot."
Hibbert said he wanted to show teams that he was more athletic than they might think and that he looked forward to learning from the veterans when he got to the NBA. He also sounded relieved to be done with the double- and triple-team defenses he saw in college.
Next up for Hibbert are workouts in Sacramento and Seattle, with New Jersey and Toronto also on his schedule. We'll see if Hibbert returns to work out for Jerry Sloan before the June 26 draft . . . or whether he's the choice that night.
--Ross Siler
Hibbert said he would "love to come here" and "loves watching [the Jazz] play" and would "love to try to be like a little cog" in the Jazz system and would "love to come in and try to help" what's a winning franchise already.
"God, we're becoming a destination point," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said when asked about the Almond/Hibbert similarity. "Isn't that amazing what a point guard does for you?"
Hibbert said he told his agent to get him to Utah for a workout and even told the reporters who were at the practice facility Wednesday: "Hopefully, I'll see you guys a lot more next year, if I have my way."
If he winds up with the Jazz, Hibbert can learn from Carlos Boozer. Hibbert volunteered that he has a tape of Boozer's post moves that he watches. "He can score the ball really well in the paint and he's just an aggressive player," Hibbert said.
O'Connor called Hibbert a "proven product" and said the visit to Salt Lake City was largely to get to know Hibbert as a person. The Jazz put Hibbert through some pick-and-pop shooting drills, but O'Connor already knows what he can do as a player.
O'Connor said he saw Hibbert play in person in the Big East Tournament as well as in a game against Syracuse. Troy Weaver, the Jazz's former director of player personnel and now Seattle's assistant general manager, scouted Hibbert regularly out of the Washington, D.C. area.
The Jazz have a need for a backup big man and Hibbert is likely far closer to a finished product after four years at Georgetown than Kyrylo Fesenko, the 7-foot-1 center from Ukraine the Jazz drafted in the second round last year.
But O'Connor said the Jazz would not be looking solely at big men with their No. 23 pick in the first round.
"Don't get locked into a position on us," O'Connor said, "because if we feel like there's somebody that stands above everybody else at our pick, we're going to take him no matter how deep we are at that spot."
Hibbert said he wanted to show teams that he was more athletic than they might think and that he looked forward to learning from the veterans when he got to the NBA. He also sounded relieved to be done with the double- and triple-team defenses he saw in college.
Next up for Hibbert are workouts in Sacramento and Seattle, with New Jersey and Toronto also on his schedule. We'll see if Hibbert returns to work out for Jerry Sloan before the June 26 draft . . . or whether he's the choice that night.
--Ross Siler
5:47 PM
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1 Comments:
Ross,
Is Hibbert the defensive big that the Jazz need though? I would like to stake a claim toward Robin Lopez as a defensive, hustling big.
Hibbert can be an offensive cog, but the Jazz need a mainstay defensive one.
Lopez is much more athletic and long and could be a stable energizer for the Jazz's second unit, right?
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