Is Kareem Really The Answer To Hibbert's Problems?
Posted
Chris Plack, Lake City Radio-
Keeping Pace, an opinion column, appears each Friday. The author's views don't necessarily reflect those of the Times-Union.
Really? I mean, c’mon man, really? Roy Hibbert having dinner with 67-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is supposed to make me feel better about the way this offseason has gone? Is that how bad things have gotten in Indianapolis? Thank God training camp has started and we’ll have Colts football to talk about here in the coming weeks, because I really just can’t take much more of this. Wait, what? I only write about the Pacers? Ah man… You don’t need me to remind you the hell this offseason has been for Pacers fans. The Bulls are better. The Cavs are better. Miami is worse, but still going to be good. The Pacers have fallen, and there’s no insurance that the additions of Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles are enough to end the tumbling. But hey, at least we have Kareem in our corner now! So when Kareem says that he’s ready to make Roy Hibbert a threat to his opponents, I’m not completely overwhelmed with hope and joy for the upcoming season. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Mr. Abdul-Jabbar for everything he’s done in his career for the game of basketball. But the success of his mentees, guys like Michael Olowakandi, Jerome James, and, wait for it, Andrew Bynum, hasn’t been the kind of success that make you wring your hands with visions of Defensive Player of the Year awards for Hibbert in the future. If we’re lucky, maybe the success of such reboots and remakes of movies like Batman and Planet of the Apes has inspired some Hollywood types to re-make Airplane. Hibbert could totally play the part of Roger Murdock. The role Abdul-Jabbar mastered some 35 years ago (Yeah, that movie is 35 years old. Think about that for a second. You’re welcome and you’re old.) I can totally see Hibbert in that movie. Little Jimmy comes into the cockpit and says “Hey, you’re Roy Hibbert.” Roy does the whole “No son, I’m Roger Murdock” routine. The kid comes back saying “My dad is a Pacers season ticket holder. He says you stink and can’t get a rebound if your life depended on it.” But this time, instead of grabbing the kid by the lapels and setting him straight, Hibbert just drops his head in his hands and says, “There’s a lot of selfish dudes in this cockpit.” Look, if Kareem is the answer, awesome. This move, though, continues to make me wonder what the heck is going on in the Larry Bird War Room located hundreds of miles under Bankers Life Field House. He’s supposed to be this genius guy that makes all the right moves. This guy that’s playing chess while everyone is playing checkers. Meanwhile we lose Lance, and make a bunch of other knucklehead moves that are starting to chip away at the armor of the great one. Why Abdul-Jabbar? Why not Hakeem? He’s been training up these centers for years and actually turning careers around for the better. Why not bring him in? I’m sure he likes to eat! Man, I don’t know anymore. At least there’s always Trent Richardson.
