Cleveland Cavaliers: Should They Trade for Roy Hibbert?

Rumors are rumors. But media days have started and training camps are revving up as the tip off to the 2014-15 NBA season sluggishly romps towards us, so why not allow ourselves to indulge in another juicy one before the reality of a brand spanking new 82-game journey appears.

Chris Sheridan, notably the man who first reported that LeBron James was headed back to Cleveland months ago, tweeted this out:

In the article by Chris Bernucca, he mentions that the Cleveland Cavaliers could look to go after Indiana Pacers big man Roy Hibbert, since Indy might be looking to “hit the reset button” due to the injury Paul George suffered while scrimmaging with Team USA this summer. It didn’t take long for the fake trades to start swirling on Twitter either, with the most accepted idea being Brendan Haywood, Dion Waiters and a pick(s) for the seven-footer. So what do we make of this?

Well, it’s difficult to see the Pacers wanting to let go of Hibbert so easily. He was (and still is, some may argue) an All-Star player who attended the All-Star game just this past season. But Hibbert did hit a drop off in the playoffs, where he seemed incredibly shaken against multiple teams. Indiana did manage to force a rematch against the James-led Miami Heat, but Hibbert and the rest of the Pacers failed to match the Heat’s intensity and dropped the ball (literally, lots of times), ending their season on a low note.

Through his first five games of last postseason, Hibbert had a 0.8 PER, which was the worst of any player ever who had been named to the All-Star squad during the same regular season. The previous low had belonged to Larry Costello in 1965, who had a 5.3 PER, still significantly higher than Hibbert’s. Hibbert finished the playoffs with a 12.1 PER, while putting up lower numbers than he did during the regular season.

Over the total 19 games he played in the playoffs, he averaged 9.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, compared to the regular season in which he averaged 10.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and had a 13.5 PER. Because of his less than impressive performance, tons of Cavs fans are against the idea of such a trade, tweeting things like:

But fans’ feelings (which are also strangely attached to Waiters) aside, would a trade such as this give the Cavs that extra necessary push in their effort to win a title?

The plain and simple answer is that no one knows. But let’s play the hypothetical (using the suggested trade mentioned), because it’s fun and the potential is there if the Pacers really do want to start over. Hibbert likely wouldn’t even be opposed (although he and LeBron have had some touchy moments), since he told the organization he was open to the idea of being traded.

The first thing to consider is that Hibbert wouldn’t be expected to do exactly the same things in Cleveland as he did in Indiana. There will be zero necessity for him to score with LeBron, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and others all able to fill that gap. Even his rebounding, which at 6.6 per game last season isn’t the greatest for a seven-footer, wouldn’t be quite as high in demand since Love is a ferocious rebounder and others like James (6.9 per game in 2013-14) and Irving (3.6 per game in 2013-14) also rebound well for their positions.

Instead of those things, he’ll be asked to do what he does best; defend and take up space. Unlike in Indiana, who harbored one of the league’s worst offenses last season, Hibbert would suddenly be right in the middle of what is sure to be a great offensive team. Working alongside Love would be a great change for him; someone who can take opposing bigs out of the paint and create space on offense. On the defensive end, Love is one of the poorer rim protecting bigs, meaning Hibbert would be able to get satisfaction out of doing exactly what he did for Indiana last season by keeping opponents from scoring in the interior.

According to Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus, last season Hibbert led the league in contested shots at the rim at 60.49 percent and saved about 8.8 points per game per 36 minutes by defending the rim.

If Hibbert could be enough of a force inside (as the numbers suggest he could), then inevitably opposing teams would try to defeat the Cavs by shooting. That’s when things get really scary. With Hibbert patrolling the paint, trying to score from the outside would mean trying to get past guys like LeBron and Shawn Marion, who are lockdown defenders and even Kyrie, who is slowly improving if his FIBA performance has anything to say about it.

Suddenly, almost every club the Cavaliers face are live-by-the-three-die-by-the-three teams. And those teams, the 2012 New York Knicks remind us, end up running into trouble somewhere along the way; usually against squads like this hypothetical one.

At this point, it’s pretty safe to say that Roy Hibbert would have a strong effect on the Cavs, indeed pushing them closer to winning a title. One of Cleveland’s only glaring weaknesses is their ability to defend inside, and a trade for Hibbert would patch that hole up exceedingly well.

Though fans may not like it, a trade for Hibbert would ultimately result in more wins for their team. Perhaps even a championship. His flameout in last season’s playoffs is, over the full length of a career, a small sample size. What he specializes in is what the Cavs need, and they should make no hesitation to attempt to acquire him.