Roy Hibbert wants you to know he doesn’t hate Larry Bird
By Josh Hill
Roy Hibbert’s exit from Indiana was received as being messy, but the center wants everyone to know he doesn’t hate Larry Bird.
When David West left the Indiana Pacers to eventually sign with the San Antonio Spurs, he made mention of the way the front office treated Roy Hibbert as being a reason he wanted out. West wasn’t fond of the handling of Hibbert’s situation, and Pacers fans were catching on to the idea that Larry Bird might no be that fun to work for if he doesn’t like you.
It appeared that Hibbert was among the players Bird was not fond of, but it turns out that might not totally be the case. At least, as the center is preparing to start his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, he’s not casting stones back at Indiana.
Hibbert spoke with TNT’s David Aldridge about his exit from Indiana and noted that he has no ill-will towards the front office or towards Larry Bird for the way he was treated.
"I’ll always say that Larry changed my life. I was on the phone with my agent in the office during the [2009] draft process and Larry said ‘If Roy’s there at 17, we’ll take him.’ That meant a lot to me. I know that things change and the NBA is ‘What have you done for me lately?,’ but I could never say a bad thing about Larry or the Pacers organization.”"
f course, players who are in new situations in which they’re happy aren’t going to speak ill of dead relationships, but that’s not always the case. Hibbert is probably sore about the handing if his situation, but at the end of the day nothing really went that wrong. He may have gotten dumped on a few times by the front office, but the worst case scenario for next season was getting paid $15 million to be a punching bag.
Now that Hibbert is in Los Angeles, he could deb a part of a revitalized Lakers team that starts to turn itself around. He’ll have more minutes, more fame and a brighter spotlight — so what is there to not thank Larry Bird for?