FanHouse RoyHIbbert

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Seven feet, two inches. Two hundred and seventy eight pounds. Only 23 years of age. Size, agility, athleticism, post moves and tremendous upside. Not Greg Oden. Not Andrew Bynum.

His name is Roy Hibbert, and if he finds the right track, lock up your pivots, lock up your wives, lock up your post defense and run for your lives. If he can't, he's doomed to "obligatory tall guy that never panned out" status. It's a thin ledge for the big fella.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Not long ago, the Indiana Pacers were said to have a character problem, what with players such as Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. That issue, we know, has been taken care of.

Now the Pacers have a talent problem. As in, not enough of it.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "[Roy Hibbert]'s sitting next to Travis [Diener], which I find very interesting. You have to watch Travis because he can be very tricky on flights. Roy has an expensive bag he uses as a carry-on and on our last flight from Boston, Travis thought it would be a good idea to hide a meatball in it. Now, this was not a meatball in tin foil or anything but a meatball with pasta sauce and parmesan cheese on it. Roy was not amused, to say the least." -- Troy Murphy's blog, via Indy Cornrows.

Georgetown freshman Greg Monroe couldn't have been more of a Duke guy if he'd been born with a birthmark shaped like the Blue Devil and given the middle name Krzyzewski.

He's pocket-protector smart, graduating with a 3.75 GPA from Louisiana's Helen Cox High School, so composed you could yell fire in a theater and he'd tell you to get of the way of the Paul Blart trailer, and grew up among that percentage of the population dwindling faster than an analog television set, those who like Duke basketball.

Heck, the guy probably helps old ladies to their seat during television breaks.

About 90 minutes before last night's Pistons-Pacers game, the visitor's locker room at the Palace of Auburn Hills was deathly quiet. With half of the Pacers roster still on the court working out, the other half sat slumped in front of their locker, silently watching a big flat-screen TV with its sound turned off that was showing footage from Detroit's recent preseason game against the Cavs. In other words, it's the kind of situation that makes for extremely awkward interviews.

I broke the silence to talk with Pacers rookie Roy Hibbert about his gaudy preseason numbers (per 48 minutes, he averaged 23.5 points, 15.3 boards, 4.7 blocks ... and 9.2 fouls) and what he needs to do to earn more playing time (remember those fouls?). Later, I also caught up with coach Jim O'Brien for his take on Hibbert's progress.

Matt Watson: You've got your first game in about an hour and a half. Do you have any butterflies about starting your career?
Roy Hibbert: I already got that all out of my system. I just got to go out there and play hard.

Matt Watson: Making the adjustments from college to the preseason, was that tough for you?
Roy Hibbert: [I've been] working on a lot of stuff in terms of getting up and down the court, just learning the offense. It's a different one than college, but I'm getting used to it.

ESPN is reporting that Indiana picked Jerryd Bayless at #11 not for themselves, but for the active active Blazers. Chad Ford says the trade is Bayless and Ike Diogu in exchange for Brandon Rush, picked 13th, and Jarrett Jack. Of course, it's a coup for Portland's Kevin Pritchard, who came into the draft needing a point guard and ended up with arguably the second best one available. And hey! Portland gets to save money in the deal, too.

The heartbreak of this one is that Indiana had no intent or need for Bayless before Portland came calling. The team after Indiana -- my Sacramento Kings -- have no point guard on the roster. Beno Udrih's agent has requested the full mid-level exception ... and the Clippers, who drafted a two-guard in Eric Gordon, are expected to offer as much.

Kings fans would have forgiven David Stern for his accused transgressions just to hear him call Jerryd's name at #12. Instead ... well, hi Jason Thompson. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, I suppose.

Portland is going to win 11 of the next 12 championships. Indiana picked Roy Hibbert with the #17, which comes over in the Jermaine O'Neal deal.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Can a team win without defense? The "success" of teams like the Suns, Nuggets and Warriors the last several years says no, as does this year's success (no sarcastic quotation marks needed this time) of the Celtics. The Wizards have been slow to get the memo, though, instead hoping their failures have been the result of untimely injuries.

Picks: #18, #47

Needs: What the Wizards really need is to re-sign Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison. As for the draft, it'll be tough for a rookie to crack the rotation regardless of position. Since the draft is so deep with big man, I'm guessing that's what they'll end up.

Best case scenario: How about Roy Hibbert? After playing four years at Georgetown, he wouldn't even have to leave the District. Plus, he's a bit more polished than some of the other big man and stands the best chance of contributing meaningful minutes as a rookie. Alternatively, if a point guard like Mario Chalmers falls in their lap, he'd be hard to pass up.

There will be no Tskitishvili repeats for the Nuggets this year.

Remember all that speculation earlier about what the Nuggets might want to do with their 20th overall pick in the draft? Well, forget it. Because they went ahead and sent that pick to the Charlotte Bobcats for "a future protected first round draft pick."

It appeared to me that the Nuggets could have used some size, and it seemed more than plausible that someone like Roy Hibbert or Marreese Speights would still have been on the board at 20, so why give away the pick? It's possible that the team didn't want to add to the roster with players like J.R. Smith and Eduardo Najera expected to be re-signed later this summer, or maybe they felt that whoever they'd get at 20 wouldn't really solve the team's immediate issues.

As for the Bobcats, they're now sitting pretty with the #9 and #20 picks in the draft. If Kevin Love and Brook Lopez are gone by the time Charlotte's first pick rolls around, they can feel confident in taking the best guard available, knowing that there should still be plenty of serviceable bigs left when they pick again at 20.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Thelma, Marvin, Provo, Carlos and Deron: five of my favorite names. The Jazz will look to add a name during the draft that gives them more help now, rather than later. They just happen to be ready to contend now, so why not?

Picks: #23, #44, #55

Needs: Paul Millsap is a meast, but he alone can't create defense in the Utah frontcourt, so expect the Jazz to try and beef up their inside presence with the first pick, unless someone with a ton of upside drops. Another legit point guard or a scorer off the bench to help Ashton Kutcher ignite the second team wouldn't hurt either.

Best case scenario: Roy Hibbert, meet lap. If the big man from Georgetown falls, he would give Utah the ability to really get crazy with their lineups, going large -- when Hibbert wasn't in foul trouble -- and giving Mehmet Okur some freedom away from the paint to jack threes over smaller opponents. Courtney Lee or Chris Douglas-Roberts also seem like they'd be pretty nice fits at the two. If they go backcourt in the first, Joey Dorsey could land to Utah in the second.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Clearly, the Cavs have not only the talent but the need to try and to win now. If Danny Ferry decides to wait, he might end up trying to win without LeBron James (or without a job) and that ain't gonna happen.

Picks: #19

Needs: In order to win now, Cleveland needs legit (sorry Wally) scoring from the perimeter or some backcourt help. Say what you want for their interior offensive needs, but they have three centers who are going to play. And seriously, think about how Wally and Delonte got loose in the playoffs -- that's a direct result of James being on the same team, not their talents. Now let's add someone who isn't washed up.

Best case scenario: Mario Chalmers somehow falls down to them at 19, which seemed a lot more likely a few weeks, or even days, ago. Instead, how about Courtney Lee, who easily could fall here? Either one would be good (Lee being the better scorer but Chalmers can run the Cleveland "offense")but yet, seems somehow unlikely ...