Roy Hibbert Calls Georgetown 'Mount Rushmore of Bigs'
Thanks to Steve Smith and LeBron James, Mount Rushmore is getting the most attention it's had since Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
The latest NBA player to throw together a list of four players in response to Smith asking LeBron about his "Mount Rushmore of basketball" is Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert.
The big man did so with a bit of a twist. According to CBS' Matt Moore, Hibbert said Friday:
"For me, Georgetown is the Mount Rushmore of bigs, with Dikembe (Mutombo) Alonzo (Mourning), and Patrick (Ewing). Winning Defensive Player of the Year would mean a lot to me because of those guys. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Georgetown, so that would mean a lot to me.
"
It's certainly quite a list, and you'd be hard-pressed to find another school with four big men who are more accomplished.
Mutombo is second in NBA history in blocked shots. Ewing is seventh. Mourning is 12th.
Hibbert's desire to live up to his predecessors' legacy is a worthy one, and a few advanced stats suggest he has the ability to do so.
Through their first six seasons, the numbers of all four are comparable:
| Patrick Ewing* | 5.2 | 103 | 26.1 |
| Roy Hibbert | 5.4 | 101 | 18.7 |
| Alonzo Mourning | 5.6 | 101 | 25.6 |
| Dikembe Mutombo | 6.9 | 101 | 32.3 |
This season, Hibbert is anchoring the league's best defense. And if he wins Defensive Player of the Year, he'll join fellow Hoyas Mourning and Mutombo among the ranks of previous winners.
It's a goal Hibbert is chasing unapologetically. According to Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins, "He writes messages on post-it notes that he sticks to his bathroom mirror, including one that reads, I'M THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER."
Unless otherwise noted, all stats are courtesy of Sports-Reference.com and NBA.com and are current as of Feb. 16, 2014.
Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report.
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