Comparing Indiana Pacers Center Roy Hibbert to Rik Smits

Ever since Roy Hibbert came to the Indiana Pacers from Georgetown University, the comparison to Rik Smits has constantly been made.

Hibbert, who is only in his fourth year, is blossoming into a very good center in today’s NBA. Smits meanwhile took the same career path as Hibbert, developing slowly over time, but throughout his career was one of the better centers in the NBA.

The NBA was a different game than what we see today. In Rik Smits’ day, the league featured many great centers such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Vlade Divac.

Since Roy Hibbert has came into the league, the NBA has featured one dominant center in Dwight Howard. Besides Howard, who else is considered a great center? Al Horford? Andrew Bogut? Marc Gasol? Andrew Bynum? All are young centers, all have had ups and downs in their careers. Comparing the two eras from the center position is like comparing apples and oranges.

Thanks to Basketball-Reference.com, I was able to compare the statistics between the two Pacer centers. I think people tend to forget just how good of a career Rik Smits had sometimes when comparing Hibbert to Smits.

Roy Hibbert has consistently improved each year leading to where he is now: a legitimate threat for a double double each night. But Smits, at one point in his career, averaged 18.5 points per game. Do Pacer fans ever expect to see that kind of production from Roy Hibbert? Currently he is averaging 13.9 points per game, and I honestly don’t know if we can realistically expect more from him.

Hibbert is still developing and is becoming more confident after three years of having no trust from the previous head coach. With the way the game is played today with more emphasis on guard play, I do not ever see Hibbert averaging more than 15 points a game based on that fact alone.

Offensively, Rik Smits was the much better player than where Roy Hibbert is right now. Smits had the ability to knock down the mid-range shot consistently and had a pretty mean hook shot. Hibbert is still developing in the low post and his mid-range shot isn’t nearly as effective. Smits, like Hibbert though, was a very good passer in the NBA.

At this point though, Hibbert is a much better rebounder than Rik Smits ever was. One thing that constantly drove Pacer fans crazy was the fact that the 7’4″ Rik Smits was a very poor rebounder. For his career Smits only averaged 6.1 rebounds per game. His best season came when he averaged 7.7 rebounds per game during the 1994-1995 season.

Hibbert, on the other hand, has consistently improved his rebounding numbers each season. During his rookie campaign (when he was much slower and heavier than he is now), he averaged 3.5 rebounds per game (this was also in only 14.4 minutes per game). Last year, he improved his rebounding numbers to 7.5 rebounds per game. Heading into the midway point of the NBA season, Roy has increased his rebounding numbers again to 9.7 rebounds per game.

As it stands right now, Rik Smits is the better of the two centers. Smits was a great center for the Indiana Pacers, and his career should not be overlooked. Smits had many great playoff memories in his own right such as the Memorial Day Miracle. In my opinion, the No. 45 should be hanging in the rafters, but that is a debate for another day.

Does Roy Hibbert have the ability to one day be as great as Rik Smits was? Sure. But Hibbert is only in his fourth year. Smits was a consistent producer year in and year out for the blue and gold.

Rik Smits Statistics

Roy Hibbert Statistics

Who do you think is the better center for the Indiana Pacers?

You can read more of my work at PacersCenter.com.