The NBA Comparison Series: Roy Hibbert

NBADraft.net is a great Web site. They do a ton of really detailed scouting, compile all the best NBA news and prospect reports and are generally the best resource for the NBA Draft. But there is a catch. Those NBA Comparisons given for each prospect. Some of them are completely ridiculous. I've spent a lot of time reviewing them, not to learn more about potential draftees, but to laugh hysterically for hours and hours. By my count, the greatest comparison ever is Josh McRoberts, whose NBA Comparison is...

Chris Webber (less athletic)... yes, less athletic than Chris Webber. Last time I checked Josh was not in a wheelchair. I peed my pants when I read this, literally.

Anyway, I loathe comparing players to each other when it comes to style of play. I'd like to think basketball, in all its glory, is a free-moving game where in the infinite combinations of movement, athletic ability and skill sets that the sport allows to be expressed, no two players can be all that similar. Like snowflakes... or some crap. There are too many factors in this game and too much freedom to define a player by anything but his own unique ability. Ken Pomeroy wrote a great piece on this over at Basketball Prospectus, mocking the way most people only compare white players to other white players, or lefties to other lefties or how any factor unrelated to style of play seems to creep into most people's assessment of a player. So allow me to introduce a new series here at SSS where I handpick some of the more ridiculous comparisons over there and offer some thrilling analysis. Enjoy!

First up: Roy Hibbert

Strengths: Good hands, touch around the rim; can hit face-up jumper from 12 feet in; makes up for lack of athleticism with good positioning at both ends; closer to sky than most earthbound creatures.

Weaknesses: Can't get up and down the court easily; limited athleticism; can't remember how to jump.

NBA Comparison: Joel Przybilla

What's interesting about this one is not the black/white thing, if anything that aspect is progressive and racially harmonious and NBADraft.net founder Aran Smith should be recognized for his contributions to the basketball civil rights movement. (mild applause)

What interests me is that they have Hibbert all the way up at No. 9 in the draft. As far as I know, Joel Przybilla is a bad basketball player. So by comparing the two, they are essentially predicting Hibbert will be a bust in the NBA, right?

That brings up a fascinating mock draft dynamic. Do you account for the stupidity of NBA GMs when mocking a draft? If they think Hibbert will end up like Joel Przybilla, who was also the ninth pick, in the 2000 draft, but probably wouldn't be a first rounder if they did it over again, are they predicting that some poor GM will make the same mistake by overrating Hibbert? Why else would they have someone so Przybillian at No. 9 if its based strictly on pro potential? If they can not only predict a player's NBA potential but the exact reaction NBA GMs will have to his potential, I am not sure I should even be reading content with such precise prognosticating ability. I would hate to get caught in a time warp at the expense of Roy Hibbert and Joel Przybilla.

More Appropriate Comparison, If Such Things Were Productive: Bill Cartwright

Less Appropriate Comparison, Because Such Things Are Humorous: Lurch