Not the words of champions

[McKeyFan]

It took a while to hit me, but these words from Roy Hibbert made me realize he is really struggling with having the mind and heart of a winner:

"Good for them (the Heat),'' Roy Hibbert said dourly. "We don't deserve it. Good for them. Whoever we see in the playoffs, we'll see, but we've got to figure things out…But we don't deserve the No. 1 seed.''

Could you imagine MJ or Kobe or Bird saying something like that? No, they would fight to the bitter end, believing there may be a way. If we win out our remaining games, we still have a chance at the #1 seed (one of those wins would be a Miami loss). A winner thinks that way. A winner never gives up until the buzzer sounds.

PG's comments were a little better, but not by much:

"Maybe this will be a reality check. To be No. 1 and controlling our destiny, this is the time we could have had guys resting and really enjoying being in the position we were in. Now we're playing down to the wire. It's tough, but hopefully it lights a fire under us. Maybe we'll have a better understanding of what we need to do.''

Roy is a great guy, but his comments are not real helpful for the team right now.

[Sollozzo]

Re: Not the words of champions

Yep, no way in hell do they have what it takes to take this one seed back. His words just scream defeat and that they have resigned themselves to their fate. The longest tenured Pacer is also the most fragile.

You know that the Heat are just laughing their a$$es off right now. Outside of Lebron and Bosh, they just screwed around for most of the season and never really seemed to give a damn. Yet they'll still get the one seed.

[khaos01207]

Re: Not the words of champions

He's just being upfront. He is saying the way that we have been playing we don't deserve the one seed. He isn't saying they can't turn it around and take it back, he is owning up that this team is in the position they are in because of themselves, and that the level of play right now is unacceptable.

[Brad8888]

Re: Not the words of champions

The remarkable complexity of the legion of issues the Pacers are facing feels almost like a curse on the Pacers that David Stern must have conjured up decades ago when his loathing of our franchise originated, with this curse kicking in only at such times as to be the most cruel and crippling to the possibility of a Pacers championship. Hence the brawl season, and now the nearly inexplicable collapse currently in progress, neither of which coming as a result of any significant injuries to either team (Danny not counting due to his missing last year).

So, what does it take to break the curse? Cloves of garlic, silver stakes, holy water, spell reversal, exorcism, burning effigies of Stern, ritualistic pagan sacrifices of basketballs, what?

[Sollozzo]

Re: Not the words of champions

He's just being upfront. He is saying the way that we have been playing we don't deserve the one seed. He isn't saying they can't turn it around and take it back, he is owning up that this team is in the position they are in because of themselves, and that the level of play right now is unacceptable.

You don't talk about them "deserving it" before the season is over. There are still games left to be played, but Roy's comments make it seem like the race is over and that they've been defeated. I mean he's right, there's no way in hell that we'll be able to take it back, but I just don't like seeing such a defeated tone while there are still games left to be played.

[PR07]

Re: Not the words of champions

At least he's not pointing fingers anymore and is saying appropriate things like "we".

[Alabama-Redneck]

Re: Not the words of champions

It took a while to hit me, but these words from Roy Hibbert made me realize he is really struggling with having the mind and heart of a winner:



Could you imagine MJ or Kobe or Bird saying something like that? No, they would fight to the bitter end, believing there may be a way. If we win out our remaining games, we still have a chance at the #1 seed (one of those wins would be a Miami loss). A winner thinks that way. A winner never gives up until the buzzer sounds.

PG's comments were a little better, but not by much:



Roy is a great guy, but his comments are not real helpful for the team right now.

It sounds like he has been reading all the comments on PacersDigest

[BillS]

Re: Not the words of champions

You don't talk about them "deserving it" before the season is over. There are still games left to be played, but Roy's comments make it seem like the race is over and that they've been defeated. I mean he's right, there's no way in hell that we'll be able to take it back, but I just don't like seeing such a defeated tone while there are still games left to be played.

He's not saying the Heat deserve the championship. He's saying that the way we've been playing right now, they deserve to have the #1 seed right now.

If he'd gotten all "we're going to come together and get this back" guys around here would be talking about how out of touch with reality that kind of comment would be given the way we are playing and the relative remaining schedules. It would be proof of why the team has no clue what it needs to do to play well again.

In other words, the only answer some players are allowed to give is "no comment" - yet, reporters don't accept that as an answer.

[khaos01207]

Re: Not the words of champions

You don't talk about them "deserving it" before the season is over. There are still games left to be played, but Roy's comments make it seem like the race is over and that they've been defeated. I mean he's right, there's no way in hell that we'll be able to take it back, but I just don't like seeing such a defeated tone while there are still games left to be played.

I don't see him conceding it anywhere in there. I see him saying that if we keep playing at the level that we currently are, and they keep playing at the level they currently are, that they deserve it more than us.

[McKeyFan]

Re: Not the words of champions

He's not saying the Heat deserve the championship. He's saying that the way we've been playing right now, they deserve to have the #1 seed right now.

If he'd gotten all "we're going to come together and get this back" guys around here would be talking about how out of touch with reality that kind of comment would be given the way we are playing and the relative remaining schedules. It would be proof of why the team has no clue what it needs to do to play well again.

In other words, the only answer some players are allowed to give is "no comment" - yet, reporters don't accept that as an answer.

How about something like: "I don't know what the problem is, but we've got to figure it out. We're GOING to figure it out. All I know is I am going to give absolutely 100 percent from here to the end of the season to get that #1 seed."

[Nuntius]

Re: Not the words of champions

At least he's not pointing fingers anymore and is saying appropriate things like "we".

He always said we, actually. He always blamed himself first before blaming anyone else. People just conveniently forget to remember that.

[Nuntius]

Re: Not the words of champions

How about something like: "I don't know what the problem is, but we've got to figure it out. We're GOING to figure it out. All I know is I am going to give absolutely 100 percent from here to the end of the season to get that #1 seed."

Then people would just say something along the lines of "that means that you weren't giving 100% percent all this time?" and continue to criticize him. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. That's how the situation is with Roy for some people in this forum.

[BillS]

Re: Not the words of champions

Then people would just say something along the lines of "that means that you weren't giving 100% percent all this time?" and continue to criticize him. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. That's how the situation is with Roy for some people in this forum.

To be fair, not just Roy. I think the same things have been said about DWest and PG, among others.

[Nuntius]

Re: Not the words of champions

To be fair, not just Roy. I think the same things have been said about DWest and PG, among others.

No, it's different with Roy. He always had several detractors in this forum (mainly because he is not a high flyer like DeAndre Jordan) but his recent comments about this team falling in love with the jumpshot (which are absolutely and 100% true) have drawn the ire of several posters in this forum.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Not the words of champions

I'm not as bothered about this statement from Hibbert. I'm more bothered that he's gone to the media to air dirty laundry. I like to hear what is going on, but that's not the way to constructively fix things.

But this is easy to say. At most businesses, you just fire the punks causing issues. But when you have a 75 million dollar contract with the punk it changes the calculus. You just have to work with them and hope they change or grow up. We are facing nothing much different than what other teams in the NBA have faced. Prima donna are the key words.