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Mike Wells: Roy Hibbert declined comment after a game for the first time in his 5-year career. Twitter @MikeWellsNBA

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Scott Agness: "Roy (Hibbert) has great heart and gives great effort, but he didn’t have it tonight.” -- Frank Vogel Twitter @ScottAgness

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

December, though, has been an entirely different story as Hibbert bumped his percentages up to 43.1 percent from the field and 76.9 percent from the charity stripe and has often looked like the All-Star he was a year ago. There are a lot of things to which we can attribute those early struggles and the subsequent turnaround, but Hibbert seems to think it was actually something pretty simple. “I had a wrist problem,” Hibbert admitted. “There was just a little weakness there from last year’s playoffs, but [trainers] are fixing the problem right now. I’m happy because it was affecting my shot, but now I’m getting better.” HoopsWorld

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

The team's medical staff determined Dec. 14 that there was a significant problem with his wrist. "It doesn't hurt. It just has weakness," Hibbert said. "Things were just out of whack. I was getting the shots I wanted with my right hand, but a few would go completely off track. So my touch was basically gone. That's why I was shooting more shots with my left hand in the post." Indianapolis Star

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Chelsea Peretti: This is Roy Hibbert, plays for the Pacers, one of my best friends… Roy Hibbert: Besties! Chelsea Peretti: (Laughs)…in the world. One of my closest confidantes. You know If anything bad happens, there we are, crying on the phone like two babies. When good things happen, you know, we buy each other houses and stuff. It’s crazy. We are the closest friends you can conceive of. Roy Hibbert: I mean it’s so crazy. Like I seriously wept in your arms after the last episode of Lost. I did not know what was going on, and you had to explain it to me. Chelsea Peretti: I know. And I barely understood it myself, and both of my arms fell off due to the weight of your massive body. Roy Hibbert: I was an emotional mess that night. Hardwood Paroxysm

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Chelsea Peretti: You were. You are generally a very emotional person. [Roy laughs] Right? I don’t know. Listen, did you have a hero that you wanted to talk about, Roy? Roy Hibbert: I mean, I’m not going with the cliche Martin Luther King, Jr. I am not going with the cliche, you know. Obviously my parents did a lot for me but I’m not going to lie, I feel like as a kid growing up I wanted to be like the Green Ranger. I think he was like a hero in my life. Like the Power Ranger. I wanted to be like him doing all of the martial arts. I even joined karate so I could learn to become you know a martial arts expert. Hardwood Paroxysm

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Roy Hibbert: I mean, he was different. He was like the badass of the group. He had a pony tail. Hardwood Paroxysm

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Marc J. Spears: PLAYERS WHO CANT BE TRADED UNTIL 1/15/13:L Allen;D Arthur;Batum;Bass;J Evans;Gordon;D Green;J Green;Hibbert;G Hill;J Hill;Humphries;Ilyasova Twitter @SpearsNBAYahoo

Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, Trade, Roy Hibbert, Nicolas Batum, Ersan Ilyasova 

Indiana's Roy Hibbert isn't averaging double-digits in points but is being paid double digits in millions of dollars this season. Even so, the regressing former All-Star center is confident he will eventually be the NBA's best at his position. "People said I wouldn't be in the NBA," said Hibbert, the highest-paid Pacer at $13.8 million this season. "People said I wouldn't be a starting center, this, that and the other. I just prove people wrong. I'm having a slump right now, but in the grand scheme of things I'm going to turn it around and hopefully be the best when it's all said and done." Yahoo! Sports

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Hibbert aims to top Dwight Howard as the widely accepted best center in the NBA. A fake Hibbert Instagram account took a shot at Howard recently and gained some traction on the Internet before it was debunked – "I'm the best center in the league #[expletive]Dwight" it read. "That wasn't me, but I will be the best center in the league one day," Hibbert said. Yahoo! Sports

Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert 

"The contract? I really haven't thought about it," Hibbert said. "My life really hasn't changed that much since the contract happened." What has changed on the court for Hibbert is the way teams are guarding him. Every game, Pacers coach Frank Vogel calls an offensive play for Hibbert early in an attempt to get him going. Vogel said Hibbert is a target now because he was an All-Star last season. Also, the absence of Pacers forward Danny Granger (knee injury) allows defenses to double-team Hibbert easier in the post. Hibbert says the inconsistent Pacers (10-10) are also "getting every team's best" after advancing to the Eastern semifinals last season for the first time since 2005. "He's playing with physicality," Vogel said. "His shots are going in and out. We believe they are going to come." Yahoo! Sports

Indiana Pacers, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Frank Vogel 

Asked whether Hibbert is pressing to live up to his new $58-million contract, Walsh said, "I never approached it from that standpoint. We made the decision to keep him. . . . I think that he's struggling. I don't think it has anything do with the contract. "I do think this new style (on offense) will help, because when you walk the ball up the court and keep the ball on that same side of the court, it makes it easy to guard him. I feel like we're collectively getting better." Indianapolis Star

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert, Donnie Walsh 

Mike Prada: Also, Hibbert said he's taking a hiatus from Twitter. (Though he kinda has for two weeks). Sorry, @talkhoops Twitter @MikePradaSBN

Indiana Pacers, Twitter, Roy Hibbert 

One source with knowledge of the situation told HOOPSWORLD recently that Hibbert’s slow start is not a big surprise, as former Pacers point guard Darren Collison had a lot to do with Hibbert’s success last season, and Collison is now playing for the Mavericks following an offseason trade. “Darren was my good friend,” Hibbert tells HOOPSWORLD. “We talked, sat together on the plane, used to go have dinner on the road, lunch, always watching film together, just talking it through. I’d be frustrated at him at times and he’d be frustrated with me, but we’d talk it through. I used to get a lot of open layups, just him throwing the ball to me and the give-n-go cut. That’s something he’d get once or twice a game, but things change and obviously you have to adjust.” HoopsWorld

Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert 

“Roy was my guy, he was my best friend,” acknowledges Collison. “We had dreams of playing in Indiana for a long time and really trying to build that franchise into something special and we did the last two years. It’s a memory that I won’t ever forget, especially playing with Roy.” HoopsWorld

Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert 

The Star recently talked to three NBA scouts who have watched the Pacers in person or on film this season to get their take on what has gone wrong. Biggest problem Scout No. 1: "They're searching for who should get the ball at the right time. (Coach Frank) Vogel has condensed his offense to only a handful of plays and runs them all the time. You know what's coming. They're easy to defend because you can play everybody straight up without the concern of getting beat. There's only occasional times where Roy Hibbert is going to go off. You know how he's getting the ball, the plays that are coming. They don't strike fear in anybody." Indianapolis Star

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Scout No. 2: "You hate to compare what a guy is making like in Hibbert's case, but the reality is when you pay him all that money you expect him to easily get you double figures in points and rebounds. The shots he's missing are point-blank shots; it's not like he's shooting jumpers. You're talking about jump hooks, two or three feet from the basket. You see his confidence is not there." Scout No. 3: "They're just a careless team. They don't know how to pass the basketball, that's why they're near the top of the league in turnovers. It's simple passes that aren't being made. You can't have an offensive structure if you don't know to feed the ball into the post." Indianapolis Star

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Roy Hibbert struggled and smoldered on the court as the Indiana Pacers dug their hole deeper with nearly every trip downcourt in their blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. But the 23 minutes he spent on the Pacers’ bench, compared to his 25 in the game, were just as bad. Hibbert rolled his eyes at calls and non-calls, slammed his towel to the floor when Bucks’ shooters got friendly bounces and covered his face time and again. At one point, his 7-foot-2 self was folded into the open chair next to him, face down, anguishing through a butt-kicking that got to 32 points at one juncture against Milwaukee. NBA.com

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Then, the Pacers center beat himself up pretty bad in the visitors’ dressing room, too. “It’s very frustrating,” Hibbert said, cooperative but looking a little tortured. “It’s very hard to get into a rhythm … personally. I think I’m doing good defensively, but offensively I need to get going and help the team out. I want to do more than I have been. I have to figure out a way to get that done.” NBA.com

Indiana Pacers, Roy Hibbert 

Bill Ingram: A source familiar with the situation in Indy told me earlier today that part of Hibbert's issue is the absence of Darren Collison. Twitter @TheRocketGuy

Indiana Pacers, Darren Collison, Roy Hibbert