The Indiana Pacers are getting some negative press thanks to power forward David West opting out. The reason is that West no longer trusted team president Larry Bird, who allegedly tried to pressure center Roy Hibbert into opting out of his $15 million player option and hitting a cold free agent market.
Hibbert had a down year in 2014-15; he averaged 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds along with 1.6 blocks. The rebounding numbers and block totals are light for a player of Hibbert's height (7'2), and his 44.6 mark from the field was unappealing. Rumor has it that bird tried to convince Hibbert to opt out by publicly threatening to anchor him to the bench if he returned.
West believed that was "throwing Roy under the bus" per Deadspin.
"That's one thing where I wish they would have handled better was the situation with Roy," West said. "I'll be honest with you, that bothered me a little bit, and I told Roy that. I'm the type of guy who feels like we're all in this fight together and I'm not designed in that way to put it all on one guy. That did rub me the wrong way. That threw me off. I started reading some of that stuff, I started thinking, 'Whoaa.' I just didn't feel good about that. I told Roy that it bothered me, that he's still my teammate."
In addition to Bird's rough handling of Hibbert, West also said he wants to be part of a contender, and doesn't think the Pacers are close. Instead, West is willing to play for much less than the $12 million he could have had by opting in with Indiana to join the San Antonio Spurs or Golden State Warriors.
"At this point in my career, it's all about winning," West said. "And again, I don't want to be in a position where we're just fighting to make the playoffs, I want to be in a spot where we can legitimately taste the finals."
[Deadspin]
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