After asthma diagnosis, the Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert has found a second wind

Roy Hibbert's emergence as one of the Indiana Pacers' most important players - and a strong candidate to be named the NBA's most improved player - actually began this summer at an Indianapolis hospital. The Pacers sent him there for testing after a second straight season in which he often faded late in games.

"For five hours I sat in a glass box and breathed into a tube in short bursts," Hibbert said this week. "It came back with a diagnosis of athlete-induced asthma."

Hibbert now uses an inhaler, once in the morning and again prior to tip-off. And as it turns out, that pocket-size device is all the 7-foot-2 center needed to unlock his enormous potential. Despite some recent struggles with his shot, Hibbert brings averages of 14 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2 blocked shots per game into Wednesday's meeting with the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center, the arena in which he starred for Georgetown from 2004 to 2008. Last season, the Adelphi native averaged 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds.

"I had been playing five- or six-minute stretches," he said. "Now I'm playing whole quarters sometimes."

"Roy is one of the hardest workers I have ever been around," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said when asked if he was surprised by Hibbert's commitment to honing his game and conditioning. "He's not just [in contention] to be the NBA's most improved player; he's playing toward becoming an all-star."
"I believe I have a lot of work to do," he said. "I'm not having as good a season as I would like to have. I have to take it to another level, and that's what he wants me to do. When I heard that stuff, I knew what it's true meaning was."

Hibbert said the recent struggles stem from opponents starting to game-plan against him.

"Before, they would see 'Roy Hibbert' on the scouting report and would say, 'That's nobody,' " he said. "But now teams are really trying to stop me. I have to do a better job trying to figure this out because I have to be better at both ends of the court for this team to be successful."