Roy Hibbert has been among the best big men in the league when it comes to using the principle of verticality on defense, which is essentially jumping straight up in the air with arms extended as the offensive player drives to the basket and initiates contact.
It’s one of the areas the league is looking at cleaning up from an officiating standpoint before the postseason begins, and it was included in the memos that were made public in the ongoing effort by new commissioner Adam Silver to increase transparency where the referees are concerned.
Hibbert took to his Instagram page to show he took notice, while also taking some credit for the NBA’s added focus on this particular area of interest.
The caption Hibbert posted reads as follows:
“Got a league memo out for my ass. My “Str8 Ups” gotta be on point. I see a lot of bigs doing the str8 ups. I call em “Disciples”.
Hibbert’s not wrong, in that he’s the one who’s most prominently associated with using the rule to his advantage. But considering none of his plays were included in the video examples, he’s also not likely the one being targeted here considering how well he’s consistently executed it in the past.