Stan Van Gundy: Roy Hibbert is no Dwight Howard

Stan Van Gundy believes NBA GMs covet Dwight Howard more than Roy Hibbert. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy might be excused if he still has an ax to grind with Dwight Howard. Howard was famously caught in a lie during the 2011-2012 season after telling the Magic that Van Gundy had to go before eventually forcing his trade to the Lakers.

But given the chance to rate Howard with Pacers center Roy Hibbert -- who has been praised while helping his team counter the defending NBA champion Heat in their Eastern Conference Finals -- Van Gundy backed Howard, saying there's no comparison.

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Appearing on 740 AM Thursday morning, Van Gundy said Howard is still a better center than Hibbert -- by a long shot.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

"Come on, that one's not close," Van Gundy said. "You could put that question to 30 general managers in the league -- and give them the choice -- and Indiana, out of loyalty, might take Hibbert although I would doubt it. The other 29 would not even hesitate. Everybody's taking Dwight.

"I understand ... Roy Hibbert is playing the best basketball of his career right now (against the Heat). You have to understand that Roy Hibbert during the regular season had seven games where he had (at least) 20 points and 10 rebounds and now he has three in this series. So now people are looking at him and saying he's great. He averages 11 points per game in his career and he's not a terrific rebounder although he is an elite-level defender. But on the offensive end of the floor he's never done (what he's doing now) and he's really taking advantage of a very, very small Miami Heat team and a defender in Chris Bosh who right now in the series has just not stepped up into the battle at all."