Roy Hibbert: I can never say a bad thing about Larry Bird

Roy Hibbert seems to be settling into L.A. comfortably -- aside from that awkward Kobe question and deafening silence at his Lakers introductory press conference last week.

A two-time All-Star with the Pacers, Hibbert was dealt to L.A. in exchange for a future second round draft pick and declined $2 million of a bonus to help complete the deal.

At the Lakers' presser July 22, Hibbert called his move from Indy to L.A. "a no-brainer."

"You have to embrace change," Hibbert said. "The (Pacers) wanted to go in a different direction. It's a business and you have to understand that."

When David West declined to exercise his player option with the Pacers, he told WTHR's Bob Kravitz that Larry Bird's criticism of Hibbert played a role in his decision to leave Indiana.

But Hibbert, who spoke with NBA.com's David Aldridge this week, said he holds no ill will toward Bird or Pacers management.

"Larry says what's on his mind. He doesn't hold his tongue. Things happen," Hibbert told Aldridge. "Like I said, I enjoyed my time there in Indy. You just have gotta move on, get ready for the next chapter... Larry was very up front with me. He said before the press conference that I can't promise you minutes next year, and they wanted to go in a different direction. So it wasn't like what happened came out of nowhere, what he said. I'll always say that Larry changed my life. I was on the phone with my agent in the office during the (2009) Draft process and Larry said 'If Roy's there at 17, we'll take him.' That meant a lot to me. I know that things change and the NBA is 'What have you done for me lately?', but I could never say a bad thing about Larry or the Pacers' organization."

While Hibbert had only good things to say about Bird, he didn't have glowing remarks about his former head coach, Frank Vogel, who time and time again had Hibbert's back despite rising criticism from fans. Hibbert said when looking at a potential destinations, he preferred to play for a coach who was a former NBA player.

"I wanted to play for a coach who actually played in the league if I had my own choice. Not to say that Frank (Vogel) wasn't great. I had some real good times with Frank and we played well. But I told my agent that I possibly wanted to play for a coach that played in the league."

Asked why that was important to him, Hibbert responded:

"Just playing for BShaw (Brian Shaw, the Pacers' former associate head coach under Vogel), he went through the things that a player has gone through. He had a lot of real good insight to help myself, my game, with other guys on the court. Because he went through those things. And when you had two sets of four games in five nights, he was real with us. He would say, if I'm tired, you're tired. It's not a huge thing, but I'm really lucky to be in this position."

Hibbert will get his wish. Long-time Laker (and short-time Pacer) Byron Scott returns to coach the Lakers after leading them to a 21-61 record last season.