The news that Dwight Howard was done for the season — that his months-long charade with the Orlando Magic had ended not with a trade or a firing, but a surgery — filtered into the Indiana Pacers' locker room around 10 p.m. on April 19.

The Pacers had just finished a routine home win over the Milwaukee Bucks, a game made interesting only by Milwaukee reserve Larry Sanders's late-game attempt to fight the entire Pacers roster. In doing so, Indiana had clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and, if the standings held, a first-round series against an Orlando team devoid of its lone star.

"Man, I hope we play Orlando!" someone shouted. The others then started speculating as to whom the Magic's starting center might be. One player suggested the thick but earthbound Glen Davis. Another wondered if it would be 3-point specialist Ryan Anderson. "No, no," said Roy Hibbert, the man who would be the most direct beneficiary of Howard's injury. "They've been using that dude from Kentucky. What's his name?" Daniel Orton, I told him. "Yeah," he said. "Orton."

The fact that the 7-foot-2 center could look forward to a first-round matchup against either a 6-9 career backup, a 6-10 jump shooter, or someone he knew only as "that dude from Kentucky" is just one of the reasons why, these days, it's good to be Roy Hibbert. A true center in a post-center league, the sturdy and fundamentally sound Hibbert spent most nights this season matched up against moonlighting power forwards and big but useless stiffs. In averaging 13 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks per game, Hibbert earned his first All-Star appearance and became (arguably) the best player on a team with the fifth-best record in the NBA. And when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer, Hibbert will likely command a high price not only for his skill set's quality, but for its scarcity.

"He doesn't get near enough credit for the player he is," an opposing scout told me at the Milwaukee game. "He's clearly one of the most skilled centers in the league." Hibbert's success is partly the result of being in the right league at the right time, but it's also the result of a late-developing but now-obsessive work ethic, which he's channeled toward improving his game and tinkering with his body to maximize his lone natural gift: height.

About two hours before that game against the Bucks, Hibbert walked onto the floor in a near-empty Bankers Life Fieldhouse and began the game-day routine required to keep a 7-foot-2 body running. A young and athletic team, the Pacers need less of the daily body maintenance you'll find among older squads, whose players have creakier joints. But while teammates hoisted jumpers and joked during impromptu games of one-on-one, Hibbert wandered out to half court alone.

He began by walking across the floor with varied pace and gait. He then moved on to leg lunges and toe touches and other stretches that are simple to most but, just a few years ago, would have been nearly impossible for Hibbert. Ten minutes passed before he finally picked up a basketball. He moved to the post and started with hook shots — five from the left block, five from the right block, and five from the middle — before assistant coach Brian Shaw stepped in to defend, fouling Hibbert on every touch with no fear of repercussions.

The routine was rote and methodical, designed to maintain Hibbert's greatest gift, his large body, while fine-tuning skills that he long struggled to develop. Hibbert has earned his place among the league's best bigs, but he's only done so by overcoming an almost complete lack of natural athleticism and strength. Quite simply, Hibbert is good because he is tall — and because, unlike so many other 7-foot-plus "projects" who populate D-League rosters and NBA benches, Hibbert decided to do whatever it took to become something more than a stiff who never developed.

Once the game began, Hibbert showed the challenges he poses to smaller opposition. Though limited by foul trouble, he scored efficiently against Drew Gooden (6-foot-10) and Luc Mbah a Moute (6-foot-8) in the post. Early in the first quarter, Hibbert caught the ball in the paint and immediately went up with an off-the-glass hook shot to his right. He often tries to start posting up underneath the basket, so that even if he gets pushed away from the hoop, he can still receive entry passes on the block. Later, in a similar spot, he kept the ball high and then went up and under for a layup. In the second half, Hibbert kept going to work. Against Gooden, he got the ball on the left block, took one dribble to his left, turned his shoulders in sync with his hips, and lofted a hook shot well over Gooden's challenging arm. Gooden watched the ball splash through the net, helpless. "Goddammit!" he shouted.

There are moments, however rare, when Hibbert seems unstoppable. His size can be overwhelming, his decision-making impeccable, and his movements ruthlessly efficient. But then spells pass when he barely touches the ball. This is largely a result of the way the Pacers' roster has been built. After the infamous 2004 "Malice at the Palace" brawl, Indiana dismantled its team and landed in NBA purgatory — stuck between the league's legitimate contenders and its lottery-winning bottom-feeders. So the Pacers rebuilt with mid-level draft picks, collecting pieces like Danny Granger (no. 17 pick, 2005), Tyler Hansbrough (no. 13 pick, 2009), and Paul George (no. 10 pick, 2010). The result is a group with plenty of talent but no true stars.

The team has been criticized for lacking a "go-to" scorer, and coach Frank Vogel has countered by saying that his go-to guy is whichever guy happens to be open. While it's conceivable that Indiana could contend for a title without an elite offensive player, no team has done so since the 2003-04 Pistons. And among the Pacers' three All-Stars (Granger was selected in 2009 and David West made it in 2008 and 2009), Hibbert has the most room to improve.

This year's presumptive no. 1 draft pick, Anthony Davis, famously underwent a growth spurt after beginning his high school career as a guard. While Davis's growth may have been particularly dramatic and late, his developmental pattern is common among elite big men. Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Tim Duncan all went through a similar process. Hibbert, however, was different. As a third-grader, he was forced to play in a league with older kids because of his size. By age 12, he stood 6-foot-8. "I regret that I never learned how to play on the perimeter," he says. "If I have a kid who's big like me, I want him to learn those perimeter skills."

"For the guys who grow late, things like having the right footwork, being able to handle the ball and move around — it all comes so easy," says Dwayne Bryant, Hibbert's high school coach....