Going onto ESPN's website, I looked at Hibbert's 2012-2013 statistics from 5 recent games and statistics from 5 games in the latter part of the 2011-2012 season.
While other online writes I've read and sports commentators I've heard have concentrated on Hibbert's base statistics and percentages, there were a couple of surprises found by looking at the specific numbers. While this sampling confirmed the marked decline in field goal percentage, Hibbert actually made more field goals in the five 2012-2013 games in the sample than in the five 2011-2012 studied. However, this sample indicated that his overall point total seems to be suffering more from a decrease in the number of times Hibbert has gotten to the free throw line.
Although his cumulative free throw averages, as seen on ESPN's website, for 2011-2012 (2.6) and 2012-2013 (1.5) show only slightly over a point less for the 2012-2013 season , Hibbert averaged 3.1 points off of free throws for April 2012 and went to the free throw line an average of 4.2 times, but his free throw averages for February are 0.6 free throws made and only 1.3 free throw attempts.
But there are some positive signs for Hibbert on his 2012-2013 game log on ESPN's website. Although Hibbert scored on 8 points in the Pacers' 125-91 rout of the Knicks on 2/20/13, he played only 18 minutes and made 4-5 of his field goals. It marked a slight improvement in his point production against the Knicks (6 points in the 11/18/12 game and 4 points in the 1/10/13 game). Hibbert also had his highest point totals for the season against Charlotte, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Miami in February.
While there are some other possible factors for his performance decline that I saw from analyzing Hibbert's statistics, I'll stop here. Since there have been some positive signs in Hibbert's performance, I'm willing to show him some love and hope that he continues to improve.
