|
|
|
Thursday, July 19, 2001
Point guard already excited about possible playoffs
Associated Press
|
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Mike Bibby had no trouble making up
his mind. The Sacramento Kings were his first choice all along.
| |  | |
| Bibby |
Bibby was acquired by Sacramento last week from the Vancouver
Grizzlies for Jason Williams in a four-man deal.
After spending three seasons with the woeful Grizzlies, Bibby
said he was overjoyed to hold up a white Kings jersey with his name
and No. 10 on the back.
"It was tough losing so much, but that's part of the past
now," Bibby said. "It's going to be fun playing in the playoffs
for the first time. I can't wait for the season to start."
Bibby's agent, David Falk, praised the Memphis-bound Grizzlies
for allowing him to broker a trade with the Kings. Sacramento was
Bibby's preferred destination among the many teams interested in
acquiring the talented point guard, who averaged 15.9 points and
finished fourth in the NBA last season with 7.8 assists a game.
After Bibby identified Sacramento's high-octane offensive team
as his top choice, Falk played an intermediary role in the deal
that sent Williams and Nick Anderson to the rebuilding Grizzlies,
with Bibby and Brent Price coming to Sacramento.
Falk didn't tell his client about the deal until after it was
made.
"(Grizzlies owner) Michael Heisley likes Mike very much ... and
(Heisley) felt that if there was a situation where he could help
Mike and get fair value back, he wanted to do it," Falk said.
"Mike wanted to come (to Sacramento) so badly that if I had told
him there was a good chance, he would have been calling me every
hour."
Bibby is a significant upgrade over Williams, whose boorish
behavior and scrapes with NBA discipline colored his crowd-pleasing
but inconsistent play. In Bibby, the Kings get a fundamentally
talented player whose game has improved each of his three seasons
in the league.
"(Williams) is a good player," Bibby said. "He's flashy. He's
what everyone wants to see. I just want to go up in there and get
the job done. Hopefully, I can be a fan favorite, too."
While Bibby admired the Kings' style from afar, the Kings became
convinced Bibby was a star who would fit perfectly into their
long-term plans. A solid defensive player who has made himself into
an above-average shooter, Bibby has started every game in his
career.
"Mike is tremendously dedicated to improving himself, and
that's one of the things we liked the most," Kings vice president
of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said. "It's great to see
Mike so excited about joining us. We sent a very good player to the
Grizzlies, but we feel like we got a fair deal."
Petrie and coach Rick Adelman will rely heavily on Bibby to
direct the NBA's most prolific offense, and Bibby looks forward to
the challenge. While he wouldn't say the Grizzlies' style of play
muted his creativity, Bibby looks forward to playing the Kings'
more aggressive style.
"I did what (Vancouver) asked of me, and I think I did a pretty
good job," Bibby said. "But ever since high school, I've liked to
play run-and-gun. I want to get up and down the floor and have
fun."
But Bibby might not have free agent forward Chris Webber on the
receiving end of his passes.
Bibby spoke briefly to Webber last weekend. Petrie said he thinks Bibby
will make the Kings even more attractive to Webber, but that wasn't
the reason Sacramento made the deal.
|
|
|
|
