Bibby Committed to Defense

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p>

For the first time in his seven seasons with the Kings, Mike Bibby is an incumbent without any job security. He is coming off his least productive season, continues to be mentioned in trade speculation and has a new head coach who insists that he play defense to ensure his playing time.</p>

So Bibby didn't exactly stroll into training camp this week in the best of moods. He is edgy and uncomfortable, at times defiant, other times in complete denial.</p>

"When you start losing, especially when it's been so good here for so long, they have to look for somebody to blame," he said after practice Tuesday, that chip on his shoulder crowding his many tattoos. "I don't mind it. I'm the leader of this team, so I don't care. I don't feel my defense is that bad."</p>

True, Bibby has absorbed much of the blame for the Kings' recent struggles. True, he is the floor leader and primary ballhandler, when he is probably most effective paired with a bigger, more versatile teammate such as the departed Doug Christie. But also true: His defense is that bad. Opposing scouts invariably list the 6-foot-3 Bibby in the opening paragraphs of their pregame reports, his combined lack of footspeed and uninspired defense transforming the lane into a potential toll-free parkway.</p>

Nonetheless, the most immediate issue confronting the Kings -- superceded perhaps only by the question of whether Reggie Theus is as talented a coach as he says he is -- is not whether Bibby suddenly morphs into a Christie-like stopper, but how he reacts in general to his changing circumstances.</p>

He has two choices here, and one final chance. He can sit and stew, resisting Theus' attempts to mold the Kings into an entertaining, cohesive unit that plays at a faster pace and expends energy defensively. (In that case, Bibby can sit and stew while awaiting a trade offer that finally tempts Geoff Petrie.) Or he can respond the way he did the last time he was challenged to this extent, specifically, by Larry Brown during the 2003 Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.</p>

That was a Mike Bibby seldom seen in Sacramento, a point guard who harassed opposing ballhandlers, swiped passes and launched lobs for dunks, and whose all-around performance thrust him into a three-way rotation with future Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Allen Iverson. Brown, the national team coach at the time, never stopped raving about him; he remains convinced his U.S. Olympic team would have prevailed in Athens the following summer had Bibby been willing to participate. Gregg Popovich, the demanding, defense-oriented assistant, became another convert.</p>

"If you don't play defense," Bibby explained repeatedly at the time, with his familiar crooked grin, "you don't play. And I want to play."</div></p>

Source: SacBee</p>

 

This is is 10th year, why start now?</p>

Steve Nash was always considered to be a poor man defender but somebody who could at least play within a team defensive framework without getting exposed on every possession. I think Bibby should shoot for the same mode. He isn't suddenly going to start being a stopper, especially since the team doesn't have lofty aspirations.</p>