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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12556694p-13411784c.html
NBA beat: Now more than ever, Kings are Bibby's
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, March 13, 2005
Get the latest news in sacbee.com's Kings Alert newsletter. Sign up here.
The best point guard in the business isn't Stephon Marbury.
The New York Knicks' floor leader anointed himself as such earlier this season, then proceeded to sully his claim in a flurry of losses.
Allen Iverson has had arguably his best season for the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the NBA in scoring again, and his assists are up. But he often needs 30 shots to hit his average and hasn't blended with Chris Webber, whom he so coveted.
There's legitimate talk of Steve Nash of Phoenix garnering the league's MVP award this season. He leads the NBA in assists, directs the most prolific bunch in years, steers a club with the best road record and has the surging Suns challenging for the home-court advantage throughout the postseason.
And there's Mike Bibby.
Any chance for a recount of the Western Conference All-Star voting? Any chance to land on the All-NBA team if a season's second half counts for anything?
In the meantime, the Kings have become his team, a role he didn't necessarily embrace in seasons past. Now he does, especially in light of Brad Miller's broken leg. Bibby has become the Kings' best player.
That title belonged to Webber, whom Bibby relied on heavily, sometimes too much.
Now Bibby has become the leader, in play, through words in a timeout. He'll use frank language in demanding the ball without a bit of teammate apprehension.
Then he'll dull a madhouse locker room scene by reminding that beating Memphis on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday with his buzzer-beating jumpers were good fun and all, but the Houston Rockets loom, nipping at their heels in the Western Conference playoff scramble.
The Kings didn't just get better across the board with Webber moved east. Bibby got much better.
He drives more, makes more assists, including 11 in a rout of Detroit last Sunday and 12 against the Clippers. He has his foes' attention and the sudden respect of his new teammates in Brian Skinner, Corliss Williamson and Kenny Thomas, who said Friday that Bibby "is the man around here."
"I think Mike has become one of the very best players in the league," Memphis guard Earl Watson said Tuesday.
And Corey Maggette on Friday: "He's been putting the weight on his shoulders, and he's hit game-
winning shots. Great players hit great shots."
Yao in town
Those who know him best don't want to hear it. Houston center Yao Ming is underachieving. Yao has put up decent numbers this season, but there are always rumblings he should be a 22-point, 15-rebound kind of guy, such as Friday when he had 27 points and a career-best 22 rebounds in a 20-point rout of the Suns.
"People need to lay off a little," Rockets teammate Tracy McGrady said during All-Star weekend. "He's going to be a great player."
The Kings' Cuttino Mobley was with Yao for two seasons in Houston. Mobley said Yao was a sponge, absorbing his new culture, language and basketball tricks. His biggest knock then and now, Mobley said, is Yao is too unselfish.
"But that's not a bad thing," Mobley said. "He's going to be fine."
One aspect of Yao's game that has soared, apparently, is his penchant to trash-talk. In English. He's done it a couple of times this season, to the glee of his teammates, though it started to come out of him last season, Mobley said. "In one game, he got a technical after he dunked and yelled about it," Mobley said. "(Steve Francis) and I told him we'd pay his fine if he got one. We loved it."
More Kings karma
Don't take that post-Kings career karma lightly. For some, it becomes a real pain. Vlade Divac, the heart and soul of the franchise for six seasons, has practically fallen off the basketball map this season with the Lakers. He torqued his back on a spin move during a voluntary workout early last fall, then underwent surgery. He hopes to play this season and to walk without pain 10 years from now.
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there are more, but they're not kings-related. and they're too long.
NBA beat: Now more than ever, Kings are Bibby's
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, March 13, 2005
Get the latest news in sacbee.com's Kings Alert newsletter. Sign up here.
The best point guard in the business isn't Stephon Marbury.
The New York Knicks' floor leader anointed himself as such earlier this season, then proceeded to sully his claim in a flurry of losses.
Allen Iverson has had arguably his best season for the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the NBA in scoring again, and his assists are up. But he often needs 30 shots to hit his average and hasn't blended with Chris Webber, whom he so coveted.
There's legitimate talk of Steve Nash of Phoenix garnering the league's MVP award this season. He leads the NBA in assists, directs the most prolific bunch in years, steers a club with the best road record and has the surging Suns challenging for the home-court advantage throughout the postseason.
And there's Mike Bibby.
Any chance for a recount of the Western Conference All-Star voting? Any chance to land on the All-NBA team if a season's second half counts for anything?
In the meantime, the Kings have become his team, a role he didn't necessarily embrace in seasons past. Now he does, especially in light of Brad Miller's broken leg. Bibby has become the Kings' best player.
That title belonged to Webber, whom Bibby relied on heavily, sometimes too much.
Now Bibby has become the leader, in play, through words in a timeout. He'll use frank language in demanding the ball without a bit of teammate apprehension.
Then he'll dull a madhouse locker room scene by reminding that beating Memphis on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday with his buzzer-beating jumpers were good fun and all, but the Houston Rockets loom, nipping at their heels in the Western Conference playoff scramble.
The Kings didn't just get better across the board with Webber moved east. Bibby got much better.
He drives more, makes more assists, including 11 in a rout of Detroit last Sunday and 12 against the Clippers. He has his foes' attention and the sudden respect of his new teammates in Brian Skinner, Corliss Williamson and Kenny Thomas, who said Friday that Bibby "is the man around here."
"I think Mike has become one of the very best players in the league," Memphis guard Earl Watson said Tuesday.
And Corey Maggette on Friday: "He's been putting the weight on his shoulders, and he's hit game-
winning shots. Great players hit great shots."
Yao in town
Those who know him best don't want to hear it. Houston center Yao Ming is underachieving. Yao has put up decent numbers this season, but there are always rumblings he should be a 22-point, 15-rebound kind of guy, such as Friday when he had 27 points and a career-best 22 rebounds in a 20-point rout of the Suns.
"People need to lay off a little," Rockets teammate Tracy McGrady said during All-Star weekend. "He's going to be a great player."
The Kings' Cuttino Mobley was with Yao for two seasons in Houston. Mobley said Yao was a sponge, absorbing his new culture, language and basketball tricks. His biggest knock then and now, Mobley said, is Yao is too unselfish.
"But that's not a bad thing," Mobley said. "He's going to be fine."
One aspect of Yao's game that has soared, apparently, is his penchant to trash-talk. In English. He's done it a couple of times this season, to the glee of his teammates, though it started to come out of him last season, Mobley said. "In one game, he got a technical after he dunked and yelled about it," Mobley said. "(Steve Francis) and I told him we'd pay his fine if he got one. We loved it."
More Kings karma
Don't take that post-Kings career karma lightly. For some, it becomes a real pain. Vlade Divac, the heart and soul of the franchise for six seasons, has practically fallen off the basketball map this season with the Lakers. He torqued his back on a spin move during a voluntary workout early last fall, then underwent surgery. He hopes to play this season and to walk without pain 10 years from now.
-----------------------------------------------------------
there are more, but they're not kings-related. and they're too long.
