Mike Bibby was mad, but not about anything regarding his own uncertain status. He was none too thrilled because I wrote in a game story in Wednesday's paper that he was culpable for letting Boston's Delonte West score 19 of his 23 points in the first half. As it turns out, I was the guilty party.
"I was guarding (Rajon) Rondo!" he yelled. "That was Kevin (Martin). How you gonna say that was me?"
Cooler heads quickly prevailed. And if nothing else, I was able to take Bibby's mind off the elephant in the room while he wrapped up morning shoot-a-round in the Verizon Center of our nation's capital. The Kings point guard who is "waiting like everyone else" to see if the Kings do, in fact, trade him in the next two hours (and counting, noon Pacific trade deadline) shared his thoughts on what was a bizarre day for him.
In short, he said it's been made clear that, even if he remains a King, he is not wanted in Sacramento. And that much, Bibby admitted, creates a difficult situation.
"The way things are going, by the direction it looks like they're trying to go in, you kind of expect a trade," Bibby said. "I think they're trying to go in a different direction, and I don't think I'm involved in that direction."
So where would that leave him if they don't do the deal?
"I have no idea," he said. "I don't know where it's going to leave me. I mean I haven't been shooting the ball well this year, and my numbers are slowly
declining in every situation, so you never know if they want you or whatever."
There was no shortage of love for Bibby at the morning practice, with players treating him as if he was a brother on his way out to war. Rookie Quincy Douby shoved Bibby in a playful way, saying "That's my big brother right here," and Bibby said he was about to head off to lunch with the guys who, for now, are his teammates.
"I'm going to go eat with some of the guys right now, and we can talk a little bit because this might be the last time that we ever get to eat like that again for a while," Bibby said. "I'm going to go out and have lunch with the guys and wait, just like everybody else."
- Sam Amick
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