Mike Bibby

Kyle Ramos

When Mike Bibby stepped onto the scene for the Sacramento Kings in 2001 a new and unforgettable chapter was opened.

It wasn’t going to be easy for Bibby to fill the void left behind by fan-favorite Jason Williams at the point guard position and the former knew as much.

“I got there and Jason Williams was a prized possession in Sacramento and when I got traded for him, I just wanted to fit in,” Bibby told DJ Sixsmith of CBS Local.

That uncertainty was washed away, however, by the open arms of his new teammates.

“The guys treated me like I was there for five, six, seven years,” said the Kings legend.

No. 10 and the revamped lineup for the Kings surged their way to the top of the Western Conference during his first year in Sactown, winning a franchise-record 61 games in the process.

A deep playoff run followed the outstanding regular season and included Bibby hitting quite possibly the biggest shot in Sacramento Kings history.

Across his seven seasons in the purple and black, the Arizona product cemented himself as a legend in Sacramento.

Not only did he become a fan-favorite that Kings faithful adored in their previous starting PG, but he also established himself as a cornerstone to the team’s success in the early to mid-2000s.

“When I played with Sacramento, it didn’t matter who scored the points. As long as we won, the guys were the same way,” said Bibby. “That’s the way basketball was meant to be played.”

When looking back at the years spent in Sactown, it was nothing but love from No. 10.

“I had the best time of my life and my career playing in Sacramento with those guys,” he said. “I think Sacramento is the best team I played on.”

The full interview with Sixsmith and Bibby can be viewed here.

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Mike Bibby Calls Sacramento Tenure the ‘The Best Time of [his] Life’

nbaplatformservices

This Date in Kings OT History: Bibby's Playoff Game-Winner in Dallas | 5.11.02

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Top 10 Sacramento Kings Power Wins

Alex Kramers

For six and a half seasons in Sacramento, Mike Bibby – listed at 6-foot-2, a lean 195 pounds – did a lot of the heavy lifting on the floor, orchestrating some of the Kings most prolific, run-and-gun offenses and knocking down clutch jump shots with no hesitation.

Nowadays, Bibby, captain of the BIG3’s Ghost Ballers, lifts for hours on end in the weight room, rotating from dumbbells to squat racks to leg-press machines – and it shows. The 41-year-old point guard, the sleeves of his slim-fitting white polo shirt stretched tightly over his toned biceps, is built more like a hulking middle linebacker.

His muscular physique, the product of his herculean training regimen combined with genetics and a protein-heavy diet, caused an internet frenzy when he shared a since-viral photo.

“I’m always working out,” he said. “In the morning, I do full-body lifts for three hours, three days a week, and the other two days, with bands. I go to the gym and play (basketball) later in the day and do some more drills at night.”

Pumping iron helps the Cherry Hill, N.J. native battle with former NBA adversaries such as Gilbert Arenas and Quentin Richardson in the more physical, slower-tempo BIG3. The Kings legend led the Ice Cube-founded, 3-on-3 league in assists in 2017 and 2018, and ranked near the top in rebounding at his position.

Besides, he insists, the transformation isn’t nearly as dramatic as it seems. Now that he’s long retired from the NBA, he simply has the time and motivation to ramp up his routine.

“I was always built like this; it’s just (NBA teams) never wanted me to lift,” he said. “That’s what I do. I love lifting weights, I love to workout and I love extra work.”

Throughout his pro career, each October, he’d enter training camp after bulking up in the summer, and, like clockwork, his coaches would insist he slim back down to his typical playing weight. Bibby would begrudgingly relinquish the bench press in favor of the treadmill, but while his slimmer frame may have looked less imposing, he imposed his advantages, athletic and mental, just the same.

A 1997 national champion and 1998 Pac-10 Player of the Year at Arizona, the proven winner was drafted second overall by the Grizzlies and increased his per-game points and assists averages in each of his first three years. One of the League’s most highly-regarded young point guards, he secured All-Rookie First Team honors and still holds the Vancouver-Memphis franchise single-season assist record (685 in 2000-01).

Yet, the Grizzlies struggled to climb out of the Western Conference cellar, winning only 53 of 161 games, and then-owner Michael Heisley began exploring trade possibilities to reshape the roster.

“Michael Heisley gave me a choice,” Bibby recalled. “He told me to pick five places I wanted to go and I gave him five places. He asked, ‘What’s the No. 1 spot you want to play in?’”

Bibby, who’d long admired Sacramento’s fast-paced playing style and share-the-wealth ball movement from afar, voiced his top choice and crossed his fingers.

“I think in less than a week, (the trade) was done,” he said. “I didn’t think it would happen. Just to be put in that situation, that was probably the biggest point of my career.”

With his steady-over-spectacular, substance-over-flair game, the new Kings floor general had early trepidations about replacing his predecessor, and in many ways in polar opposite, Jason Williams. No. 55’s improvisation – from through-the-legs or behind-the-back passes to pull-up, 35-foot three-pointers on fast breaks – made him one of the city’s and League’s most popular personalities and fixtures on national-TV highlight shows.

Those concerns were soon put to rest; first, when Bibby was first introduced at ARCO Arena to a rousing ovation from the home crowd, and in the coming weeks, as the Kings accumulated wins, and more and more jerseys with his name and number on the back emerged in the stands.

“Greatest fans around,” he said. “I knew Jason Williams was a fan favorite, and to be traded for him, I didn’t know what to expect from the fans. They treated me like I was there the whole time, too, and they made me feel at home.”

For No. 10, directing a title-contending team – championed by an established, veteran nucleus whose biggest assets were immeasurable chemistry and teamwork – proved to be surpassingly seamless, too.

The Kings flourished while running the Princeton offense, emphasizing movement without the ball, open looks from the perimeter and lay-ups off backdoor cuts. With Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, two of the League’s best passing big men, operating out of the high post, Bibby wasn’t tasked with traditional point guard duties. His assists dipped from 8.4 to 5.0 per game, but the Kings won a franchise-record 61 games – eight more than the Grizzlies during his entire three-year tenure.

The biggest difference, and what epitomizes those early 2000s Kings squads, Bibby says, was how little any of the players, from the MVP candidates to the last men on the bench, cared about personal statistics and individual merits. As the second or third scoring option on one of the most complete starting fives, the point guard wasn’t named to a single All-Star team; but he never had an issue deferring to his teammates and was just as happy each time one of them was recognized with an accolade.

“Going there made me realize how basketball is supposed to be played,” he said. “No one ever had an ego if they didn’t get their points. It was pretty easy to fit in with the types of guys that were on the team. They all made me feel like I was there for five, six, seven years.”

Those close relationships evolved into a teamwide, heartfelt camaraderie. On road trips, a contingent of players would often head together to the nearest malls, dining at fast-food eateries, scanning through CD racks and picking snacks to bring back to the hotel.

“There are a lot of guys on the team I still talk to ‘til this day,” Bibby said. “If we ever cross paths, it’s always family.”

When it came to practical jokes and innocuous pranks – oftentimes steered by a single culprit – nothing was off limits.

One day, Bibby arrived at the practice facility in a shiny, gray jump suit; the next morning, taped on his locker was an image of his face superimposed on the body of Mini-Me, a character popularized by Verne Troyer in the “Austin Powers” franchise.

“Everybody joked around, but I think Vlade led a lot of it,” Bibby chuckled. “He was the prankster. He’s one of the best teammates I ever had. He always liked to have fun … whether we lost or we won, he was the same person.”

The tight-knit Kings, all-business and no-nonsense once the 2002 Playoffs commenced, cruised past Utah in the first round and faced little resistance from Dallas in the conference semifinals, setting the stage for a third-consecutive showdown with the longtime-rival Lakers.

In the fiercely-competitive, back-and-forth series, Sacramento exploited one of L.A.’s biggest defensive weaknesses by running the Bibby and Webber screen-and-roll and utilizing its point guard’s quickness to create three-point opportunities for Peja Stojakovic and Doug Christie.

In the closing seconds of Game 5, two nights after Lakers forward Robert Horry hit a stunning game-winner, Bibby pulled Webber aside while walking out of the team huddle after a timeout. With the Kings trailing by a point, he knew that if he'd get the ball on the final possession, with the game – and conceivably, the season – on the line, he wouldn’t miss.

“C-Webb was our alpha dog,” Bibby said. “I told him, ‘If you fake-handoff to me and you shoot it, we’ll win or lose by that … But if you don’t take the shot, I’m going to knock it down.’”

Running a perfectly diagrammed play, Bibby inbounded the ball from the baseline to Webber, who set a hard pick on Lakers guard Derek Fisher and passed it back to No. 10 for an open look from the right wing. Bibby, true to his word, took one calm dribble before firing a 22-foot jumper that found the bottom of the net, giving his team a bounce-back victory and silencing outsiders who insisted Sacramento’s confidence was irreparably rattled by Horry’s miracle.

Bibby’s dagger will forever serve as a testament to his and the team's resiliency and unflappable poise, even though the celebration would be short-lived. The Lakers outlasted the Kings in overtime of Game 7; Bibby, to this day, believes the better team didn’t prevail in the end.

“That was the worst feeling,” he said. “Unfortunately, there were some things that didn’t go our way ... I don’t think it was meant to be, but I know we were the best team in the NBA that year. I think everybody knew it around the NBA at that time. I think we could’ve won a championship that year. It was just heartbreaking that we didn’t.”

The Kings reached the postseason in each of Bibby’s following four seasons, but Webber’s career-altering knee injury in May 2003 proved to be a debilitating setback. Sacramento infused younger talent and traded its mainstays, one after the next, to balance its roster and pry open its title window, before fully committing to a rebuild.

Bibby was the last of the greatest-show-on-court-era stars to depart, when a February 2008 deal sent the Sacramento-era assist leader to the Hawks. As the elder statesman on a youthful team making a second-half postseason push, along with his passing and outside shooting, he brought lessons he learned from the ultimate veteran and locker-room glue-guy.

"To go to Atlanta and play the Vlade Divac role for those guys, that made it fun from the beginning,” he said. “I’m not saying that I’m the reason why we made it to the Playoffs, but I think I came in and (helped) turn that team around. I kind of showed them that, look, you can play basketball, (but) we’re with each other so much, so have fun while you’re here and we’ll see where it goes.”

After finishing his NBA career with brief stints in Washington, Miami and New York, the 14-year veteran retired in 2012 to focus on coaching. He began on the AAU circuit, forming his own program, Team Bibby, that included his then-nine-year-old son, as well as future Kings forward Marvin Bagley III. The next year, Bibby returned to his high school alma mater, Shadow Mountain High School, and as head coach, led the school to four consecutive state championships.

When the warmer months roll around, he accelerates his conditioning drills, pushing his body through those around-the-clock weight training routines and basketball practices. His frame is bigger and his first step a bit slower, but his desire to lead his squad to an elusive pro title is as strong as ever.

“I love the game,” he said. “At home, I still work out until it’s time to play, and I get out there and do what I can. I’m still going to get out there and give it all that I’ve got.”

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Mike Bibby: From Kings Leader to Workout-Warrior

In a recent episode of The Player Tribune’s show House Guest, host and former NBA guard Nate Robinson trekked out to Arizona to pay Kings legend Mike Bibby a visit.

No. 10 showed off his sprawling Phoenix estate that included the kind of luxuries that many would dream of -  a robust game room, an indoor basketball/volleyball court, and an entire room dedicated to his 3,000-plus pairs of kicks.

While taking the tour, Mike got to reminiscing about his time in Sacramento and the events that led up to his arrival to the Kings.

Bibby said that he was given the choice of where to be traded to when the then-Vancouver Grizzlies gave him the option.

“He said, ‘where’s the number one place you want to go?’ And I told him, ‘Sacramento’” said Bibby.

“Everybody made me feel comfortable, was glad to have me, and that made it so much easier for me to come in and play,” he continued. “It was just a fun thing to be around. It was the best time of my life.”

The full episode of House Guest can be viewed below.

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Bibby Opens Up His Home and About his Time in Sacramento

Jordan Ramirez

The sneaker industry couldn't be on a higher trajectory.

In addition to high-profile collaborations, signature lines and the ever-growing love for personal style, the NBA itself instituted a rule lifting the restriction on colors for this season.

As a result, players more than ever are encouraged to be creative and show their personality through what they rock on the hardwood.

In an article on HoopsHype, NBA legends and current players — including Mike Bibby and De'Aaron Fox — discuss their love for footwear, favorite kicks and more.

"I've always loved shoes," said Bibby. "But I didn't start collecting them until I was in the NBA.

"To be one of the first six athletes to start the Jordan Brand, it's just an amazing feeling. I know a lot of kids want Jordans and the brand is really popular, so it's special."

While Swipa loves his kicks, he doesn't feel the need to spend a lot for on-feet fashion.

"The most I've spent on a pair of shoes is about $300 - maybe a little over $300," Fox admitted. "I'm not one of those people who is out here spending a rack on a pair of shoes."

"Retro 9s with my number on the back and they were patent-leather," said the former Kings point guard. "They only sent me one pair and I've never seen anyone else have those."

"I'd probably say my 'Just Don' Jordan 2s; I haven't really seen a lot of people who have them," De'Aaron explained.

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Fox, Bibby Detail Their Love for Kicks

Tracee Jay

By now, everyone has seen that picture of a jacked Mike Bibby after a hoops session with his son.

On the heels of the photo drawing international headlines, men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine GQ sat down with Bibby to discuss his current diet and weight lifting routine.

First things first, Bibby says that he is always in the gym - whether it’s for himself or training others. He is modest in saying that the picture makes him look much bigger than he actually is in real life, and attributes his build to genetics. Although, that may be somewhat true, he does tell GQ that he tries to “eat well and take care of my body as much as I can.”

If you want to try No. 10’s routine, you better have a lot of time because his exercise regimen is no joke.

Bibby does full-body lifts – three days a week with weights, and two days with bands, for about two to three hours. He then goes to the gym to workout, shoot, or play basketball. He takes a small break, and then proceeds to go back to the gym for more shooting, and footwork drills. His day typically starts at 7 a.m. and ends at about 10 or 11 p.m.

That’s not all. According to the former No. 2 overall pick, the most important part of a healthy regimen is what you eat. Bibby says that he weighs all his food, eats smaller portions and more frequently throughout the day. “I keep the carbs low and eat very little sugar,” adds Bibby. “I’ve probably lost 25 pounds. I’m still strong—it’s just less fat. I knocked that off, and I feel good.”

With a strong work ethic, we have no doubt that Kings fans can be like Mike.

Be sure to read the rest of his GQ feature to catch up with what Bibby has been doing on-and-off the court.

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The Secret to Mike Bibby’s Impressive New Physique

sacjwise

Fans don't often get a chance to play basketball with former NBA stars, but sometimes, when they get the opportunity, they may not even know it.

Former Kings guard Mike Bibby was attending his daughter's volleyball practice when he stepped out onto an outdoor half-court to challenge two young players to a game of "21."

The moment was captured by his 20-year-old son, Michael, on Wednesday and shared to his Twitter account.

No. 10, in an effort to make the game seem fair, went by the pseudonym "Chris" while playing.

This may fly in Phoenix, but if the sharpshooting Kings fan favorite tried this in Sacramento, he'd have no chance trying to fool anyone.