Maybe now that we don't have Bibby all you "Bibby haters" will realize the depth of your true lack of basketball knowledge. He has been the only constant piece (although he did have ONE bad shooting year last year) on the Kings for 5+ years now. Finding a TRUE PG with a knack for scoring the ball will be tough (damn near impossible) shoes to fill!!

As A life-long Kings fan who has always been optimistic (foolishly at times) every October before tip-off....The news of Bibby possibly being out of the line-up for a few months is flat-out brutal! I hate to say it but.... Lottery 08'  (top 5 pick?) here we come!

"I don't hate Bibby. I'm tired of people, such as yourself, saying that Bibby is worth more than he is. He is what he is, and isn't worth any more than that"  

 I dont quite get the meaning of this quote... Exactly...He is what he is. A true Scoring PG who knows how to run an offense. (when surrounded by unselfish players) He has arguably the best mid-range shot of any player in the league off the screen (save for Rip) and considering we essentially only play 4 offensive players (We havnt had a PF produce on the offensive end since Webb) his ability to stretch the offence and knock down the open shot makes him damn near irreplacable in our offense. I honestly like Douby/Salmons and Garcia but none of them are capable of running an NBA team from the starting PG position. (Although Salmons looks real good thus far in the preseason) Sad but brutal truth fellas.

 However, I firmly believe that our PG position was not what was keeping us in "quicksand mode". 1-3 our starting lineup (with Bibby and Artest) was very strong. Our weakness is up front at the 4-5. Brad is essentialy another SF out there because of where he plays on the floor on the offensive end and what he brings to our rebounding totals. This team would drastically improve with some more athletic ability and scoring out of the PF position, which is no secret. So speaking for the rational minded Kings fan, losing Bibby will be a great loss to our team. The intrest in watching Douby/Salmon/Garcia run the team will unquestionably be high, however, there is a reason why Petrie is reportably looking for a PG to come over and start for us. He knows what we HAVE and what were MISSIN with Bibby on the sidelines. No Kings player is capable of filling those starting PG shoes as of right now!

Who was that directed to Pookeyguru?

pookey, settle down a bit. Bibby doesn't play defense, and physically can't. You can't understand that you are a hater, and mentally can't.

How about everyone just cool their jets a little bit, eh?

I have been saving comment until I could form an opinion. But all I could form was ambivalence. So I thought that I would read everyone's comments throughout StR. Great stuff, but still I am ambivalent.

I wanted Bibby gone (a lot of us did), and all we wanted in return was a draft pick, maybe a young player and some cap relief. And his exit would open up playing time for our younger players. So how are we doing?

Well, no draft pick. Bummer.

No young player, either. This is beginning to suck.

But it does look as though our young players are going to get a chance. I hope Douby and Greene (and Garcia) get some serious run before we bring someone else in to fill those minutes. None of us really know what we have in these guys. Wouldn't it be fun to find out? I mean really. Is there a free agent point guard out there that would turn us from playoff pretender to contender?

The first seven games could be painful as Brad and Kevin Martin will draw a lot of defensive attention. Once Ron-Ron returns they could form a decent three man attack, with SpeedRacer flying around the wings, Braid conducting the attack from the high post and Artest making someone's life a living hell down low. Plug in Douby for "O" or Greene for "D", use Garcia and Salmons at will and play a little smaller and use the hydra sparingly as needed. Not exactly a recipe for a deep playoff run, but a season of evolution for Martin, Garcia, Douby, Greene and Hawes would at least be interesting and worth following.

Seems like a perfect time to trade Artest and maximize our number of lottery balls to me.

Maybe for a young point guard and a pick, or see if Miami will do Williams and his expiring contract.

Then dump Bibby at the deadline or let him build stats and ship him after the season.

I don't mind losing Bibby at all, in the long run it helps our team (if petrie doesn't sign a 60 year old vet), in the short run it doesn't. Which is why I agree with Hoops, you don't find players like Bibby in more or less 6 or 7 other teams with quality point guards. Its easy make any person's individual shortcommings seem more significant when you have an overall unathletic team, a few losing seasons to look forward to, fans that check this site daily (me), and fans that willingly write essays about a team that isn't going anywhere. Any and all details can be scrutinized. I get it. You have your scapegoat. The key here is a middle ground. Bibby is what he is, and is an overall positive member of the team, other than the minutes he plays, which detracts from developing players (which is our future).

I never made a point that you couldn't understand. I don't think I'm some lonely child in the woods with an idea. Your putting words in my mouth, and every other person's mouth. Who are you to dictate who has the problem? That is an elitist perspective to begin with. WHEN DID I SAY???..."You don't understand my point". Your pulling shit out of your ass and saying... You didn't understand me, or yourself to begin with. It's not a matter of clarification of who's fucked up in the head, because God knows I already won. When it comes to quantifiable debates that you actually defend your opinion with, then this quote is important..."Where I disagree is that Bibby brings consistent positive traction to this team."... Positive traction is extremely subjective and therefore a bullshit phrase that defines literally no real value to a player. What I did quantify, and what hoops quantified, was Bibby's actual skills vs. other point guards in league (and available to us). The point was that the loss of Bibby has an overall net loss to the winning capacity of this team. You hate...period.

I think one point that should be raised as well is whether Bibby's value to this team is being overstated based on the offensive system that is in place.

If Adelman was still the head coach, and the high post offense was running smoothly, I'd say Bibby would still have good value (although we all know how I feel about him on the defensive end). Offensively, he's perfect for that system.

For most other coaches, he's going to have to be more of a traditional point guard, and this is where he suffers a bit, IMO.

I don't agree that he runs the offense well, I think he is either average or below average as a penetrator and distributor. Sure, he may make a shot occasionally, but he is NOT a good passer or finisher on the dribble. Until his injury, he was really working hard on the defensive side, but he's physically limited in that regard.

True, his ability to make the outside shot (last year excepted) does help ease the offensive burden of a team that struggles to score consistently. But if that shot is not falling, there isn't much else there.

These are the reasons I was hoping he would be dealt in the offseason, and the reasons I'm not too upset to see the team play without him. You never know about young point guards...many of them bloom unexpectedly when given the time to play consistently. Since we are in rebuilding mode, I'm excited to see what some of the young guys bring to the table.

last year 4.7 apg, 2.4 turnovers per

and his shooting % has dropped each year since 02

He's good as the third option not the first.

give the young guys a shot, the seasons fucked anyways.

just an FYI...

Jesus. That was a whole lot of flaming. My mouse hand was singed.