Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol III

I was perusing Mike Bibby's stats, and to my surprise, I discovered that Bibby is only 31. He's been a prominent basketball player since the mid 90s, and was a key player on a championship contender 8 years ago, so I thought he was older than that, but what's interesting is the amount of basketball "archetypes" Bibby has embodied in his career.

First, he was a key player on two outstanding Arizona teams (including a national champion), giving him "college star" status. Then, he was the "good young player on a bad team" with the Grizzlies for just long enough to make that phase of his career memorable. Then he moved to Sacramento just in time to become a key part of the better Webber-Peja-Divac teams, becoming a "key part of a great team". Then, after the Kings declined, he was the "good veteran trapped on a bad team." Finally, he was traded to the (young) Hawks, where he became the "veteran mentor", seeming old in comparison to Josh Smith and company.

Bibby was in each of these roles for at least two seasons, but never much longer than that, meaning that all of these phases of his career are distinct from each other, but never taking up too much of his career. And I think the final factor here is that Bibby plays "old" now, not running all over the place, and using the open three as his primary offensive weapon.