This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.
Mike Bibby played for six teams in the NBA over 14 years. He is now the head men’s basketball coach at Sacramento State.
These are the three best leaders he played with during his career.
Chris Webber
He was the alpha of the Sacramento Kings, our leader. Everybody fell in line after him. But the thing with him was the way he would take accountability for his mistakes.
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There was a game my first year in Sacramento — I can’t even remember if we lost the game or not — but he came into the huddle, raised his hand after a mistake and said, “That’s my fault, guys. It won’t happen again.”
That goes deep.
I looked up to him when he was in college at Michigan, and I was in high school. Our team was the Matadors, and we had the same colors as Michigan. We had the same uniforms. I wore black socks like he did. So to hear him hold himself accountable like that meant a lot to me.
I learned there was nothing wrong with that. Everybody makes mistakes. And when you hold yourself accountable, that’s the best thing you can do.
Chris knew he was the guy, and he knew it was OK to mess up, so when he did, he held his own. Coming from your best player, that rubs off on everybody. It wore off on me.
Vlade Divac
What I loved about Vlade was that no matter how he played, he was the same guy. You were going to get the same Vlade, no matter if he had two points or 25 points.
He was going to run the card games on the plane. He was going to tell jokes. He was going to keep the locker room lively. That’s just the way he was.
When I got traded to Atlanta in 2008, I went to a younger team. I took the Vlade Divac role with the Hawks. I’m not saying I’m the reason why things changed there, but I tried to bring some of the stuff to the culture that he brought: “Hey, when the plane lands, everyone put their bags down. We’re going to go eat some dinner. Let’s go walk around together.”
I took that from Vlade. You have to have a guy on your team who is willing to take the blows and shots for everything, and Vlade was that guy.
During the playoffs one year, we were playing Dallas. I walked in to use the bathroom. I used it before each game — a quick nerve bathroom. I walked in, and he was in there just smoking a cigarette. I was like: Damn, Vlade, right now?!?
Then he came out and did what Vlade did.
Those Kings teams were the best team I was ever on in terms of having fun, but when it came time for business, we took care of business. I got that from Vlade.
I was on other teams, when guys didn’t get their numbers, they were not the same person. That took a toll on me. It meant a lot that Vlade wasn’t going to change. I loved that.
Dwyane Wade
I was in Miami with Dwyane, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. You’d figure LeBron would have been the guy, but clearly, there you knew it was D-Wade’s team. He didn’t have to say it. Everybody knew.
One time, we stopped as a team and got 20 cheesesteaks and two french fries. He was eating the french fries like, “Oh, these french fries are so good,” and we couldn’t have any. It was like: OK, if he’s the only person who can get french fries, he’s doing something.
D-Wade led by example. He did all the extra stuff, all the extra work. I was only there for four months, but I saw the way he ran things. The way he worked. The way carried himself in a positive way.
That left an impression.
— As told to Jayson Jenks