Mike Bibby and Team Dime

(Via.)

For the second time in less than a year, the Wizards have acquired a point guard whose longtime number is not available. John Wall, you'll recall, had to bail on No. 11 because of Elvin Hayes. Now Mike Bibby can't have No. 10 because of Earl Monroe, whose jersey was retired in 2007.

For Bibby, this is no small thing. Here's quoting an ESPN the Mag story from 2002:

They call themselves Team Dime, this crew of Bibby's buds, who've been punctuating what's otherwise a big, extended family's dinner with lurid tales drawn, apparently, from their personal head-cracking history....

[His half-brother- Dane came up with the team's name when Mike and his crew first walked into a Vancouver practice. "Hey, it's Team Bibby," said then-Grizzlies forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "Nah, this is Team Dime," countered Flores. The name stuck. Flores even owns the copyright. "Ten is perfection," he explains. "Dime" is slang both for an assist and a beautiful woman. And Bibby, who knows his way around both -- have you seen Watkins? -- has always worn Number 10.

And yeah, that -- via HoopsVibe -- is a TEAM DIME tattoo on Bibby's back. So wearing No. 10 is obviously a big thing for him.

Anyhow, Wizards PR first Tweeted that Bibby would wear No. 0 for the Wizards, which was kind of shocking. But then they corrected themselves, and went with No. 00.

Anyhow, the Wizards first tweeted that Bibby would wear No. 0 for the Wizards, but the guard then changed his mind and went with No. 00. Many apologies for all the Kevin Duckworth fans out there.