Mike Bibby: Welcome to Atlanta
Photo. Stephen HillA few players I talked to at All-Star practice — including Rasheed Wallace and Caron Butler — said Chris Paul could easily walk away from tomorrow’s game with the MVP trophy. Not just because CP’s the hometown favorite, but because he’s just plain nasty. (Word to Greg Lloyd.)
Watching CP attain top-of-the-world status would be just another stinger in the side of the Atlanta Hawks, the team that passed on Paul in the ’05 Draft and has generally botched the whole “Acquire a decent NBA point guard” experiment for the better part of this decade. Today they finally got it right.
Atlanta fleeced the Kings on a deal for Mike Bibby, giving up career backup Tyronn Lue, occasional starter Anthony Johnson, old-man Lorenzen Wright and once-promising young’un Shelden Williams.
Great trade for the Hawks, who get a legit point guard to distribute the rock amongst Joe Johnson, Al Horford and Josh Smith and who can step up and take big shots in close games. Not to mention, tutor Acie Law for the day he eventually takes over. And with the Hawks tied with New Jersey and Philly for 7th place in the East, this move could get them over the hump and into the postseason.
As for the Kings, what are they doing? Granted, Bibby has looked generally miserable playing there for the last couple of years, supposedly doesn’t get along too great with Ron Artest and maybe wasn’t feeling the fact that the franchise had been handed over to Kevin Martin. But you’d have to think they could have gotten more for Bibby.
-->
February 16th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Str8baller says:
FIRST
February 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
NBA Roto says:
Great post. I agree with you. It seems like Sacramento did get fleeced because they basically traded Mike Bibby for two large pizzas and an iPod.
But Sacramento is truly rebuilding and the Maloofs have shown they know what they’re doing. At least it has appeared that way. We’ll see.
But for the Hawks, they have someone who can take charge of the floor and make an instant impact. Things are bright on the horizon for Atlanta. Kudos.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
jz_smoove says:
fucken most one-sided trade ever (in favor of the hawks), top 3 at least. jus plain wow.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
kobeef says:
I’d say it’s 2:1 odds that Artest gets traded now. Brad Miller is also on thin ice if the Kings are going full speed ahead to rebuilding mode.
But really, who can blame them – the had no chance of making the playoffs anytime soon with the players they had in the new west.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
d-cap says:
i read all the contracts the kings got are expiring
February 16th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
ashto says:
Lebron must be pissed. What an incompetent management in Danny Ferry… Seeing that ATL got Bibby for 2 cents, couldnt have Cleveland worked something up?
One more opportunity gone by, and Larry Hughes is still brickin threes…
By the way, Atlanta is lookin good. Congrats for them.
Its been an interesting month in the trade department!
February 16th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
kobeef says:
Cleveland is screwed.
They can’t make any trades because all none of their contributing players have expiring contracts….and even then there isn’t really anyone on Lebron’s team you’d want to add.
Should be a short season for Lebron
February 16th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Steve M says:
Sacramento got exactly what they wanted. CAP RELIEF. Some of you are talking like Sac did this trade to increase the talent level. This wasn’t a trade to improve the Kings right now but down the road with money to spend on free agents. This one of those trades where you’re not going to know how the Kings made out until they spend that money. Now if Sac doesn’t get a big name free agent with the cap space then this trade doesn’t really help them.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
paupow says:
I think it’s a pretty fair trade, don’t know why y’all are saying it’s one sided… yes, Bibby is the best player in the trade and he will help the Hawks immediately and immensely, but it’s not like the Kings were mugged; they get proven veterans in Johnson and Lue (not that they’ll be used heavily with Udrih and Salmons around, btw Salmons will be VERY good if he starts), plus a young player with a lot of potential in Shelden Williams, who I fully expect to see an increase in minutes and production in Sactown.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:15 am
paupow says:
Oh and cap space, yeah, that too.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Gmoney says:
As a long-time kings fan living in the ATL, i couldn’t be more pleased. dumped lue, williams, ashy larry, and wright (aka the 4 worst players in the east). I’m happy we got a good name and a great leader. JJ and bibby backcourt sounds delicious to me.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Willis says:
Wow. Just wow. The Kings didn’t get ‘fleeced’ at all. You have to realize, there is a potential 15 million off the books at the end of the season, not counting Ron Artest’s expiring because he wont be here past next week anyway. But say Geoff doesn’t find anything he likes, then thats 22 million off the books. So while you all are crying rape, the Kings make off with a young big man (its way too early to call him a bust. Isn’t it his sophomore season?) and another 11 million in expirings. Talent-wise, Tyronn Lue is a poor mans Bibby anyway, and Hawks fans will be disappointed with the Bibby that shows up to play. SO figure money and Kings future into the trade, and its pretty even.
February 17th, 2008 at 5:54 am
imungloloupaw says:
question: mike bibby gets paid like 12-13 million a year (or maybe even more).. how does this trade balance out salary wise? those four guys don’t get paid shit.. good cap move by the kings..
February 17th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Brown says:
imungloloupaw, just google NBA salaries and you’ll find your answers. Hoopshype.com has a great salary section too.
What I find funny about this trade is Shelden Williams. What does Sacramento have, an obsession with limited talent at the 4 position? They love role-player type guys who masquerade as starters – Abdur-Rahim, Kenny Thomas, Mikki Moore, and now Williams. Not that Williams is a bad player, but I don’t see him as a starter.
paupow, Shelden Williams doesn’t have “a lot of potential” man, when he came out of college the biggest knock on him was that his game wouldn’t get much better in the NBA, and it hasn’t. His ceiling is very low, and he’s the type of player who will be solid, but nothing more. He’s a rotation guy at best who’ll throw is weight around and grab some rebounds, but besides that he has a very limited skill set.
February 17th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Steve M says:
I think the idea is that the Kings have an offensive minded center so the are looking for a rebounder/enforcer type 4 man. Especially now that the have Hawes. He’s another offensively skilled 5 so they are looking for a more defensive oriented 4 to balance that front line. Know what I mean? Your 4 and 5 guys can’t both be the same type of player. See the Knicks. Curry and Randolph have a simalr type game. They are both back to the basket post players and we see how that worked worked out.
February 18th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Steve says:
Hawks got a great deal, they got their missing piece in a very good pointguard that can push and control the tempo, is extremely clutch, takes pressure off of Joe Johnson as a playmaker and scorer, very good on the pick and roll (Atlantas 3 athletic super-talented scoring bigs 6’9 and above will be MURDER on the screen/roll with Bibby or even JJ…. Marvin Williams will be murder on the pick and pop with Bibby, and good on the roll too with his 6’9 230 size and athleticism finishing big… Al Horford will be great on the screen/roll finishing on centers quick or overpowering PF’s, and Josh Smith is just ridiculous for the roll, it’ll be Amare x 10, a DUNKATHON on the screen/roll, his athleticism and size as an athletic power forward he will finish on anybody, thatll be crazy, even Chillz rolling/slashing is dangerous), Bibby runs the offense efficiently, smart pg, doesnt turn it over, great perimeter shooter (That is huge too), and veteran leader that knows how to win and compete at the highest level, he’ll push it and make every teammate better, the Hawks are unstoppable in the open court when they run……………………………………………… Great move for the super-talented Hawks, they were already close but were missing that piece. Now they got it so they should take the step forward that they looked close to taking in their 15-12 start to the season, theyre very talented and lost NONE of their core of great young talent. All the youngsters are still getting better and Bibby will make them better, and JJ will be better too (He’s a great young player heading into his prime a year or 2 from now)…………………………….. A lineup of Bibby-Joe Johnson-Marvin-J Smoove-Horford with 6th man Childress and Zaza as the 3rd big and Acie as the backup PG with Salim and Solo in reserve as the big and the sharpshooter………….. that is a good rotation and should vault them to the Toronto/Cleveland/Washington/Orlando level, and they still have a VERY VERY bright future……………………………………………….. it is just a great move. The other piece they needed was an inside force and they got that in Horford last draft, very good rebounding, defending, and scoring in the post and getting better. Awesome move for the Hawks, seriously great move. THE HAWKS WILL BE EVEN MORE FUN TO WATCH AND SHOULD BE VERY GOOD NOW THAT THEY GOT THEIR MISSING LINK, that is awesome. Good for them, they have an even brighter future in years to come too. VERY BRIGHT FUTURE, and a GREAT MOVE for them getting exactly what they need at a very good point guard sharpshooter with experience that knows how to win and didnt give up any of their great young talent…… good team rest of this year. Great future. GREAT TRADE.