Bibby Can Still Ball, But Isn’t the Answer for ATL

By Bethlehem Shoals
In all the glorious hub-bub that was All-Star Weekend, not many people were checking for Atlanta’s acquisition of Mike Bibby. Actually, they probably wouldn’t have been anyway; for everyone but Josh Smith fiends like myself, the Hawks are one big joke, close to what the Clippers were before 2006’s playoff appearance.
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If you knew anything about the Hawks, it was that for a while the whole roster was 6’8”, and that they absolutely refused to draft a marquee point guard for years on end, or even sign a passable one. They thought Boris Diaw was one in 2003, when in fact he was a versatile big man. When Joe Johnson came over to play franchise savior in 2005, the team had high hopes of sticking him in the one; that might explain why, in that summer’s draft, the team took Marvin Williams over Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Raymond Felton. If that’s not enough, a year later it was Shelden Williams instead of Brandon Roy, who still could’ve played the position more naturally than Johnson.
And no, Acie Law IV is not the answer.
Which brings us to Mike Bibby. For the Hawks, there’s some good and some bad news. First, the good: Mike Bibby can play basketball. He’s a postseason-tested veteran who makes clutch shots. He’s got history playing in the kind of up-tempo system that the Hawks covet. There’s absolutely no denying it: Mike Bibby will contribute, and gives the Hawks a real chance at making the playoffs. Exhale and cheer!
Now, the bad. Bibby isn’t a real point guard. He’s a jump-shooter who can make that first pass in an offense based on movement. No one’s going to mistake him for a floor general, or a quarterback, or a magician, or any of those other terms that Jason Kidd has made his own. He’s short, so he belongs on the one, but I just don’t see him as anything but a much better Anthony Johnson. Bibby will want shots, and there already aren’t enough of those to go around. Now, if the team really pushes their offensive output into the stratosphere, there might be. However, that’s only really going to happen if, magically, Bibby finds a way to be a player he’s never been up to this point.
Who knows. Maybe time changes men. And—let’s face stats—as a youth, Bibby did average near eight assists in 1999-00, for a Vancouver team that no live human ever saw play. I’ll just say that, based on the good times in Sacramento, and the less rosy recent era, Mike Bibby’s never looked like the guard Atlanta so desperately needed. He’s not the right guy for this job. He’ll fit right in from day one—which in this case, is not what the Hawks need.↵