Bibby's future

[evildallas]

One article I saw said that one of the reasons the Hawks don't want to pay Josh Smith is they think it will affect resigning Mike Bibby. First of all, no way Bibby is resigned at 15M person by any rational team. He'll be 31 when his deal is up and he peaked in 2004. But it got me wondering what should be the offer to resign Bibby. It's hard to put all the options up for him, so I tried to include a few reasonable ones.

[reazun]

its so hard to say right now. he hasnt been with us too long and his finger was injured for most of the time he was here. I dont think I could fairly answer that until about halfway through the coming season. I dont think resigning Bibby should factor in for resigning Smoove though. Id rather have Smoove than Bibby. If they let Smoove go to re-sign a 30 year old point guard , who like you said, peaked arounf 04, then thats stupid. Bibby is way more expendable than Josh.

[CWell]

Bibby shouldn't be resigned period.He needs to be gone at the end of the year. He's not the answer to anyone's PG problems as a starter

[evildallas]

I admit it is hard to decide now. I am really hopeful that Acie Law breaks out this year and is deemed ready to run the show the following year. Then it will be an easy choice to wave goodbye and sign an affordable backup. The reason I asked the question was the article said that the Hawks were concerned that if they pay Josh Smith it would affect resigning Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson. I thought this premise was ludicrous and put it to a poll so I could get a feel for what others thought.

Bibby is aging and possibly will be a shell of himself. It's also near impossible to guess what level of paycut he'll be willing to take, but if he demands more money than Josh Smith at that point in time it would be easy to wave goodbye to him. As for Joe Johnson, I think that is a bogus argument as well. Joe Johnson will be 29 when his contract is up. His demands will not have anything to do with Josh Smith's deal unless he's injured when he's negotiating or his game has really fallen off. If his game has fallen off horribly then you probably won't want to invest in him. If it hasn't he'll be a max player regardless of whether Josh signed at a bargain or not. It would be foolish to think otherwise.

[killbuckner]

Dallas- I think the critical piece of information is what the Hawks record is this season. Even if they bring back Josh Smith I don't think they are locks to make the playoffs, and Bibby has no place on a lottery team. Bibby is the PG you use to win now since I think that most people will agree that his game is in decline. But if the hawks don't think that they have the core talent to be a playoff team now then they should probably be looking to trade Bibby for someone who has a chance to be a legitimate starting PG in 2 years. THe problem is that I don't know how much Bibby is worth past an expiring contract.

[Hawks]

As of right now I will just take the one year. If he find his old form then perhaps we can look at signing him. If he plays like his oldself he will probably be looking for a huge pay raise. At the end of the season he is gone no matter what.

[D21]

If you want Law getting the starting PG position, he will seriously have to hit some shots and take responsibilities. We all saw how Joe game has turned once Bibby came here, and it's not so much due to the passing quality of Bibby but his shooting ability. We did not have any other shooters. If you don't have guys able to shoot 3's at SG and SF, then you need one at PG or defense is to easy.

Back to his price, we need to wait and see in January, but one thing is sure: there will be other teams able to offer him a full MLE contract, and if there are contender teams, he will choose between them. So if ATL want to keep him, they will have to put a little bit more than MLE. And more than how many years, Bibby will certainly look at the total guaranteed money.

Keep in mind that even with Bibby at 8M/yr on a flat contract, it makes 7M free compared to what we have now, so enough money to get Childress back (example). And when Speedy will be off the book the following year (2010 summer), it makes another 5M...
(edit: I just saw that T.J. Ford has a player option on his last year and can be free in 2010 summer, maybe a thing to follow).