"Bibby indespensible to Hawks"-AJC

[ATL DirtyBird]

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/spo ... 7&cxcat=21

[raleigh]

Ugh...and so it begins.

Not once has Bibby given the impression that he WANTS to stay in Atlanta. He's been very diplomatic about the whole thing, for sure.

[johnny878]

lets wait to see if Bibby lays another egg in the playoffs like last season. which might of been the worst postseason performance i have ever seen.

He was Bill Buckner for 7 straight games.

[jagstang76]

I honestly think Rajon Rondo's emergence was a major reason Bibby sucked in the playoffs last year. Not the only reason, mind you, but a big one. I look for him to play much better this year against a young Chalmers. You just can't compare Rondo and Chalmers. Bibby is also coming into this series playing better than last year (as far as I can remember). I look for him to have a much better series.

As far as this offseason is concerned, I think it only makes sense to keep Bibby if he can play for much less than the $15 mil he earned this year. We have a lot of choices to make: resigning Bibby, Murray, Williams, and Zaza; oh, and throw in a draft pick or two. Murray has earned a bigger contract as far as I'm concerned and should be a serious consideration to keep around. Marvin should be an automatic re-up. And it would be really nice to Zaza around if he'll play for similar money. That means we're going to need some cap room to play with. If Bibby could resign for $8 mil or so, that would give us a chance to resign Marvin. If we could work out a trade to get rid of Speedy, that would probably give us enough to pay Flip. Then we could maybe resign Zaza with the MLE (if I'm not too rusty on my cap rules). Ideally, one would like to see us upgrade at C or find a better player to fill other roles, but it will be a serious challenge doing much better than what we have with our current cap situation. For example, I'd love to bring Marion in here to rotate with Marvin and Smoove. He would be an ideal match for our team and would push us in contention next season. But he's going to take a lot of cash to bring here.

I'm torn a bit between whether to check with the cards we have now or make moves that bring a better player or players in here for a run at the championship. The trick is you will be hard pressed to find a better PG than Bibby to make a run for a ring.

[JoshB914]

lets wait to see if Bibby lays another egg in the playoffs like last season. which might of been the worst postseason performance i have ever seen.

He was Bill Buckner for 7 straight games.

Bibby is one of the better clutch/playoff performers in the league when you look at his history (and that includes the multitude of huge shots he has made for us this season). I agree he stunk up the joint last year but he had an ankle injury and could barely move out there. Let's give him another chance before we start anointing him as Bill Buckner.

[LL Cool Scott]

And so the public lobbying of our owners begins. Translation of Joe and Woodson's comments: "Hey owners, if you don't pony up to keep this team competitive, we will call you out and publicly embarass you for it."

[parson]

This team is so talented that ANY GOOD PG makes us go. Even Anthony Johnson made us look good -- when his health allowed him to play at a decent level for us. To credit our playoff appearances to Bibby is wrong, considering that he's not our best player, nor even our 2nd or 3rd.

As a matter-of-fact, in last year's playoffs, he was our 5th best player -- and you could argue that Childress and Zaza played better, pushing him to our 7th best player.

But it is true that this team cannot play without a good PG. In the offseason, if Bibby's the best available out there, then we should try to keep him. But I'd rather we found a better defender and/or playmaker.

[evildallas]

Bibby has brought a lot to this team. He's had a great contract-drive year. I would welcome him back under the right terms, but I wouldn't overpay to keep him because I agree with Parson, that there is room for improvement in defense and playmaking.

I'm big supporter of drafting a PG this year because:
1. I don't feel we have the PG of the future on the roster right now
2. I don't believe we have someone to take advantage of the way the game is now called and penetrate at will with unmatched speed
3. I think someone who can fill #1 and #2 will be available when we pick which creates a bargain scenario.

I'm also firmly against starting this PG rookie right away. The rest of our lineup is still too immature to trust in such young hands. CP3, Deron Williams, and Derrick Rose were among the top talents in their respective drafts while we'll be picking 19th. Rajon Rondo has been very successful during his rookie deal as a starting PG, but I give a lot of credit to having 3 strong veteran personalities in the starting lineup to lead by example and take a lot of the pressure of him. With the relative maturity of some of our starters, it is important that we maintain an experienced presence in that spot for the best performance of the team in the near term. That could be Bibby or it may be someone else. I just don't want the ownership to overreact and ink a 30 yr PG to a 5 year deal for big money like Baron Davis got from the Clippers. While it is true that Bibby earned his keep this year, what's the odds that he'd be able to play up to that contract in his mid-30s?