Bibby Traded to the Hawks

I am assuming this is a temporary thing to make the deal go off. I guess this answers Pookey's question from the other thread.

Here's part of it:

"The unfortunate part of the trade for Sacramento is the lack of purpose it shows.  Unless the team has further moves involving shedding the contracts of Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Kenny Thomas, or Shareef Abdur-Rahim for cap space and younger players, there was no reason to trade their biggest name for such a mediocre package.  With the new contract Kevin Martin recently signed, the cap space that would have been created by this move, although minor, is instantly negated.  In essence, the team traded one more year of Mike Bibby for Shelden Williams."

"Fans took their sides Saturday, weighing in after veteran Kings point guard Mike Bibby was traded to Atlanta in exchange for Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright and Shelden Williams and a 2008 second-round draft pick."

"This also divorces the Kings from the last vestiges of their glory years of Bibby, Chris Webber adn Vlade Divac, and establishes Artest as the biggest name in Sactown. Which just might click with Artest and thus prove pretty important if the Kings decide that they're not moving their enigmatic swingman before Thursday's 3 p.m. deadline."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=BibbyTrade-080216

Meanwhile, chuckle, chuckle, the Hawks think they now have one of the three best point guards in the Eastern Conference.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/sports/basketball/17allstar.html?ref=basketball

In the final analysis, there's little downside for Atlanta since none of the players they are giving up is going to approach Bibby's contributions and it's about time this young franchise took the next step towards being competitive.  

Sacramento didn't ask for a lot to get rid of Bibby, and that may reflect on the status of his game at this point of his career, but any real rewards to be reaped from this deal will come from the future contributions of Beno Udrih and whomever the Kings sign in free agency in the summer."

http://www.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/columnists/scott_cullen/?ID=229859&hubname=fantasy_news

But the "experts" fail to delve into the fact that the Kings extracated themselves from a fat contract, which was crucial heading into next year.

The "experts" also failed to mention that the Kings have Williams for one year (after this one). They have the option to give him a 2nd year, and they can make a qualifying offer the following year. So if he does not work out he costs us $3.2 million next year. If he does work out we can keep him around.

A word about Williams. When he was drafted a lot of people saw Brand and Boozer in this Duke product. If the Hawks took him too high at #5 so be it, but he probably would have been gone before #10. He's 24 years old.

And these are the same "experts" that have been saying that the Kings need to get on with the rebuilding process.

Yes, Atlanta got the better player, and the $14 million dollar or so contract to go along with him.

The Kings got rid of a bloated contract, and if they're lucky maybe they picked up a player, too.

"In essence, Knight just traded Shelden Williams (who absolutely had no future with the Hawks with Josh Smith and Al Horford already set as two of the league's best young big men) for one of the league's top 10 point guards (and yes, I already went through the list).

Uh, where do I sign?

Bottom line, Bibby's a monster. He always has been and always will be, mostly because he's one of the few cats in the league who not only embraces performing in pressure-packed situations, he thrives on being the man in those situations."

Wow, who knew? I guess, as they say, you don't know what ya got 'til it's gone.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/010647.html

Petrie sounds like they may keep both point guards as well as Williams and that the deal "puts Beno (Udrih) back out there the way he was before."

He also talks more about Williams' upside.

No mention of Artest, although Amick says he will blog about that Monday and is also going to report on what Udrih says about how the deal could impact him and his future in Sacramento.

Congratulations!! You are the winner of the lifelacker award!!

J/K

This trade reminds me of when Webber left.  I felt sad, for it was the end of an era.  But I felt happy because we were moving on.  

In the NFL, the Patriots are praised for knowing when to cut ties with veterans.  And yet, the Kings receive no such praise.  Perhaps it will someday come with winning.  Hopefully we'll have the wins necessary to receive such praise.

Bibby was long the guy I pretended to be while playing basketball in the street.  I would peel around the imaginary screen and hit the mid-range jumper.  But as pookeyguru recently pointed out, Bibby changed a few years ago.  Goodbye Mike, you treated us well.

Was Sheldon Williams taken too high in the draft?  Yes.  No doubt.  Can he help the defense?  Probably.  As long as he gets more playing time than Justin Williams, he will make a larger impact.  StR loved Justin Williams, but if he never got playing time, what good was he?  Potential is great, but when do we look at reality and production that is not measured in "per 40 minutes" averages?

Bibby's departure gives Beno the full-time slot he showed he deserves.  We have a point guard who passes first.  This is something that Bibby's "DIME" tattoo failed to remind him to do recently.  

Lue and Johnson will most likely be waived.  Lorenzen Wright will probably join them.  Shelden Williams will probably be gone in a year or two.  Who cares?  We've been begging for cap space.  We've been begging to have Bibby/Artest/Thomas and/or Miller leave.  We have our wish.  We gained cap space.  We got young guys with expiring contracts.

Will Artest, Thomas, and/or Miller stay?  Who knows.  This could be simply the beginning.  It could be the end for this trade season.  But as my signoff says, In Geoff We Trust.  This alone is why I can stand to be a Kings fan.  Because I trust our GM.  It's why I'm an A's fan, I trust Billy Beane.  It why I'm sad to be a 49ers fan, I don't know what is going on.  But I am confident as a Kings fan, that even if this is not our year, our time is coming.

In Geoff we trust.

In Geoff we trust.

Thanks for the good times Mike.

In Geoff we trust.

They'll be favored to lose all five, and even if they manage to salvage a win on the trip, they could go home to face the Kings again Feb. 27 with a 22-32 record. Of course, they are in the East, so even that might not bury their hopes for a playoff berth.

It will be interesting to see how Beno does against Bibby and vice versa.

Voisin looks back on Bibby:
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/718724.html