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Friday, April 4, 2008
The Bibby Effect
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - “What’s changed about the Hawks the last seven weeks?” someone asked recently. “Why are they such a radically different team now than they were in January and February? What’s changed?”
For all of the questions that don’t have easy answers, this one does.
I like to call it the “Mike Bibby Effect.”
You’ve seen it here lately and watched how it works (Hawks get in trouble and dude goes to work - either shooting them out of it or leading them out of it with his clutch decision making).
It all takes me back to that Feb. 17 entry (Big Thangs Poppin’) when I was explaining why I loved the Bibby deal. Sure, some of you thought I was a bit too giddy about it. But like Ando on one of his tears, I do my research before showing up here with empty rhetoric.
So how about a few flashback excerpts from that original ditty about Bibby:
“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.
The Hawks needed a point guard like him more than I think anyone realized, well everyone but All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson - whose repeated calls for the franchise to do the right thing and add another veteran threat at a premium position were finally answered.”
A little more …
“For all the hype that surrounded Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic on those playoff teams that pressed deep into the Western Conference playoffs in Sacramento, Bibby was the catalyst. He was the guy that ran those teams. If you don’t believe it, just look at his playoff stats (averaged 17.9 ppg, 5.6 apg, 3.6 rpg and 1.5 spg (.418 FG%, .366 3FG%, .836 FT%). And he led the Kings to the Western Conference Finals in 2001-02 averaging 20.3 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.8 rpg and 1.4 spg (.444 FG%, .424 3FG%, .826 FT%) in 16 playoff games).
That, my friends, is balling!
Bibby can score at a high level (he averaged 21.2 points per game just two years ago). And he can dish at a high level (he averaged more than 8.0 assists per game twice in his career). The fact that can do both at the same time is what makes him so valuable to the Hawks right now.
They needed a leader, a guy that would come in and take control of this team and alleviate the pressure on JJ, allowing him to play his game and face fewer gimmick defense designed to stop him.
They got what they needed in Bibby.”
Go back and check the archives if you need to, but this is what I saw at the time (check the archives and you’ll notice that several of our good friends here thought I had sipped a few too many Hurricanes on Bourbon Street during All-Star Weekend).
I talked to my contacts in Sacramento and around the league and they informed me that the Bibby many of us remember from those glory days in Sacto was indeed the same Bibby, albeit a few years older, that was coming to the A.
Turns out they were right.
