Bibby retools for new role with Hawks

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the better part of the past two years, Hawks point guard Mike Bibby played his role to perfection.

When his team needed a clutch basket or the right pass, he was there. He ran things in a way that not only put Hawks coach Mike Woodson and his teammates at ease, he did it in ways the Hawks hadn't seen before his arrival.

"We didn’t put it all together until he showed up," Josh Smith said. "Once he got here it all came together. To me, you couldn't ask a guy to do any more than he's done for this team."

But that's exactly what the Hawks did when they re-signed Bibby as a free agent this past summer.

The returnees are a year older and wiser. And the new additions, mainly Jamal Crawford and rookie point guard, are offensive talents that will help alleviate the scoring load.

In short, Bibby won't have to spend the majority of his minutes this season as Johnson's safety valve on offense.

"I'm not looking to score as much," Bibby said. "I'm here to lead, because we've got more guys that are established now. My job is to knock down the open shot, get the guys into the offense and lead the team. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to try and score 20 points a night.

"My job is to make things happen, make sure everybody gets their shots where they want them and make sure everybody is happy."

Cast for years as one of the league's most consistent scoring point guards, the career reinvention Bibby is undergoing these days is simply a natural progression. And it's one Woodson said he has no doubt Bibby will ace.

"Mike has a delicate balance to navigate this season because we are older and deeper than we've been," Woodson said. He's also smart enough and enough experience and game to do what it takes to win. The kid is a winner. And that's all I care about. There are going to be some nights when we need him to go out there and get 20 and he'll do that. There are going to be nights where he orchestrates, and that's fine, too.

"I think the key now is that our team doesn’t have to rely on Joe and Bibby to score all the points. And if they buy into it the way I think they will, there are going to be nights when Jamal leads us in scoring. And nights when Marvin [Williams] and Al Horford and Josh leads us in scoring. It's going to bounce around. And that's fine, because you won't be able to key in on just one guy."

That doesn’t mean Woodson wants Bibby to pass up any opportunities to score. After all, Bibby did average 14.9 points and nailed 167 3-pointers last season, the sixth-most in franchise history.

Johnson will demand that Bibby stay as aggressive as ever on offense, having spent two-and-a-half years without a consistent deep threat like Bibby as a sidekick in the Hawks' backcourt.

"We've got some more weapons, but Mike is still going to have to put up some points for us to win games," Johnson said. "He's still going to have to play at a high level. The key is when he gets more guys involved, especially the guys off the bench, that's where you'll see the difference. Jamal's a 20-point scorer, and he'll take some of that scoring load off of everybody, which is a good thing, but I need Mike to be himself. I need him to keep going the way he has been for his entire career."

That shouldn’t be a problem for Bibby, described by Crawford as the "class clown of the locker room that keeps everybody loose."

"One of the main reasons I came back here was because I love this team," Bibby said. "This is the most comfortable I've been anywhere since early in my career in Sacramento. You have to be comfortable. It's like a family here. We have fun. When you're together as much as we are and travel together like we do all season long, you have to be a family. And you do whatever it takes to make sure your family is all right."