Bibby's role reduced for Hawks

By Michael Cunningham

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Things are different now for Hawks guard Mike Bibby.

His minutes are down to a career-low average and so it follows that his other numbers are, too. He’s not a primary scorer. He’s not even the finishing point guard some nights.

This is after Bibby, 31, signed a three-year contract before the season.

“I didn’t expect it,” Bibby said, “but whatever Coach wants me to do, I’m going to go out there and do it. I’m not out there trying to score 20 points. I’m just trying to get the team into the flow of the game.”

Bibby’s assists are up a bit on a per-minute basis. And he said of a recent shooting slump: “Mostly it was just confidence. Once you miss a couple like that, you start to aim and you think about it too much.”

Hawks coach Mike Woodson said he only needs Bibby to score in spurts now.

“When Bibby is struggling, I throw him in there at the end and he does something. And it may be a pass, it may be a big shot,” Woodson said. “The last two years I leaned on him a lot to score. Now I want him to defend and rebound a little bit if he can get in there. I know that’s not his thing but I at least want him to help with defensive concepts.”