Bibby Busts (Grizzly) Bear Balls....

A lot of people are focusing on the chemistry of the unit this year, the play of the bench, the improvement of Solomon Jones' golf game, or the drastic upgrade in Philips Arena hot dog quality as the reasons why the Hawks are playing better this year. My opinion? The answer is two words: Mike Bibby. Not only did I think that before yesterday's game (I swear), but last night's double-double against the Grizzlies confirmed it.


Man, isn't it nice to see a point guard succeed while playing NBA basketball in Atlanta? We've had a couple of decent 1-guards roll through here (JT) and some that were...not so good (T-Lue, Bob "triple-double" Sura, Jaque Vaughn, Dion Glover, Tony Delk, Dan Dickau, Brevin Knight (skip to :31), and Pepe Sanchez, to name a few). For the first time since the 1998-1999 season, the Hawks are likely to have their point guard be a key cog in their playoff run. The last time the Hawks had a point guard LEAD them to the playoffs was back when Bill Clinton was being impeached and the Titanic was sinking.

Even though Bibby was on the squad last year, he joined late and never really gelled with the team (in my opinion). His thumb was all messed up, so he wasn't able to hit the 3 with any consistency. Furthermore, he was coming into a volatile situation with a coach who was hanging on by a thread and players & coaches fighting with each other. In addition, the owners couldn't figure out who owned the team and who gets to make the decisions. Just to put the time into perspective, when Bibby was traded for, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese claimed to be the cheesiest.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is still the cheesiest and the ownership situation still sucks...but all of the other factors have changed. On the year, Bibby is averaging over 16 points per game, and dishing out nearly 5 assists. What's even more impressive is that Bibby is averaging 2.6 threes per game, and has been able to keep his turnovers to a mere 1.5 per game. As he has gotten more comfortable to playing with his teammates, he's been able to perform at the level we all hoped for. Maybe he's playing so well because it's his contract year....but I'm not buying that argument.

In any case, another year with his team has helped develop chemistry and performance that is truly impressive. If he keeps this up, not only will the Hawks probably keep him for the rest of the year, but they may lock him up for years to come.


P.S. - A big shout out goes to Lang Whitaker for featuring us in his Hawks.com weekly column. We appreciate it Lang!