I wrote here on WagerWeb.com a few weeks ago when the Atlanta Hawks got Jamal Crawford from the Warriors that there was no chance that the Hawks would pay to keep incumbent point guard Mike Bibby.
Time to eat a little crow.
The Hawks in fact have agreed with Bibby on a three-year deal worth about $18 million to return. That’s a pretty good deal for the Hawks, considering Bibby made $15 million last year and was looking for $10 million per season on a new deal. The free agent has led the Hawks to back-to-back playoff appearances and averaged 14.9 points and 5.0 assists per game last season.
An 11-year NBA veteran, he joined the Hawks in a trade deadline deal in 2008.
The Hawks won 47 games last season, winning their opening-round series with the Miami Heat before getting blown out to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round – bet on 2009-10 NBA futures at WagerWeb.com.
This is fairly surprising because the Hawks have been known to be a tight-fisted franchise, having let Josh Childress go to Greece last year, for example. And Crawford can play point guard but is certainly more suited to perhaps be a sixth man scoring option off the bench and spell both Bibby and shooting guard Joe Johnson.
“If we get Bibby, fine, that’s great. We’d like him back. If we don’t get Mike and he goes elsewhere, we’re covered. We got a guy who can play with Joe (Johnson.),” Hawks GM Rick Sund said the day Crawford was introduced in Atlanta.
Coach Mike Woodson said Crawford’s presence also will give him another option late in games so he doesn’t always have to go to Johnson, his All-Star guard. The move also will help Atlanta keep pace with the better Eastern Conference teams — Cleveland acquired Shaquille O’Neal and Orlando picked up Vince Carter.
The Hawks did draft point guard Jeff Teague out of Wake Forest in the first round of this year’s draft, so apparently he won’t get too much playing time as a rookie.
Sund is scheduled to fly to Washington today to meet with representatives for fellow Hawks free agents Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Childress. If the Hawks somehow got all three of those guys back, this team just got a lot better – although still probably just the fourth-best team in the East.
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