Empty the Bench

The hits just keep on coming in one of the busiest NBA trade seasons in years. Atlanta and Sacramento have agreed to a trade that will send Mike Bibby to the Hawks for young big man Shelden Williams and the expiring contracts of Lorenzen Wright, Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue. While the swap is still pending league approval, it should go into effect immediately after the All Star break. ETB breaks it down from both sides…

Mike Bibby Photo Credit: Icon SMI

Sac Town Salary Dump:

Sacramento is a team in transition that will be looking to build around a trio of talented swingmen in Kevin Martin, John Salmons and Francisco Garcia in the coming seasons. Mike Bibby has been injured and in decline the last two years, and at 29-years-old he simply didn’t fit into the Kings’ plans any longer. They do acquire an interesting young big man in Shelden Williams, but this trade is all about dumping Bibby’s $14.5 million contract for 2008-09. After this season Anthony Johnson’s $2.86 million, Lorenzen Wright’s $3.24 million and Tyronn Lue’s $3.5 million will come off the books for Sacramento. Shelden Williams, the 5th overall pick from 2006, is still playing out his rookie contract that will pay him $3.17 million this season and $3.39 million next year, with a Sacramento team option for $4.3 million in 2009-10.

Look for Sacramento to give Williams some minutes for the rest of this season and see what they have, but it would be impractical to expect the 6-9 bruiser to be anything more than a role player. Even on draft night we all knew that Williams had an extremely limited upside, but Atlanta was desperate for a strong interior presence on the glass. With the pleasantly surprising play of Al Horford in the middle on both ends, Williams became more than expendable and had only appeared in 6 of the Hawks last 18 games. He’s averaging 2.9 points and 2.9 boards on the season. He will likely improve on those extremely modest totals, but anything north of 8 points and 7 boards per game would surprise.

The main beneficiary of this deal in Sac Town will be Beno Udrih, the fourth-year point guard out of Yugoslavia. Udrih is a capable scorer and passer who will see a major uptick in minutes and shots. When Bibby was sidelined earlier this year Beno played just north of 35 minutes in November and December and put up the best numbers of his career. In 31 games as a starter this season he’s averaged 14.1 points, 4.8 assists, 3.7 boards, 1.2 steals and 1.2 threes on a solid 45.7% FGs and 87.5% FTs. We can expect a similar performance from him down the stretch as he leads an athletic and young Kings squad that will be looking to run. Clearly, Kevin McHale knew what he was doing when he cut Udrih — Minnesota definitely couldn’t use this guy…

More Sacramento analysis and our take on the new Hawks after the jump…

Along with Udrih, the rest of Sacramento’s guards and swingmen will find more shots after the break. This is officially Kevin Martin’s team now and he should have no trouble averaging 25 points a game the rest of the way. With 15.4 field goal attempts in over 36 minutes per game, Martin wasn’t exactly starving for looks though. Specifically, John Salmons and Francisco Garcia should benefit from more minutes and looks on offense and will resume some of the production they showed earlier this year when various combinations of Bibby, Ron Artest and Kevin Martin were sidelined. There’s also been some speculation that Ron Artest will be on his way out of town, potentially landing in New York or Denver (I’m crossing my fingers on that one). If he is moved, then expect John Salmons to blow up, because he’s been fantastic when given minutes this year. Salmons thrives in transition, plays decent D and can really fill it up. In 32 games as a starter he’s put up a huge line of 17.9 points, 4.8 boards, 3.6 assists and 1.5 steals on stellar 51.4% FGs and 82.3% FTs. Garcia is also a strong offensive player and has managed 16.8 points, 4.7 boards, 2.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 threes on 45% FGs and 81.3% FTs in 16 starts this season.

Anthony Johnson and Tyronn Lue will see some limited minutes at the point, but neither will be much of a factor this season. Lorenzen Wright will continue to ride the pine.

Atlanta’s Playoff Push:

For years Atlanta has had some tremendous swingmen and combo guards, but they’ve been lacking a true playmaker at the point. A floor general to lead fast breaks and find the open athletes on the way to the hoop. Joe Johnson does what he can, and to his credit is averaging a team-best 5.2 assists per game, but he’s not a point guard. He’s a scorer. The Hawks were so starved for a passer this season that they’ve been relying heavily on the services of Anthony Johnson, a less-than-mediocre journeyman with limited offensive skills who has never been a plus NBA player. The other point guard Atlanta shipped out, Tyronn Lue, is a decent defender and outside shooter, but isn’t a starter and hasn’t managed to stay healthy since coming to ATL in the 2004-05 season. Neither will be missed.

At 29 Mike Bibby’s body has begun to fail him the last two years, but he should be healthy now and he proved he can run with athletes on those Sacramento teams of years past. He will be on the books for $13.5 million this season and the rather sizeable sum of $14.5 million in 2008-09, but it’s worth it for the Hawks to see what they can do with a real point guard. Bibby only has one more big year on the deal, so ATL is renting him for this year and next. Then he becomes an expiring contract that can give them cap space in the summer of 2009 or be traded next season to another team looking for cap space. Either way, he’s a valuable commodity for Atlanta both on the court and in the salary cap game.

Bibby is more of a shoot-first guard and not a very good defender, but he should take a ton of pressure off of Joe Johnson in terms of ball-handling and scoring down the stretch. He’s also a clutch shooter, something Atlanta has been lacking in a number of close losses this season. Bibby is an obvious upgrade here, and he should be energized playing for a team with exciting young players like Josh “J-Smoove” Smith, Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson running the floor with him. He should also be happy moving to a team that will be in the heat of the playoff push in the Eastern Conference. If Bibby can provide the scoring and leadership boost I expect, it’s looking like Atlanta has booked a trip into the East’s playoffs with this move.

Acie Law was drafted out of Texas A&M with the 11th overall pick in last year’s draft to be the Hawks’ point guard of the future, and he still is, but Law is clearly not ready for those duties just yet. With Bibby in the fold he can incubate for another year after this one and will hopefully be ready to run the show the following season. Law is a heady and passionate player who has a great body to bang with other NBA points, and I don’t doubt that he will develop into a strong pass-first guard on this team of athletes and scorers, but he needs time to learn the nuances of the game and improve his decision making and leadership skills.

With a Jason Kidd trade still imminent, a possible Ron Artest deal in the works and several other intriguing trade scenarios on the horizon this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and influential NBA trade seasons in recent memory. Stay tuned.