Bibby is Finally Dealt, but for Who?

It's been a year of Mike Bibby trade talk, and on the 2nd day of All-Star Weekend, Mike Bibby is finally in another uniform. On Saturday afternoon, the trade of Kings point guard Mike Bibby to Atlanta for guards Anthony Johnson and Tyrone Lue, along with forwards Shelden Williams and Lorenzen Wright. The Hawks also sent their second round pick in this years draft to Sacramento.

Normally teams wait until after the break to complete trades, but since none of the 5 players involved in this deal were apart of the eventful weekend, it shouldn't matter that much. The trade for Sacramento seemed to be a cap clearer for this summer, because 3 of the 4 players acquired for Bibby, have expiring contracts.

This trade should be a big help for Atlanta, who seemed to be a point guard away from being a playoff contender in the east. Now, they have one of the most playoff savvy point guards in the league. He has boatloads of experience, this being Bibby's 10th season in the league. Sacramento on the other hand doesn't immediately benefit from this deal, but it will help them this coming off season, by clearing a little over 7.5 million dollars from their payroll. With this draft also being quite deep, they should also be able to pick up a decent player with that second round pick. Shelden Williams, AKA the Landlord, could become quite a beneficial asset to this young King's team. He provides the inside toughness, to complement Brad Miller's more offensive oriented game, creating a somewhat threatening lineup of possibly, John Salmons or Beno Udrih, Kevin Martin, Ron Artest, Williams, and Miller. Overall, this was a very unexpected deal, but it seems somewhat reasonable for both teams, and could be a hit or miss for Atlanta and Sacramento.

Sacramento's record is currently 23-28, 11th place in the West, and is 9 1/2 games out of 8th place. Atlanta is 21-28, 9th place in the Eastern Conference, and is currently .05 percentage points out of 7th and 8th place.