The Hawks have acquired 29-year old point guard Mike Bibby for Shelden Williams, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright and a 2nd round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. This was a move made with an eye on making the playoffs in 2008 as point guard was the biggest weakness on the Hawks this season. Bibby has played in 15 games (12 starts) this season for the Kings and he was averaging 31.5 minutes, 13.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Bibby has now played in 690 games (687 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 36.4 minutes, 16.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Bibby has also been a solid shooter in his NBA career as he has hit 44.1% from the floor, 37.1% from three point range and 80.6% from the free throw line.

The only player the Hawks might miss a little bit that they traded is power forward Shelden Williams. Williams was the Hawks first round pick in the 2006 NBA Draft but he hasn’t progressed the way the Hawks had hoped he would. Williams has played in 35 games (0 starts) this season for the Hawks and he averaged 11.4 minutes, 2.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. 33-year old Anthony Johnson was the starting point guard for most of this season but Mike Bibby is a HUGE improvement over him. Johnson played in 41 games (40 starts) this season for the Hawks and he averaged 26.4 minutes, 6.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Reserve guard Tyronn Lue has played in 33 games (3 starts) this season for the Hawks and he was averaging 17.1 minutes, 6.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.8 assist per game. Reserve center Lorenzen Wright has been a huge bust since joining the Hawks. He has played in 12 games (1 start) this season for the Hawks and he has averaged 11.8 minutes, 0.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.

This trade will likely get the Hawks into the playoffs as they now have one of the better starting units in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks have lost point guard Speedy Claxton for the season before he even played in a game. Claxton might need microfracture surgery on his left knee which could cause him to retire. Look for Anthony Johnson, Acie Law and Tyronn Lue to continue to split minutes at the point this season. Johnson has played in 26 games so far this season and he’s averaging 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He will continue to get the bulk of the minutes until Law starts to pick up his play. Law has played in 23 games this season and he’s averaging 4.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. But, Law is only shooting 37.2% from the floor so the Hawks can’t give him big minutes until he improves from the floor. Tyronn Lue has been banged up this season as he’s only played in 18 games this season. Lue is the best shooter of this motley crew but he’s not much of a passer as he’s averaged 6.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Rookie first round draft pick Acie Earl has beaten out Speedy Claxton as the starting point guard of the Hawks. He did so by playing in 4 pre-season games (1 start) and he averaged 33.3 minutes, 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He’s a shoot first point guard so it will be interesting to see how well he does with a collection of players that want the basketball in their hands. But the Hawks have no doubt that Earl is a huge upgrade on Claxton. Marvin Williams has held off Al Horford for the starting job at small forward which will move Josh Smith to power forward. Williams had a decent year for the Hawks last season. He played in 64 games (63 starts) and he averaged 13.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He needs to improve his shooting a little bit as he only hit 43.3% of his shots from the floor, 24.4% from three point range and 81.5% from the free throw line.

The Atlanta Hawks were frustrated by the play of their point guards last season so they decided to fix that in the draft.  The Hawks selected Acie Earl with the 11th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft.  Earl was a shoot first point guard at Texas A&M but that doesn’t bother the Hawks one bit as they just want a starter that can contribute.  Earl is 6′3″, 195 pounds so he should be able to handle defending some of the bigger point guards in the league.  He played in 122 games at Texas A&M and he averaged 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  He also is a pretty good shooter as he hit 46.6% from the floor, 35.7% from three point range and 76% from the free throw line.  Earl should have very little trouble winning the starting job at the point for the Hawks.

The Atlanta Hawks resisted trade offers for their draft picks and they selected a couple of pretty good players.  Horford was picked #3 in the first round by the Hawks.  Horford is a 6′10″, 245 pound power forward from Florida.  It will be interesting to see what the Hawks do to fix their logjam at the position seeing how they already have Marvin Williams and Shelded Williams there.  Horford will do his best to make their decision a tough one and he definately has the skill to beat those guys out and start from Day #1.  He played in 109 games at Florida and he averaged 10.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.7 blocks per game.  He doesn’t have much range as a lot of his shots are from close range which explains his 58.6% shooting from the floor and his 62.4% free throw shooting.