http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/sha...knight_fi.html
Given how he generally has operated, Billy Knight has left many with the impression that he wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror, remembers who he is, maybe eats a Pop Tart and then goes back to sleep.
I’m not sure what happened Saturday. To borrow from Roger Clemens, maybe this time Knight looked in the mirror and just “misremembered.”
Who is that, and what did he just do?
The Hawks are suddenly a factor. Why? Because Knight, their general manager, acted like a general manager. He acquired a starting point guard (a little late, but let’s not quibble). He admitted a draft mistake (dumping Shelden Williams). He dealt two other players (Tyronn Lue and Anthony Johnson) who were not meant to start NBA games.
Five days before the trade deadline, Billy Knight was a player.
We pause now for a moment of reflection.
Mike Bibby is a legitimate starting point guard, and he, therefore, makes the Hawks a legitimate playoff team.
Maybe you would like to sit down.
“He embodies all the things we’ve wanted in a veteran point guard, and he’s also a guy that’s known for taking and making shots,” Joe Johnson said after learning of the trade with Sacramento.
I believe Johnson then fainted, and is questionable for Sunday night’s All-Star game.
Billy Knight woke up.
Billy Knight was proactive.
Billy … Knight.
It’s noteworthy that Johnson used the word “veteran” before point guard in his praise of Bibby. It was Johnson who vented before the season about the dormancy in the Hawks’ front office. He came to Atlanta for a lot of money. But he also expected Knight would do more to provide a supporting cast, draft picks notwithstanding.
“I knew it was a rebuilding situation where they had a lot of young guys,” he said on the eve of this season. “… But at the same time, there were supposed to be some more pieces, some more free agents. They talked about it again this past summer. But as you can see, nothing happened.”
It probably wasn’t the Knute Rockne speech that the Atlanta Spirit was looking for.
But finally … something … happened.
This is Knight’s mulligan.
He drafted Marvin Williams ahead of Chris Paul and Deron Williams in 2005. He drafted Shelden Williams ahead of several beating hearts in 2006, most notably Brandon Roy, who was Rookie of the Year.
He signed Speedy Claxton to a $25 million contract. For the kind of money, Claxton should at least be paying for his own doctors and therapists. He started 31 games last season. That’s 31 more than he’ll start this season.
Lue and Johnson are backups at best. Acie Law may be a fine point guard one day. But one day won’t be in 2008.
This season was going nowhere. Now, it may go somewhere.
Yes, the Hawks would have a healthier record if Knight had pushed the button on a deal like this before the season, or at least before things started to unravel six weeks ago. After a high-water mark of 14-12, the Hawks went 7-16 and dragged into the All-Star break at 21-28.
Fortunately, they play in the Eastern Conference, where a team can lose organs but remain alive in the playoff race. They currently rank ninth in the conference standings, but this trade potentially makes them better than at least three teams ahead of them: Philadelphia, New Jersey and Washington.
Billy Knight did this. Billy Knight — whose own job has been on the line as much as the maligned coach, Mike Woodson. And if the onus suddenly is on anybody now, it’s Woodson, because he just lost any excuse to no put a winning team on the court.
Bibby, at 29, is not the dominant player he was when he led Arizona to the national championship. But he’s well above average. He’s well above anything this franchise has had at point since at least Jason Terry and more likely Mookie Blaylock.
He has played only 15 games this season because of a thumb injury. Know what? He could land at Hartsfield with only nine good fingers and it wouldn’t matter. He has averaged as much as 21 points a game (two years ago) and has a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 6.2-to-2.5.
He is what the Hawks have needed. The void suddenly is filled. Somebody finally woke up.
Billy Knight finally makes a play
Linear Mode
