It's hard to jump out at the gate....

[HawkItus]

when you shoot yourself in the foot.

Match Smoove and trade Bibby? Not so fast my friends. Acie Law has yet to prove he can stay healthy or lead a team. Speedy Claxton has to suit up for practice multiple times and we have no idea how he fits with this team as constructed. But, you want to trade Bibby before we know exactly what we have? This would be a self inflicted wound that we can nary afford. Yes Mr. Bibby has his flaws, but so does every other guy on our roster. What we can attest to however, is that with Bibby our offense was notably better. Our star player found himself with fewer and fewer double teams. And even with an unhealthy hand and heel Bibby did lead us to the playoffs. Let's say we trade him, he comes back healthy next season and gives GS or whoever 15 and 7. What deal could we possibly make to balance what we've lost? And don't say he can't or won't do it. I'd put money on him accomplishing that before Speedy or Acie every day of the week. This isn't the time to make a possibly stupid mistake like trading our best bargaining chip and our most accomplished player. Give it a chance, because if it doesn't work out, he'll be worth far more this winter.

[TheTruth]

I have to agree with this. I would be totally shocked if Speedy gives us anything of importance this year, and Acie has not proven he can lead this team yet (has been injured, not enough PT, etc.) I am not enamored with how Bibby performed for us last year, but he did take some of the pressure off JJ. When Bibby is on, he is hot as molten rock. When he is off, he flat out sucks. I have always said that if we intend to get rid of/not re-up Bibby (which would be correct), then they should do it at the trade deadline. By then, we should have a better idea of what a healthy Bibby and a more experienced Acie (assuming he gets the adequate PT this time around) can do.

[Traceman]

The thought in trading Bibby is more than just getting rid of enough salary to stay under the luxury tax threshold, the assumption is that we would get something in return for him (albeit something significantly less expensive). If we were just trading salary to stay under the luxury tax, Zaza's $4M would likely suffice and he has significantly less value to the team than Bibby does.

The bottom line for me is that I don't necessarily WANT to trade Bibby but I'd send him packing in a heartbeat if it was the only way we could resign Smoove.

[Diesel]

I think the competition question that you must ask is would you rather have 5 years of Smoove or 1 year of Bibby?

PG is definitely a hard position to find. In a perfect world, we can trade bibby for a cheap one with the cap space. However, we cannot not sign Smoove.