Lang Whitaker is many things - executive editor of Slam Magazine, a columnist for SI.com, and most importantly, a die-hard Hawks fan. For 2007-08 , Lang will be sharing his thoughts on the team in an exclusive column for Hawks.com. Check back every Wednesday throughout the season to read his latest musings, and read him every day at www.SLAMonline.com

"Defense Must Improve"
by Lang Whitaker

Last night in New Jersey the Hawks had their postseason future in their hands. And they held it up, watched it sparkle and shine, then dropped it on the floor and watched it shattered into a million little pieces.

That wasn't supposed to happen, not this way. After all, for the last few games, the Hawks have been flying pretty high -- the way they knocked off the Wizards over the weekend was pretty impressive, wasn't it? And the Nets aren't exactly the Celtics. We match up well against Jersey, and we even played well for a few quarters. But for the first time in months, nobody could guard Vince Carter. And if the Playoffs started today, the Hawks wouldn't be invited.

The good news is that the Playoffs don't start today, or next week. The Hawks still have 14 games left this season, and honestly, if you look at the schedule, we've got a lot of winnable games on there (Chicago twice, New York twice, Memphis, Miami, Indiana). If the Hawks don't make the Playoffs, it's nobody's fault but our own.

The other night I was watching the DVD of Game Seven of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals. (Exciting life I lead, huh?) You Hawks fans remember this game.

If you didn't know, the entire game is available on the NBA-issued DVD, Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend. Every time I watch the game, I think the Hawks have a shot at winning down the stretch, and I keep wait for Mike Fratello to isolate the red-hot Nique. But he never does.

Anyway, one thing that stood out to me about that Hawks team was how well-regimented they were, how into their roles each player seemed to be. Tree Rollins blocked shots, Kevin Willis grabbed boards, Randy Wittman came off screens to knock down jumpers, and Dominique scored every time he touched the ball.

Similarly, it seems the current Hawks have been finding their own roles, clarifying what they're supposed to do, especially Josh Smith, who's been able to focus on rebounding and scoring on the interior, instead of jacking up ill-fated jumpers from behind the three-point line. The bigger issue with the Hawks, however, is defense. Vince is going to get shots off, you just have to hope he's missing. But at the point guard slot, Mike Bibby has struggled to stick with other point guards, and that's caused problems. I don't know if that means we need more Acie Law or Mario West, but someone's got to step up. We're not going to make the Playoffs by accident. At least, I hope not.

Looking at the Hawks' roster, there's an amazing amount of raw talent there -- talent-wise, the Hawks stack up against any team in the East. But the results just haven’t consistently been there. And that doesn't reflect particularly well on either Mike Woodson or Billy Knight.

MAILING IT IN…

This week's letter comes from reader Patrick, who writes…

Lang,

Big fan of yours, both with Slam and your current articles for the Hawks website.

My question is, do you think that Smith getting an extension with the Hawks (which will probably need to be in the 60 mil range) is predicated on Atlanta making the playoffs? Basically, do you think they commit to Smith long term if they make the post season, or let him walk (or sign and trade or whatever) in the event they miss? I took the Bibby signing to mean that they were making their push (and ownership rarely opens up their wallets), and I can't imagine them committing another huge sum of money in the event Atlanta doesn't make the post season.

Philly needs a power forward, and they like the up-tempo game, and they have a ton of cap space so there's a very obvious destination for him. So, what are your thoughts on the matter? I know the idea of Smith entering his prime somewhere else must make you and the dozens of other Hawks fans, myself included, furious.

You are correct, Patrick: Seeing Josh Smith play the next five-six years of his career in anything other than a Hawks uniform would infuriate me.

I do not have any inside information here, but I don't think J-Smoove's future as a Hawk has anything to do with the Hawks' postseason chances. Even a fantasy league GM can tell that Josh is crucial to the Hawks' chances from night to night, and there's no player I can think of who provides the same unique skill set.

What I think is going to happen is that come this summer, no matter how the season plays out, the Hawks will tell Josh to go out and get a contract offer from someone and they'll match it. And as long as Josh doesn't get a max contract offer from some franchise, the Hawks will match it and keep Josh around. I think that's what will happen with Josh Childress, too. At least, that's what I'm telling myself will happen.

Josh Smith has a chance over this last month or so to prove that he's completely invaluable to this team. He's starting to settle in, and in March he averaged a season low in turnovers and a season high in rebounds.

Josh is doing his job. Now everyone else needs to do the same.

Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.com. He can be reached at lang@harris-pub.com. The best email he receives each week will run in this column.