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

"The Final Word"
by Lang Whitaker

And you thought the regular season was fun. The Hawks backed into the Playoffs with 37 wins, then pushed the team with the best record in basketball to the brink of embarrassment. They electrified Atlanta, filled the Highlight Factory and, as was their goal, managed to shock the world, myself included. I watched almost 80 regular season Hawks games this year and even I picked Boston to win in 4, or perhaps 5. If you'd told me the Boston series was going 7 games and that Zaza Pachulia would be a key factor in winning several games, I would've called you a liar and shown you a menacing hand gesture.

Looking back on it now, weeks after our improbable run, how much fun was it? When I returned to my office in New York the morning after the Game 4 win that evened up the series, I was on such a high that I couldn't sleep for two days. What a brilliant week that was.

Sure, we lost the series, but we won the war. The rest of the NBA finally got a chance to see that the Hawks can compete and, given time and the proper guidance, could become a contender for years to come.

Speaking of proper guidance, the world learned this morning that Billy Knight, the Hawks general manager for the last six seasons, has resigned from his job. Everyone knew his contract, as well as that of coach Mike Woodson, was set to expire at the end of June, but I don't think anyone expected Billy to step back from the table so quickly.

What happens next will define the Hawks' foreseeable future. Whoever becomes the next GM will have to start with making a decision on Woody, and then go about figuring out a way to find us a true center so everyone can shift to their natural positions and then keeping Josh and Josh for the long term. The Hawks have come a long way from where they were six seasons ago, and regardless how you feel about Billy's moves -- from getting Joe Johnson (terrific) to passing up on everyone from Luol Deng to Chris Paul to Brandon Roy in the Draft (not so terrific) -- the Hawks are where we are today because of Billy Knight. And no matter how you cut it, for that Billy Knight deserves some props.

Finally, I want to say thanks to everyone out there for reading this column all season. When I was in Atlanta for Games 3 and 4, I got stopped by more people that I can individually list who said they read The Last Word. Some of them even said they liked it, too!

Seriously, though, I want to thank everyone involved in making this column happen each week, from Micah and the Hawks.com staff, to AT and Jon and Jason with the Hawks media relations department, and even the 839 surviving members of Atlanta Spirit, who were willing to hand over a part of their rather valuable cyberspace to a fan and give him the power to say anything he wanted to say about a team they've invested a few hundred million dollars in. You are all appreciated.

So…it's been quite a ride. I'm taking the summer off, but hopefully I'll be back next season when we get ready to tip things off again, unless I'm included in some package deal for a new player. If that happen, I'm definitely calling my agent and refusing to report.

Rise up, everybody.

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.