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

"A Jazz Ensemble"
by Lang Whitaker

It's late Tuesday night as I sit down to write this column, and I just left The Highlight Factory after witnessing the Hawks fall to the World Champs, the San Antonio Spurs. This comes three days after I watched the Hawks lose to the Bucks, four days after I watched the Hawks lose a heartbreaker to Seattle in double overtime and a week after the Hawks hung on to beat the Bobcats at Philips. For those of you scoring at home, that's four games, three losses, one point guard injured (Acie Law), one point guard mysteriously benched (Anthony Johnson), one pogo stick with a strained leg muscle (Josh Smith), a point guard with a bad ankle (Salim), a forward with food poisoning (Marvin) and one point guard with a radical haircut (Tyronn Lue).

My favorite thing last week? T-Lue's cut. The coolest thing? That high-flying collision between Josh Smith and Gerald Wallace about fifteen feet in the air. (I'm still waiting for someone to make an animated gif of that and post it on Hawksquawk.net.) The worst thing? That three-pointer from Kevin Durant.

Mainly, it was a week of attrition by subtraction. Injuries, our old friends in The A, came back once again, like Kevin Willis returning to the NBA year after year. And with half the Hawks' roster hobbled, they just couldn't get things together consistently.

The losses weren't all because of injuries, though. Damien Wilkins turned into Dominique against the Hawks. Tony Parker torched the court at Philips in the second quarter. Charlie Villanueva was unstoppable against our vast arsenal of forwards. And the Hawks' alleged commitment to push the tempo and run the ball wavered from minute to minute.

But the thing that gave me hope was something I wrote in my notes during that Bobcats game: The Hawks are closer than they've been in years to being a really good team. They still stumble and trip and wane, but when they aren't screwing up, they're playing great basketball. That first quarter against Carolina? The third against Seattle? There are moments there when the Hawks give me hope. I'm clinging to that hope, praying that everyone figures this out.

The Hawks are like a jazz music combo. They're all out there, doing their thing, trying to find a groove, hoping to all simultaneously hit a stride. Occasionally they do, and they sound amazing, transcendent, beautiful. The rest of the time, they're all playing dissonant parts.

We're just waiting for more of the transcendent stuff. And as Tom Petty once said, The waiting is the hardest part.

But we're Hawks fans. We've been waiting for a while. I retain hope that eventually we're going to get a full-on modern jazz show that lasts 82-plus games and makes Miles Davis seem conservative.

Until then, we wait. Hey, we're Hawks fans. We ain't new to this.

MAILING IT IN:

OK, let's go to reader Michael. Mike writes…

Did you see them Hawks put the whipping on the Charlotte Bobcats? Woodson had Zaza come out for the first time and he played inspired, knocking down the 2's and rebounding. Interesting lineup: He put Al Horford in the power forward spot, so we had a monster at that position (to clean up Zaza's mistakes), we had that acrobat in the small forward position in Josh Smith, and finally we had Joe Johnson at the shooting guard and Acie Law at the point. It suddenly occurred to me why we were doing so well: We weren't playing like a team with a bunch of forwards. We had players for the first time PLAYING in their natural POSITIONS. Hmmm, novel thought. You could actually feel the chemistry. They were playing like a team…and what depth. Still could use another outside shooting guard though (grin)

First, as always, thanks for writing in, Mike.

You nailed it there with the stuff about the team fitting together, but I think you missed a bigger point: When the Hawks looked so dominant against the Bobcats, it was because they were dictating the tempo and putting defenders on their heels. Too often the Hawks, particularly in the half-court offense, allow the game to be told to them. When they run and gun, these Hawks can fly high, no lie (ballin!). Someone just needs to turn them loose.

Before I go, I realized that we need a name for the Hawks' mercurial up-tempo offense. Send me some suggestions and let's find one and roll with it the rest of the season.

Have a great Thanksgiving...

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.