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

"Dude's A Keeper"
by Lang Whitaker

I first heard about Marvin Williams when he was a junior in high school. As a basketball fan, one of the benefits of working at SLAM magazine is that I tend to hear about most up-and-coming hoop studs before more people have ever heard their names. LeBron, Carmelo, Wade…all these guys were in SLAM long before you probably ever heard of them, unless you work for a sneaker company or are named Chad Ford.

In the summer of 2003, we decided to give the SLAM High School Diary for the next season to a kid out of the Seattle area named Marvin Williams. I never met him, never spoke to him, but my co-worker Ryan Jones, who dealt with Marv, always raved about him, about how considerate and mature he was for a 17-year-old kid. Marv's high school career (and his diary entries) turned out great, and he matriculated at the University of North Carolina just in time to win the 2005 National Championship and then enter the '05 Draft.

That was the year the Hawks had the second overall pick in the Draft, and they had a number of options available. Everyone knew the Bucks would use the first pick on Bogut, but what would happen next? Do you take Marvin Williams, the super-long, super-young, super-promising swingman? Seasoned point guard Deron Williams? The lightning-quick penetrating point man Chris Paul?

Surprisingly, ahem, Hawks GM Billy Knight drafted the player most ready to fit into Knight's Six-Nine Mafia, Marvin Williams. And I'm not going to lie to you, the first few years were tough. While Marv adjusted to the game, put on muscle and fought through injuries, Paul and Williams came in and were more or less dominant right away. And a lot of writers who are unable to see the bigger picture when it comes to sports trashed the Hawks for taking Marvin.

I held my tongue as best as I could. Because as great as Paul and Williams have been, we still don't know how great Marvin Williams can be. But he's been pretty great this year, averaging 16.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 spg and 36 mpg, career highs across the board. He's also arguably the best pure jump shooter on the team, and he fits seamlessly into the Hawks alleged Uptempo Offense.

Whenever I see Marvin play, he reminds me of a young Antawn Jamison, not only in body type but in game. On the Wizards, Jamison plays that third fiddle role, the guy who knocks down jumpers after Gilbert and Caron have passed out of double-teams, which is exactly what Marv needs to become for the Hawks after Joe Johnson and J-Smoove swing the ball. And Marv can be that guy.

I'd love to have Chris Paul or Deron Williams on the Hawks, but only if we could keep Marvin Williams, too. Because as he makes a little more clear each time he steps on the floor, dude's a keeper.

MAILING IT IN:

This week's letter comes from reader Drew, who writes in from Tampa…

Lang,
I enjoy your articles on the Hawks' site. I am a Hawks fan here in Tampa, FL. It is nice to see that Josh Smith is starting to mature. It seems he is doing that both on and off the court, which should really help him in the next couple years. Do you think that the Hawks should let his stock rise and make a possible trade or pull a wait-and-see to find out if the past couple weeks are a sign of a future long-term veteran?

In regards to Woody, I am in the opinion that if the Hawks are really going to take their game to the next level, it is going to have to be with a different coach. My first choice before we hired him was to seriously pursue George Karl. I felt he would be a perfect fit for a young team looking to grow their skill sets. It doesn't seem we have a deep playbook that utilizes the strengths of the entire team. Every clutch situation it seems they simply pass to JJ no matter how many defenders are on him, how far away from the hoop he is, or how much time is left on the clock. We have trouble defending and executing pick-and-rolls. Let's see a little more motion and a little less isolation. With the talent that Billy has put together, we should be watching a playoff caliber team giving us above the rim highlights every game.

Either way the team should make the playoffs this season, and then it's anybody's game.

First of all, thanks for the letter, Drew. Regarding Josh, as I wrote last week, I don't ever want to see him wear any uniform other than a Hawks uniform (unless it's an Eastern Conference All-Star uniform). Whatever it takes to keep him in the ATL, I hope we do that.

Regarding Woody, I understand that he makes an easy target, but do you really expect the Hawks to be in first place right now? We're improving. It's taken a while, but it's becoming more and more obvious. We always point out how certain players are getting better, but how about our coach, who seems to be getting better by the week as well?

And you would really rather have George Karl coaching? Really? Karl's a fine coach, but the Hawks have won 9 of their last 14 games and are sitting at .500. If the Playoffs started today, we're in, ahead of last year's Conference champs, Cleveland. The Nuggets, with a roster that's way more experienced and features two of the best scorers in NBA history, are only 2 games better than us.

Besides, Woody's a way better dresser than Karl. I'm sticking with Woody.

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.