Slam Dunk Central

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Here’s a head-scratcher for you: Let’s say that you’re a general manager of a young, up-and-coming NBA franchise that has a good nucleus of players that have nothing but upside.? Let’s also say that this team overachieved by taking arguably the best team in the NBA to a seventh game to finally lose.? Then out of the blue - the general manager resigns.? Strange but true; according to SportsTicker and announced by the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday, general manager Billy Knight submitted his resignation, effective July 1, after 6 seasons with the club.

While the Hawks did finish 37-45 and make the playoffs, they pushed the Boston Celtics to a Game 7 before finally losing - no small feat.? Knight’s reason for resigning?? “The time has come for me to take a break and fully evaluate my future plans.? I am tremendously pleased with what we were able to accomplish this season in reaching the postseason, as the Hawks? return to the playoffs energized the city and our franchise.? My passion for the franchise has never wavered, but I feel I?m leaving the organization in much better shape than it was in when I took over.?

Maybe it is the skeptic in me, but something tells me that there’s more to this than just Knight resigning for just personal reasons.? That’s not to say that Knight resigned for his own reasons which are not related to the team.? I look at it like this: it is one thing if you’re the GM of a NBA team that consistently underachieves and for all intents and purposes is treading water, so to speak.? But if your team is actually getting better and progressing along nicely, why would you all of a sudden resign?? While I am not about to point fingers at Hawks’ management for Knight’s sudden resignation, the question lingers.