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Okay, this is really bizarre. Not the fact that Mike Woodson is a candidate to get fired -- he has a seriously talented Atlanta Hawks team seriously underperforming in a very weak Eastern Conference. What's bizarre is the Atlanta Journal Constitution has had an article on and off the front page of the Hawks and Sports section for the past few hours, where Sekou Smith states that Billy Knight has approached ownership three times, the most recent on February 16 over the All Star Break (post-Mike Bibby trade) and stated the opinion that Woodson needed to be removed from his position as head coach.

The article appears to be live now, and purely hypothesizing here, but it seems as if the AJC was obtaining additional quotes from both Woodson and Michael Gearon Jr., one of the Hawks owners, who confirmed "Knight's desire to fire Woodson" but would not say why.

It was not the first time Knight wanted to fire Woodson, two people familiar with the situation told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On two previous occasions Knight sought permission to fire Woodson, the two people familiar with the situation said. Gearon said he would neither "confirm nor deny" those conversations took place.

"We evaluate every facet of our organization on a daily basis to determine what we need to do to get better," Gearon said.

Knight declined comment on Thursday.

Woodson insisted Thursday that he's never been approached about being fired.

Is there anything more defining about the Atlanta Hawks than this situation? This is a team that has been mired in mediocrity for years, and just when they kind-of start to turn the corner (kind of because there's no reason they shouldn't be locked into a playoff spot with their talent), something like this flairs its head. But why is ownership so set on Woodson? Or, more importantly, why are they flexing muscles at Knight? It would seem that based on his "success" at turning the team around, he should be praised, or at least be given more credit than he has received during years past -- and there's been a lot of "maybe Knight's not as bad as we thought" talk floating around the internets lately.

Yes, he's accumulated a lot of talent in Atlanta, but far, far, far more important than that, he failed to re-sign Josh Smith before this season and he's whiffed numerous times on draft day. Remember, Marvin Williams is very good, but Chris Paul is much better. That aside though, this Hawks team doesn't appear inspired by Woodson at all. And frankly, if it's enough to drive Sekou to his near hysterical yet well constructed Lysol-on-a-pile-of-trash rant, well I'm on board. Doesn't matter if ownership isn't though.