Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy is in the midst of observing Career Week. Today, the school's most famous student, Dwight Howard II, will make it known that his career choice begins with the NBA.

Howard is expected to make official at an 11 a.m. news conference his decision to bypass college for the riches of the NBA. He's projected to be a certain lottery selection and possibly the No. 1 pick in the draft.

"It's the big day," said Howard's father, Dwight Howard, who is also the school's athletic director. "I knew this day was coming, but not this soon."

The 6-foot-10 Howard averaged 25 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocked shots in leading his school to the Class A championship. He was named Mr. Georgia Basketball by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

All the signs point to Howard's decision to turn pro. Players have until May 10 to declare themselves eligible for the draft.

"He is this year's version of a LeBron James," recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons said. "He is the most highly rated player in the country and will be the top high school player selected in the draft."

The Hawks end their season tonight, but the front-office shake-up began a day early.

New CEO Bernie Mullin announced in a memo to employees late Tuesday that three of the Hawks' top executives --- director of ticket sales Barry Gibson, director of marketing and civic affairs Dexter Santos and controller/business manager Greg Weigandt --- are leaving the club, effective immediately.

In the memo, Mullin attributed their departures to "restructuring of the organization to provide one consolidated business operation for the [Hawks and Thrashers], which has led to elimination of several positions."

Additionally, Mullin said that Hawks executive vice president Lee Douglas will move into a new position as Atlanta Spirit executive VP of business and community development. Atlanta Spirit is the entity that recently bought the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena rights.

According to the memo, Douglas "will be responsible for strengthening our existing relationships within the community as well as forging new partnerships."

The National Basketball Association today disallowed a missed field goal attempt and ensuing rebound which gave Atlanta Hawk guard Bob Sura a statistical "triple-double" in the Hawks' 129-107 victory over the New Jersey Nets on April 12.

In the closing seconds of that game, Sura intentionally missed a layup and grabbed the rebound.

The NBA rule book states that "A field goal attempt is a player's attempt to shoot the ball into the basket for a field goal."

The league ruled that Sura did not attempt a field goal, and therefore there was no rebound.

AS the Hawks were putting the finishing touches on another lottery busting performance, their 8th in 17 games, a 129-107 thrashing of the New Jersey Nets, Stephen Jackson was finishing another of his 20+ point performances, something that?s become sort of average over the final 41 games of this season.

Jackson has averaged over 22 points per game for the Hawks over that span, and has been one of the main catalysts of the teams fresh, exciting, and, recently, winning brand of basketball. Jackson has also quietly moved into the NBA's Top 6 in steals on the year, an indicator of his effort on both ends of the floor.

But what happens to the free agent to be this offseason, after a year which saw career highs in almost every category for the 26 year old forward?

Stephen Jackson sat down with Jason Walker and discussed his pending free agency, and talks about the length and size of the contract he would like, as well as whether Atlanta is a possible destination for him.

As the clock ticked down, Hawks guard Bob Sura had all but conceded that his try for a third triple-double in a row wasn't going to happen.

One rebound shy of the achievement, Sura slouched toward to bench with his head held low -- until Nets reserve Brandon Armstrong made a 3-pointer with four seconds left.

Sura perked up, quickly waved his hands, and Hawks reserve forward Michael Bradley tossed the ball the length of the floor to him. Sura then made a mad dash to the hoop, missed a layup intentionally and grabbed the rebound with 0.2 seconds left to become the first NBA player with three consecutive triple-doubles since Grant Hill did it for Detroit in 1997.

"The ball slipped out of my hands, so I got it back," Sura said jokingly after he finished with 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. "The guys were screaming at me on that last play to do it."

Sura could've reached the triple triple-double earlier. With about 11 minutes left in the fourth, Hawks reserve center Mamadou N'diaye fought Sura for a rebound. Stotts called a timeout to remind N'diaye of what Sura was trying to accomplish.

"I was just focused on boxing my man out, and then I saw [Sura] coming," N'diaye said. "I would've felt bad if he didn't get it, but luckily he got it."

The NBA Eastern Conference's longest-tenured coach doesn't know if he will hold that title beyond the next two games. Terry Stotts has held the unenviable task of being the head coach of the Hawks since he replaced Lon Kruger on Dec. 26, 2002.

Since then, Stotts has posted a 51-84 record. Among coaches with at least 100 games, he has the third-worst winning percentage in the history of the franchise (.377) --- just above Kruger (.361), who coached from 2000-02, and Andrew Levane (.328), who had stints in Milwaukee (1952-54) and St. Louis (1961-62).

"It goes with the territory," Stotts said before what could be his last home game on the bench against the New Jersey Nets tonight. "Every year, there is speculation about half the coaches in the NBA [being fired]. That's part of the job. It used to be if you were a non-playoff team. Now if you're a playoff team it's present."

Becoming the first Hawk in history to turn a triple double in back to back games on Saturday night, Bob Sura has made the most of his time in Atlanta since the trade deadline and should be hearing the cash register ringing when the offseason arrives.

Bob Sura talks to RealGM Hawks Front Office's Jason Walker about his pending free agency before Saturday night's 110-99 victory over the probably playoff bound Celtics.