"Official" announcement

[Gray Mule]

on nba.com/hawks

If any one would "Cut and paste" or whatever it is that

is done {I don't know how} is the announcement, along

with details of both men's careers.

Good stuff. I'm glad this is over. Congratulations to

the Hawks for doing something and congratulations to both

these men. Let's hope they both do well.

[Blunt91]

Knight Named General Manager, Stotts Coach of Hawks

Hawks General Manager Billy Knight

ATLANTA, GA (August 11, 2003) ----- Atlanta Hawks president Stan Kasten today announced that the organization has reached an agreement with Billy Knight and Terry Stotts to become the new General Manager and Head Coach respectively.

With their elevation from interim status, Knight and Stotts – who both joined the Hawks organization prior to the start of the 2002-03 season – previously replaced Pete Babcock and Lon Kruger when both men were relieved of their positions at different times over the course of the year.

"We are very excited about the opportunities ahead of us with the promotions of Billy and Terry to the GM and head coaching positions," said Kasten. "They both bring solid credentials to the job and have done tremendous work under difficult circumstances. Billy and Terry are well-respected by their peers in the NBA, and I'm confident of their abilities to lead this franchise to great heights in the future."

Knight, 51, who worked under Babcock as the club’s Director of Basketball Operations and replaced him on April 2, has previous experience as a General Manager from his two seasons with the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies. He will continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of the basketball program and will be responsible for all player personnel decisions.

Hawks Head Coach Terry Stotts

His background as a proven talent evaluator led to a number of key acquisitions in his two years with Grizzlies, most notably, the trade for Lorenzen Wright, Brevin Knight and the draft rights of Pau Gasol from Atlanta for Shareef Abdur-Rahim (June 27, 2001). Gasol’s outstanding rookie season culminated in the first-year sensation winning the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award. That same draft, the Grizzlies selected former Duke standout and National College Player of the Year Shane Battier with the sixth overall pick.

In his first season in Vancouver (2000-01), the team recorded 23 victories, which at that time was the most in franchise history.

Prior to his stint with the Grizzlies, Knight spent several seasons as a player and front office executive with the Indiana Pacers. A former player dating back to their days in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), he ended his eight-year career as the Pacers’ all-time leading scorer with 10,780 points. Currently the franchise’s third all-time leading scorer, Knight’s contributions to the Pacers have him listed among the team’s top five lists in five statistical groups, and ranking in the top 10 in 14 different categories.

Named an NBA All-Star in the Pacers’ first season in the league (1976-77), Knight finished that year as the league’s second-leading scorer (behind Pete Maravich) with an average of 26.6 points per game. Over his 11 pro seasons he averaged 16.9 ppg as a player with Boston, Buffalo (Braves), Kansas City (Kings) and San Antonio, as well as Indiana. He earned two other berths on the NBA All-Star team and one appearance in the ABA All-Star game. In 1975, Knight was selected to the ABA’s All-Rookie team.

A five-year executive with the Pacers, he spent the last two years as the team’s Senior Vice President for Basketball Operations in charge of pro, college and international scouting, as well as all daily operations within the basketball department, under the direction of President Donnie Walsh.

“I’m extremely happy for Billy,” Walsh said. “As a young general manager in this league, Billy has shown he has the ability to do the job. I think it’s honorable and intelligent of the Atlanta Hawks to have him in his position.”

Before that promotion, he served thee years as Indiana’s Vice President of Basketball Operations and also held the titles of Director of Player Personnel and assistant coach for the Pacers.

Named an assistant coach in August 2002, Stotts took over for Kruger on December 26 and coached the Hawks to a 24-31 (.434) record over the remainder of the 2002-03 season. After a tough start in his first few games, the team showed a great deal of promise over the final 41 contests, equaling the Eastern Conference’s fourth-best record at 21-20.

Prior to coming to the Hawks, Stotts was the lead assistant on the staff of then-Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl. In his four years, the team had a 163-133 record and made the playoffs in three of those seasons. Their finest hour came in 2000-01 when Milwaukee, the Central Division champions, fell one game short of reaching the NBA Finals in a seven-game series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. During their 14-year association, Karl and Stotts never finished a season with a losing record.

A former pro player in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), Stotts was a second round draft choice of the Houston Rockets in the 1980 NBA Draft who played in Italy, France and Spain before joining Karl’s Montana Golden Nuggets of the CBA. When Karl was named head coach of the 1990-91 Albany Patroons, Stotts elected to retire and pursue coaching as a future endeavor and in his first year with his former coach helped establish a CBA record when the Patroons went 50-6.

Smitten with the coaching profession, Stotts remained in the CBA when Karl departed to coach a season in Spain and served as an assistant with the Fort Wayne Fury, and reunited with his longtime boss one year later when Karl became the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics. He began his career as an advance scout (1992-93) and was promoted one year later to assistant coach. In his first season the Sonics’ 63-19 record was the NBA’s best.

Not only did Seattle win four Pacific Division titles and reach the Western Conference finals in two of his six seasons on the bench, the Sonics made it to the NBA Finals in 1996 and eventually lost in six games to the Chicago Bulls. The Sonics made the playoffs in each of his six years there and recorded a 357-135 mark. On three occasions (1994, 1996 and 1998), Stotts and the rest of Karl’s staff served as the Western Conference coaches for the NBA All-Star Game.

After five seasons on the bench in Seattle, the 1998-99 season found Karl and Stotts in Milwaukee, where he filled in as the Bucks’ interim head coach on two occasions when Karl had to leave the team because of the death of his father. Milwaukee posted a 2-0 record in those games (in December 2001, against Toronto and New Jersey).

The University of Oklahoma graduate (1983) played collegiately for Dave Bliss and took home All-Big Eight honors in his senior year. A two-time Academic All-American in his final two years at OU, Stotts has a degree in zoology and a Masters of Business Administration (1998).

Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa (November 25, 1957), the well-traveled Stotts was raised in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Guam. He and his wife Jan reside in metro Atlanta