Atlanta Hawks Fire Coach Terry Stotts

ATLANTA (AP) _ Terry Stotts was fired by the Atlanta Hawks' new owners Friday, ending the longest current coaching tenure in the Eastern Conference after just 1 1/2 seasons. <br/><br/>Stotts went 52-85,

Friday, May 7th 2004, 9:48 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) _ Terry Stotts was fired by the Atlanta Hawks' new owners Friday, ending the longest current coaching tenure in the Eastern Conference after just 1 1/2 seasons.

Stotts went 52-85, the third-worst winning percentage in franchise history. The Hawks finished 28-54 this season, missing the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

The Hawks and the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers were sold to a nine-person group of investors in March by Time Warner Inc., which took over the teams through mergers that gave it control of Turner Broadcasting.

``We believe it is important to change the direction of the Hawks' franchise,'' general manager Billy Knight said. ``Our new ownership group is committed to building a winning product that contends for the NBA championship, and they have placed me in charge of hiring the best candidate possible to accomplish that.''

Stotts is the fourth NBA coach _ all in the East _ to lose his job since the season ended less than a month ago. The Celtics (Doc Rivers) and 76ers (Jim O'Brien) have hired replacements; the Raptors are still looking for a new coach.

Stotts was informed of the Hawks' decision Thursday night, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He replaced Lon Kruger as coach in December 2002.

Last season, the Hawks traded away stars Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff, leaving Stotts with a lineup of mostly journeymen players. The moves left Atlanta with only four players under contract for 2004-05 _ Chris Crawford, Jason Terry, Alan Henderson and Boris Diaw _ and the team will be more than $20 million under the projected salary cap.

The Hawks also have two first-round picks in June's draft.