Atlanta

Terry Stotts to Boston?


Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services 

Terry Stotts has been reported as being on the rumored short list for Boston's recently vacated head coaching position. Would he be a good fit there?

Celtics GM Danny Ainge has been yearning for an up-tempo team that can score in a variety of ways. He is looking to build a roster where at least four out of the five players on the court at any time can handle the ball, shoot the ball, pass the ball, and dunk the ball. He is looking to build a roster of mini-Kevin Garnetts.

Can Stotts lead such a group? He has been excellent at motivating what should have been the worst team in the league to beat many opponents, and finish with a record better than Orlando, who most observers pegged as a contender for the Eastern Conference finals. Under his coaching, Bob Sura went from a virtual unknown to a perpetual triple-double threat. Under Stotts, Stephen Jackson has shown the world what they missed when they wouldn't sign him to big money as a free agent. And Jason Terry has been Jason Terry, consistently putting up good numbers.

His impact doesn't stop there. Chris Crawford has shined under him. He coached Rasheed Wallace into an excellent performance for the single game he had him, despite the fact that he didn't even have enough players to run a full 5-on-5 scrimmage in the one practice he had him for.

It was under Stotts that Shareef Abdur-Rahim grew into star status, a status that led to his being traded for his value.

So Stotts is able to release the games of players anywhere on the floor, from guard to forward to center. Isn't that what a good coach ought to do?

Plus, you never hear about rifts between Stotts and his players. He's a player's coach through and through.

He doesn't put too much store into having an intricate offensive or defensive system. He runs fairly common plays and plays fairly standard defense, and just lets his players' talents and desires dictate the game.

He wouldn't be a flashy coach to have, but he would be an effective one. Atlanta probably needs a flash coach in order to attract fans, at least initially. Boston is just looking for a good coach.

TEAM NOTES
The Hawks will have 104 chances out of 1000 to win the rights to the first, second, or third pick in the draft lottery to be held on May 26. The Hawks also receive the 17th pick from Milwaukee.

You have voted and here are the results. Atlanta's Performance of the Year was Bob Sura two consecutive and nearly three consecutive triple-doubles. Atlanta's Brightest Future is Boris Diaw. Atlanta's Game of the Year was March 2 against the Lakers. Atlanta's Best Sport was Chris Crawford. Now you can votefor another award: Atlanta's Toughest Hawk.

The 2004 Hawks Summer Basketball Camp will be held July 19-23 for children of ages 8-17. Instructors include current and former Hawks players and coaches. More info.

NEWSLINES

Jemele Hill ofThe Detroit Free Press writes: Before he arrived in Milwaukee, [Brevin] Knight's talents weren't exactly shown much respect.He spent nearly four seasons in Cleveland -- the three best years of his career -- before being traded to Atlanta. After he finished the season with the Hawks, he moved on to Memphis for two seasons. He started this season with Phoenix and was traded to Washington, where he was waived. On March 5, he signed with the Bucks. "I've been in situations that weren't good situations for me," Knight said. "You just have to keep your head up and keep your confidence. Soon, you'll have your chance to shine and show."

Mike PotterThe Durham Herald-Sunwrites: [Henry] Dickerson is a graduate of Morris Harvey, which is now the University of Charleston (W.Va.). He was first-team all-conference and first-team all-tournament in each of his four seasons in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The 6-4 guard played parts of two seasons in the NBA, including 17 regular-season and five playoff games with the Detroit Pistons in 1975-76 and six regular-season games with the Atlanta Hawks in 1976-77, scoring 45 regular-season points and nine points in the playoffs.