Hawks extend Knight's contract

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Hawks have extended the contract of general manager Billy Knight, and added the title of executive vice president.

Terms of the multi-year contract extension were not disclosed when the team made the announcement Tuesday.

Knight, 52, who is entering his second full season as general manager, has almost totally remade the Hawks. They opened training camp Tuesday with a new coach and virtually a new roster. Boris Diaw, Chris Crawford and Jason Collier are the only holdovers from the end of last season.

New coach Mike Woodson, a longtime friend of Knight, aims to lead the team to its first postseason berth since 1999.

The team's new owners, a group of investors operating under the name Atlanta Spirit LLC, bought the Hawks and the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers from Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting division in March.

``Billy Knight has a great track record for building winning teams in the NBA,'' said Atlanta Spirit's Steve Belkin, head of the Hawks board of managers. ``It was his vision to create the financial flexibility to enable us to become a better franchise for years to come.''

After front-office stints with the Indiana Pacers and the Grizzlies, Knight joined the Hawks as director of basketball operations when he was hired by then-GM Pete Babcock before the 2002-2003 season. He took over after Babcock was fired in April 2003.

The team has 11 new faces from the NBA draft or trades to compete for positions on this season's roster, including forwards Al Harrington and Antoine Walker and 33-year-old point guard Kenny Anderson.

Harrington, a backup in Indiana the last six years, pushed for a trade when told that he wouldn't be a starter for the Pacers. Walker is in a similar position. A three-time all-star with the Boston Celtics, his scoring average dwindled to a career-low 14 points a game last season after he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.