Wiz of Awes
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Washington Wizards: 3 Things to Know About GM Candidate Danny Ferry

By Ethan Smith

ATLANTA, GA - MAY 29: General Manager Danny Ferry speaks during the press conference introducing Mike Budenholzer as the new Head Coach of the Atlanta Hawks during a press conference on May 29, 2013 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 29: General Manager Danny Ferry speaks during the press conference introducing Mike Budenholzer as the new Head Coach of the Atlanta Hawks during a press conference on May 29, 2013 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Washington Wizards Danny Ferry (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Washington Wizards Danny Ferry (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Highs and Lows with the Hawks

Danny Ferry’s second stint as an NBA GM came with the Atlanta Hawks in 2012. Depending on how you look at it, Ferry’s time in Atlanta either went unexpectedly well or unimaginably poorly. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but nevertheless, his time in Atlanta was brief. In September 2014, Ferry took a voluntary leave of absence and never returned.

Ferry’s transformation of the Hawks roster from a playoff team to an Eastern Conference contender cannot be overlooked. When Ferry arrived in Atlanta, a good team was already there. However, Ferry quickly turned them into a great team.

When Ferry showed up, Joe Johnson and Josh Smith were the main attractions in Atlanta and they simply weren’t cutting it. Ferry, instead, built around Al Horford and brought in pieces like Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver to perfectly compliment Horford and Jeff Teague. He drafted Dennis Schroder in 2013 to add guard depth and bench scoring. Although Ferry was gone by the time the team he put together reached its peak, he’s largely responsible for the Hawks squad that finished first in the East during the 2014-15 season.

While his roster construction in Atlanta deserves recognition, the circumstances around his departure deserve just as much, if not more. On a conference call in 2014, Ferry read aloud from a scouting report on Luol Deng and stated “He’s a good guy overall, but he’s not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way…” Ferry read additional remarks from the scouting report that were critical of Deng’s character, but those did not seem to carry the same racist overtones.

An independent investigation found that Ferry’s remarks were not motivated by racism and instead were simply someone else’s words spoken aloud by Ferry. Whether or not the findings of that investigation are legitimate can be questioned. But Ferry’s decision to read them aloud, at all, shows poor judgment. An executive with that type of behavior in his past may not receive a warm welcome from the player or fans. Especially in Washington, D.C.

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