Danny Ferry is a Jerk

What is going on here in Amerikkka

what happened?

It's an ugly situation in Atlanta.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/an-exclusive-look-at-hawks-gm-danny-ferry-s-fateful-phone-call-180253404.html

If one plays for high stakes and profits from his notoriety, (s)he deserves to be held to a high public standard. Comes with the territory. Tough luck for Ferry. He deserves what he gets.

Same

Ferry might be a racist.....

but when I read the article linked.........

Gearon is a snake!!

on another note:

what I read (not the whole email), What Levenson said in the email was something that any owner would "discuss" in any business.

again I didn't read the whole thing, so he may have delved off into racist BS.

but what I read he even said the "southern white" were off-base with their beliefs.

As a business owner for 25 years now, you sometimes have to discuss things that are not PR .

the whole thing sounds like some type of soap opera. If I were Gearon I would be watching my back.

One theory going around is that Levenson wanted to cash out and that he self-reported his email to make that happen. What he said wasn't that outrageous, and numerous people have said so, include Kareem and Jason Whitlock.

Well, well. It was only a matter of time...


http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/channel-2-receives-copy-scouting-report-heart-cont/nhLpr/


Hawks GM Ferry to take 'indefinite leave of absence'


ATLANTA — Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin says General Manager Danny  Ferry is taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately.

Friday afternoon, Koonin sent out a statement reading in part, "This has been an incredibly difficult time for him and his family and it is my hope that this time away from the Hawks organization allows him the privacy he needs to listen to the community, to learn about his mistakes, and to begin the long process of personal healing.  As a human being, manager and friend, I wish him well as he undergoes this process."

Channel 2 Action News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution have jointly obtained a copy of the Luol Deng scouting report that Atlanta Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry was reading from during a June conference call.

Part of the five-page report, with portions redacted, contains separate sections from different personnel.

"He's good guy on the cover but he's an African. He has a little two-stop in him} says what you like to hear, but behind closed doors he could be killing you. Con isn't bad, but it's there, African-like, store front looks great but there's a black market section in the back," the report states.

Channel 2 Action News received an audio recording of that conference call Thursday evening where Ferry could be heard discussing the strengths and weaknesses of Deng and states, "He has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he's like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff in the back."

Ferry's statement led to a letter from minority Hawks owner Michael Gearon Jr. to majority owner Bruce Levenson asking for Ferry's resignation. It also touched off an internal investigation into the front office that discovered a racially insensitive letter from Levenson himself.

Atlanta civil rights leader the Rev. Markel Hutchins got fired up after Channel 2 played him the recording of Ferry laying out what he called "the rap" for Deng.

"Danny Ferry's words are a kick to the stomach of racial progress in America,” Hutchins said.

Levenson has since come forward with that letter and announced he'll sell his share of the team.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin announced this week he has disciplined Ferry but will not seek a new general manager.

Deng released a statement this week saying, "I'm proud to say I actually have a lot of African in me, not just 'a little.'"

"At some point when you get one or two sentences to that kind of racially-charged language, you stop yourself," Hutchins said.

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People seem to have no sense these days...


KJ

From reading that Scouting Report that Ferry was discussing during the conference call, it sure looks like the African comments were in the Scouting Report on page 2. So, was Danny just paraphrasing what was in the Scouting Report when he said that Luol has a little African in him? It seems to be that Danny made a mistake in going in that direction during the conference call, but the idea behind the African comments were not his.
I'm not at all trying to defend Danny for his insensitive remarks, but did the media get the details wrong on this one?
On Mike and Mike earlier this week, Mike Greenberg was focusing on the comments that were in the Scouting Report and Danny making a mistake by not thinking before he spoke to the group on the conference call.

tjmakz wrote:From reading that Scouting Report that Ferry was discussing during the conference call, it sure looks like the African comments were in the Scouting Report on page 2. So, was Danny just paraphrasing what was in the Scouting Report when he said that Luol has a little African in him? It seems to be that Danny made a mistake in going in that direction during the conference call, but the idea behind the African comments were not his.
I'm not at all trying to defend Danny for his insensitive remarks, but did the media get the details wrong on this one?
On Mike and Mike earlier this week, Mike Greenberg was focusing on the comments that were in the Scouting Report and Danny making a mistake by not thinking before he spoke to the group on the conference call.

TJ,

I have several problems with that.

• If a scouting report had said that Luol Deng came from England, where people murder puppies, should Ferry have repeated that in the conference call, too? Saying that would be as accurate and relevant as relating Deng's African descent to Africans with phony storefronts selling counterfeit goods.

• Ferry didn't say these were comments from a scouting report. He repeated the comments to the ownership group, along with other negative comments about Deng's character, as if he (Ferry) agreed with this assessment.

• If someone put that in a scouting report, Ferry's reaction should be to consider whether that is a source he should continue using for scouting, not to repeat baseless, racist, and ill-defined accusations. What exactly does "he has a little African in him" mean, especially considering he was born in Sudan, and what does that have to do with Deng's value as a basketball player?

they offered Deng a $20M /two year deal.

come on.

Danny Ferry was the GM....that means he is in charge of ALL of the basketball operations...that means the buck stops with him. No amount of excuses about him just reading someone elses report makes up for that.

Either he never read the scouting report before he got on the call, in which case he is negligent in his duties as GM. He read them, and didnt think they were a big deal, in which case he is complicit in the racist undertones. Or he read them, took action against the scout AND still thought they were appropriate to bring up verbatim in a meeting, in which case he has the worst judgment in the NBA.

In all 3 instances, he should be removed. Ignorance, Incompetence or Racist behavior all lead to the unemployment line. Sorry.