The suddenly-messy situation with the Atlanta Hawks got a bit messier on Monday night when an exposing letter written by Michael Gearon Jr – the minority owner of the team – was leaked for all to see.
Atlanta TV station obtains more info on Danny Ferry. And I’m floored. http://t.co/PPSsvoI6f7
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 9, 2014
Danny Ferry… http://t.co/YKuYfJsZL9
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) September 9, 2014
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported earlier on Monday that general manager Danny Ferry read the following words to the ownership group listening in during a conference call about free agent Luol Deng: “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.” Because Ferry was merely reading off a report prepared for him, it was determined that he would not lose his job over the mishap.
In the letter by Gearon – written back in June – was a detailed description of why he wanted to see Ferry fired from his job. It also had further quotes from Ferry during that infamous call, and it got uglier than what was initially reported:
“With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then went on to describe his negatives, stating that “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 out of the back.” Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all person of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.”
This is a very, very bad look for Ferry no matter what the circumstances were. It’s unclear if the report was written for him to read off of, or if they were his words after the gathering of various information on Deng. In either case, he had the responsibility of knowing what he was going to present and realize the terrible indication of the things he would end up saying.
After the leakage of this letter, it’s hard to see Ferry remain in position as the general manager of the Hawks despite earlier reports about his status. Stay tuned.
Tweet of the Day: NBA Athletes Discuss Ray Rice
Tweet of the Night: Ty Lawson Takes Hilarious Shot At James Harden
James Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @Sheridanblog.
Jim P says
“a guy that would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out back”
Is that like being a top draft pick based on your pedigree but then unable to compete in the league?
Just asking.
Empee says
Had one interaction with Danny Ferry in my life, at a Cavs game many years ago. He was inexplicably a complete dick.
Was a little shocked at the time. So I’m not at all shocked at this. Seems consistent with the assuming and prejudging attitude that he exhibited in our encounter.
Good riddance, dick!