Levinson black mailed?

PandaKidd · Post #81 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:23 pm

Pretty Sure Nique would NOT let that happen. WHoever comes in isnt letting anyone else take over.

Post #82 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:04 pm

Doing some background research of my own and found this Levenson quote from 2012:

"The likelihood of us trading Josh at the trade deadline is as close to zero as you can get," Bruce Levenson told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"There were a bunch of guys in the All-Star Game that I wouldn't trade for Josh

Back when Josh was in the midst (and aftermath) of the single greatest season of his career, his stock was at an all-time high. Then GM Rick Sund had engaged teams for months in potential trades for Josh. But friggin' Levenson refused to even consider it. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7683520/bruce-levenson-atlanta-hawks-co-owner-dispels-josh-smith-trade-rumors

A few months later Levenson's prized GM further rebuffed any trade requests for Smoove and even offered him a fat raise and contract extension. (Thank god he refused.)

Mere months later, Josh was considered untradeable and the team did everything to distance itself from him.

For me, this was the biggest blunder of the last few years. Refusing to trade our most valuable trade chip at its highest value. And it was Bruce Levenson at the center of such talks. Still clinging to the belief that Smoove was more valuable than All-Stars.

Levenson leaving this franchise is absolutely a good thing. I question his basketball knowledge, I question his decision-making, I question his business acumen.

I survived he and his predecessors. I'm sure I'll survive the next guy and his rebuild. The only thing I will really miss...is AL.

PandaKidd · Post #83 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:26 pm

Business acument? He's going to profit 290 million-ish or more

Pretty good business man haha

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Post #84 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:02 pm

PandaKidd wrote:Business acument? He's going to profit 290 million-ish or more

Pretty good business man haha

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Should have been more.

Under his leadership, Hawks suffer from some of the worst attendance in the league and suffered $24 million in operating losses in 2014 alone. This is after 10 years of ownership.

The Hawks are failing, that was one of the reasons Koonin was brought on board. The team was an underwhelming product and were marketed poorly to boot.

Levenson and Ferry were running the business side into the ground.

Post #85 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:27 pm

azuresou1 wrote:This is some Game of Thrones/House of Cards intrigue going on.

And it's becoming clear who the mastermind of this entire fiasco is:

Read on Twitter

PandaKidd · Post #86 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:54 pm

Agreed just trying to lighten it up in here

Its clear from a merchandizing/fan standpoint ferry and asg have no clue

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azuresou1 · Post #87 » by **azuresou1** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:29 pm

Woj Bomb. I'll let you guys read it for yourselves:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/an-exclusi ... 53404.html

PandaKidd · Post #88 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:51 pm

So, Gearon saw this as a point to take ferry down.

Its just more clear to me day by day, ASG has to go, ferry can't do his job anymore

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ATLHawksfan21 · Post #89 » by **ATLHawksfan21** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:11 pm

PandaKidd wrote:So, Gearon saw this as a point to take ferry down.

Its just more clear to me day by day, ASG has to go, ferry can't do his job anymore

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Yup. Gearon just straight up decapitated his own organization in an effort to further his own interests. He is more un trustworthy than Ferry if you ask me.

I'm ok with Ferry leaving, if Bud stays, but Gearon needs to absolutely be gone. Players, coaches and personnel will never take us serious with Gearon at the reigns.

Post #90 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:41 pm

I'm starting to believe the franchise as a whole may not survive this mess.

Post #91 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:41 pm

Michael Gearon Jr., had once been a far greater power player within the franchise. No more. [Gearon] disdained Ferry, and told people often inside and outside the organization: He longed for Ferry's ouster as GM...

As soon as those words left Ferry's mouth on the call, Gearon responded in a dramatic way in the background of the tape recording: "Oh my God, that comment sounds like Sterling on TMZ".

...make no mistake: Gearon is no whistle-blowing hero for racial justice...

There are no heroes here, no winners – not even Michael Gearon, with whom the league office is livid. He had been hellbent on bringing down the power structure in Atlanta...

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

Gearon made a power play. It didn't quite end how he wanted...with Ferry AND Levenson gone and him in charge.
Now he is considered one of the bad guys by folks in NBA circles and Hawks fandom.

azuresou1 · Post #92 » by **azuresou1** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:31 pm

It'd be interesting to see if the league requests that Gearon sell as well for conduct detrimental to the league. Sure Levinson and Ferry obviously were implicated and tarnish the franchise/league, but none of this would be public if it weren't for Gearon airing the dirty laundry.

Which do you think the league cares more about - some offhand ignorant comments by an owner and GM made in a private business arena, or someone proactively airing out those comments to the public? I'd put heavy money on the latter.

PandaKidd · Post #93 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:37 pm

Nba seizes control of hawks ....,

NEW ORLEANS PART DEUCE

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ATLHawksfan21 · Post #94 » by **ATLHawksfan21** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:38 pm

PandaKidd wrote:Nba seizes control of hawks ....,

NEW ORLEANS PART DEUCE

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I'm all for that. That whole deal landed them Anthony Davis so sign me up!

That's going to be our only hope once Bud runs from Atlanta as fast as he can. Bud will be the hottest commodity to hit the coaching market in a long time and he will have no problem finding a far better job than what's left of the Hawks after Ferry is fired and Gearon is still around.

ATLHawksfan21 · Post #95 » by **ATLHawksfan21** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:39 pm

azuresou1 wrote:It'd be interesting to see if the league requests that Gearon sell as well for conduct detrimental to the league. Sure Levinson and Ferry obviously were implicated and tarnish the franchise/league, but none of this would be public if it weren't for Gearon airing the dirty laundry.

Which do you think the league cares more about - some offhand ignorant comments by an owner and GM made in a private business arena, or someone proactively airing out those comments to the public? I'd put heavy money on the latter.

and we all should if you ask me. Gearon's actions were far worse than Ferry's in this instance.

Rip2137 · Post #96 » by **Rip2137** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:40 pm

...its far worse to report racist comments than make racist comments...

...

seriously?

azuresou1 · Post #97 » by **azuresou1** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:34 am

Rip2137 wrote:...its far worse to report racist comments than make racist comments...

...

seriously?

If you're the league office, yes. They're not in the business of being moral paragons, they're in the business of making money.

Making ign'ant comments in private is pretty sad for grown men, but that's no sweat off the NBA's back. Publicly throwing members of your organization under the bus as you attempt to seize power internally, on the other hand, leads to media ruckus and civil rights 'leaders' demanding conferences with your teams.

If Gearon was truly outraged, he could have called out Ferry/Levinson in person at the time the comments were made, or taken the comments to the league office in private. Few I think would be upset at him then. But this is pretty clearly a power struggle which has turned ugly, which is not a good look for the league.

Rip2137 · Post #98 » by **Rip2137** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:56 am

I'm not talking about for the league. Business wise its better to fire a person if they get sick and hire a more able bodied person. But as moralistic human beings I would HOPE no one actually thinks outing racist comments are worse than making racist comments.

MaceCase · Post #99 » by **MaceCase** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:32 am

azuresou1 wrote:It'd be interesting to see if the league requests that Gearon sell as well for conduct detrimental to the league. Sure Levinson and Ferry obviously were implicated and tarnish the franchise/league, but none of this would be public if it weren't for Gearon airing the dirty laundry.

Which do you think the league cares more about - some offhand ignorant comments by an owner and GM made in a private business arena, or someone proactively airing out those comments to the public? I'd put heavy money on the latter.

Yea, but tell me if the league would like this spin better "league forces owner out for revealing racists within his organization"?

Gearon is sinister but he's not stupid, he got the ball rolling by making this whole debacle public in the first place for very good reason. The league could chastise him and his strategy but it's a very bad look in the court of public opinion to oust him especially when Silver himself is saying that what Ferry said is not a terminable offense. WE as Hawk fans may know him as a douche from the past and see his strategy all the way but as Rip is suggesting, you can't equate someone blowing the whistle on racial prejudice as being equal or worse than those displaying the racial prejudice. Sadly, Gearon seized the moral high-ground in this, he's certainly no hero but if the league publicly tries to oust him then they'd kind of be sending the wrong message to reactionaries who can easily spin it that the NBA is fine with the scout and Ferry spreading certain attitudes behind closed doors but not with those who would expose it.

As another poster on another site has said "Gearon is burning the house down but Ferry and Levenson provided him matches and gasoline" and as Woj said "he's no more a hero than Ferry is a victim".

azuresou1 · Post #100 » by **azuresou1** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:58 am

In my book sinister sociopathy ranks as far worse than stupidity and ignorance. You can overcome the latter with education; the former is something that is an inherent personality trait.

I think that quote is accurate in that Gearon is absolutely burning the house down. I don't have a problem with letting it burn. If that's what it takes to get the backstabbing and politicking out of the front office, I'm all for it.