Ferry Takes Leave of Absence/ Bud Promoted?

[Jamaaliver]

ATLANTA, GA - The following statement was released by CEO Steve Koonin:

"This afternoon, Danny Ferry requested, and I have approved, taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately. 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...

Effective immediately, our Head Coach, Mike Budenholzer, will assume oversight of the basketball operations department. He will report directly to me."

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2014/9/12/6141699/danny-ferry-indefinite-leave-of-absence-atlanta-hawks

[Jamaaliver]

That said, we have taken several steps to address what we can do as an organization to be better and stronger, including working with a diversity consultant to examine us and to train us to ensure something like this never happens again, we are committed to hiring a Chief Diversity Officer, and we have and will continue to meet with community leaders in an ongoing way to ensure our values reflect the community in which we play and work. The process of selling the team, which is to remain in Atlanta, is already underway.

Finally they make a PR statement-and-move that makes complete sense. Had they done this Tuesday, the narrative changes greatly.

A CDO will be nothing more than a brown face in the organization, a token position. But it's sadly necessary.

[Jamaaliver]

Effective immediately, our Head Coach, Mike Budenholzer, will assume oversight of the basketball operations department. He will report directly to me.

This is a complete vote of confidence in Budenholzer. The CURRENT leadership doing all they can to appease him and limit disruption.

Definitely a step in the right direction.

My guess, they hired a new PR firm in the last 72 hours to help weather the storm.

This definitely was the best possible move for the franchise short of outright firing DF.

I'm guessing one of the current owners will buy out Levenson and maintain the current power structure.

[ATLHawksfan21]

I believe that Ferry will be back after some time and will continue to be our GM. It will be dependent on the ownership situation though. I hope every last member of the ASG is gone before this is over. This whole fiasco will be a blessing in disguise if it rids us of the cancer that is the ASG.

[ATLHawksfan21]

Too bad Chris Grant isn't still the GM of the Cavs. That would be pretty ironic after that Cavs fan posted that baiting thread the other day. Maybe they will still get to enjoy some of the crap that we have had to deal with for the past week.

[Jamaaliver]

WOJ over at Yahoo gives his two-cents on Ferry's Leave of Absence. Indicating he doesn't believe Ferry comes back from to run the Hawks:

Before Ferry met with CEO Steve Koonin on Friday to finalize a leave of absence that most inside the organization believe will eventually become permanent, Ferry spent the morning with members of the African-American clergy in Atlanta, a source told Yahoo Sports...When Levenson finally sells the team, a new majority owner will likely want his own people. This makes it easy for Ferry to never return, but coach and interim GM Mike Budenholzer is a keeper...This is why Ferry's "leave of absence" will almost assuredly turn into a permanent departure. This is a job of judgment and Ferry's turned out to be inexcusable

Michael Wilbon on PTI has known Ferry years. He also indicates Ferry is unlikely to return from this Leave of Absence.(comments begin at 9:00 mark)

I believe Koonin is going to allow ferry to sneak back in to work in a month or two once this dies down. Without making an official announcement.

But it will be very difficult for a new owner to retain any semblance of leadership from the old regime. Bud might be the only holdover from the last regime, but he will have to win. Period. No excuses.

[ATLHawksfan21]

WOJ over at Yahoo gives his two-cents on Ferry's Leave of Absence. Indicating he doesn't believe Ferry comes back from to run the Hawks:

Before Ferry met with CEO Steve Koonin on Friday to finalize a leave of absence that most inside the organization believe will eventually become permanent, Ferry spent the morning with members of the African-American clergy in Atlanta, a source told Yahoo Sports...When Levenson finally sells the team, a new majority owner will likely want his own people. This makes it easy for Ferry to never return, but coach and interim GM Mike Budenholzer is a keeper...This is why Ferry's "leave of absence" will almost assuredly turn into a permanent departure. This is a job of judgment and Ferry's turned out to be inexcusable

Michael Wilbon on PTI has known Ferry years. He also indicates Ferry is unlikely to return from this Leave of Absence.(comments begin at 9:00 mark)

I believe Koonin is going to allow ferry to sneak back in to work in a month or two once this dies down. Without making an official announcement.

But it will be very difficult for a new owner to retain any semblance of leadership from the old regime. Bud might be the only holdover from the last regime, but he will have to win. Period. No excuses.

We'll see. I would bet good money in Ferry staying. Why else would silver stand up for him.

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[Chuck Everett]

All of the Duke guys (Silver, Billy King) have defended Ferry. Don't be surprised about that. Funny thing is, Deng is a Duke guy. That's why it's so weird and stupid of Ferry.

[PandaKidd]

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/9/13/6 ... ry-scandal

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[atlantabbq99]

This could be a blessing in disguise. Budenholzer making the decisions on free agency and the draft could be better for the Hawks. He is the guy who scouted and drafted Kawhi Leonard and a bunch of other of the Spurs young players.

[azuresou1]

This could be a blessing in disguise. Budenholzer making the decisions on free agency and the draft could be better for the Hawks. He is the guy who scouted and drafted Kawhi Leonard and a bunch of other of the Spurs young players.

Yup.

I think the last question, as I’m thinking about this, if you want a real specific on his importance, as I said there is not one event, somebody’s importance develops over time, your owners asked me a question – what is one example of something that is really significant that affect the team that would be the George Hill-Kawhi Leonard trade. Bud was all over me for that one. I didn’t want to do it because George Hill was one of my favorite players all-time. I had a real special relationship with that kid. To this day, we still work together on a couple of community things in San Antonio and Indianapolis. I did not want to do it but Bud was the driving force behind it. He was hammering myself and R.C. because we need a 3, we need a bigger 3. George Hill would have continued to play behind Tony Parker probably, in all logic I assume that would have been true. With Manu (Ginoboli) at the 2, George wasn’t going to get all the minutes he deserved. With a need at the 3 so Manu wouldn’t have to play the position, or Danny Green, we thought this would make some sense. I remember right up until draft night, I’m sitting up there with Peter Holt, our owner, and Bud is done there hammering on R.C. and looking up at me. They are looking up, at me and I’m thinking “I don’t want to do this. Jesus I don’t want to do this.’ He made me pull the trigger and it’s been a great trade for both teams. That was something very specific that he had his hand in.

In Bud we Trust

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks have been in overdrive doing everything possible to get past the remarks put forth by DF this past summer.

They are building a statue of D Wilkins and have already hired him as a 'Special Consultant', whatever that means.

Now they host a special Practice at an area High School. The demographics at the chosen HS are fairly obvious.

Clearly they ain't in Cobb County.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MillerGroveHoop/status/520272103850131458[/tweet]

Falcons have done Friday Night lights events for years.

Have the Hawks done this sort of thing in the past, or is this the blatant bridge-building event it appears to be at first glance?

[MaceCase]

The statue and the visit aren't pandering. The statue was in the works beforehand with a planned official release but the incident with Ferry forced them to release info beforehand. Going out to local area schools is something that started with Louis (and by extension, Ferry) and it expanded out from his Alma-matter to other locales including I believe other events where the Hawks attended high school football games too.

Quick search brought up these
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/261 ... %20website
http://atlallday.com/2013/10/15/hawks-p ... d-atlanta/

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks leadership doing everything to appear...'Down with the Brown' and mend fences after the inflammatory comments made by owner Bruce Levenson and GM Danny Ferry.

Even appearing with Atlanta Hip-Hop heavyweight (and convicted felon) T.I.

It's very clear the organization is willing to do anything to get past the notion that African-Americans aren't welcome at Hawks games.

Here's a pretty hilarious vid of two very unlikely comrades in a plea to Hawk fans to support the team Opening night.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gucUaK0pvqw[/youtube]

[PandaKidd]

Not sure if Steve Koonin or......

[ATLHawksfan21]

Not sure if Steve Koonin or......

LMAO! I'm Dying!

[SBM]

Hawks leadership doing everything to appear...'Down with the Brown' and mend fences after the inflammatory comments made by owner Bruce Levenson and GM Danny Ferry.

Even appearing with Atlanta Hip-Hop heavyweight (and convicted felon) T.I.

It's very clear the organization is willing to do anything to get past the notion that African-Americans aren't welcome at Hawks games.

Here a pretty hilarious vid of two very unlikely comrades in a plea to Hawk fans to support the team Opening night.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gucUaK0pvqw[/youtube]

Why did you need to mention that T.I. was a convicted felon?

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks leadership doing everything to appear...'Down with the Brown' and mend fences after the inflammatory comments made by owner Bruce Levenson and GM Danny Ferry.

Even appearing with Atlanta Hip-Hop heavyweight (and convicted felon) T.I.

Why did you need to mention that T.I. was a convicted felon?

It was cited as an example of the lengths management is willing to go in an attempt to repair their image.

TIP is a good dude who has paid his debt to society. But it's not often that the CEO of a multi-million dollar business runs a promo appealing to fans standing next to a man convicted on federal gun charges. The implication being that Koonin is so desperate to appeal to fans (blacks in particular), he's teaming with any and everyone willing to associate themselves with the organization...regardless of their dubious reputations.

I can't imagine Pat Riley participating in an ad campaign today with Trick Daddy.

But Koonin and the Hawks are desperate...and beggars can't be choosers.

(And I guess Gucci Mane was unavailable.)

[PandaKidd]

Gucci would have to be out on bail ha

Yeah I mean TI has paid his debt, I think he's genuinely a good person at heart. Not sure if you heard his new album that came out yesterday but not sure he's the best person you want representing your organization. But drake reps Toronto so..... There's a precedent.

I would have preferred Usher :p

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