Elitest is as Elitest does. From Duke to Atlanta.

by Diesel

In thinking about Danny Ferry, his name is irrevocably tied to Duke University. In fact, you can't say Danny Ferry without thinking about his time at Duke. While those in Cleveland may curse his name twice, those not tied to the Cavaliers see something else. What we see is "the Duke way". Nobody forgets that Ferry was Coach K's first prodigy. He was the Coach K rendition of Larry Bird. In fact, that Danny Ferry - Larry Bird relation was so highly thought of when Ferry left Duke that poor Wayne Embry gave the Clippers Ron Harper, two first round picks, and a second round pick for the kid who would not play for the Clippers. Maybe it was Ferry the elitist who felt that he could not slum it with bottom dwelling Los Angeles. Maybe it was his Duke University education that taught him that it should always be his way or no way at all. If that were the case, it would also explain how he left the negotiation table while Lebron James was in the middle of deciding to resign. The story is told that Ferry couldn't have the coach of his choice, so just like he did in LA, he took his ball and his bat and he left the table. Not even "King James" is important enough for him to compromise his position.

If it were truly a Duke thing, then the person who helped harness this awareness was Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K). Recently, in reading a bit of a fall out from Coach K and Jalen Rose, I ran across this quote, "We were very successful against them and, to be quite frank with you, we recruited Chris Webber. I didn't recruit Jalen Rose because we had Grant Hill and I'm happy with that. We didn't look at the other, Juwan Howard [because] we knew he wasn't going to come to Duke. The other two kids we didn't think were the caliber that could play as well as Thomas Hill and Brian Davis and Billy McCaffery. They're good kids. They were good kids. They had a heck of a run but, they didn't leave anything, they didn't establish anything there. The guys that I had established something that Jay Williams continued to do 10 years later -- the standards of what it meant to be a Duke basketball player." This statement of caliber and standards of being a Duke player is exactly why Duke players are considered elitist among the public.

Maybe it wasn't just a Duke thing but remember, Ferry grew up around the game. His father was a famed NBA player and GM and also was a player for the Hawks at one time. If ever there was a person who deserved to be an elitist in the NBA, it has to be Ferry. I can just imagine that he would tag alone with Dad and every now and then he would hear how his father talked about the talent and to see how his Dad got deals done and would be able to pick his dad's brain about his favorite players. At the age of 11, he watched his dad assemble an NBA champion in 1978. He saw the pieces come together, enjoyed the magic of a playoff run and celebrated the Game 7 NBA Finals road victory over Seattle. “We stayed up and watched the game,” Danny says. “I remember that vividly. I remember the parade.” It's no wonder that when coming to the league as an assistant, he managed to get in on one of the best systematic coaching staff in the league and he quickly raised himself from being a player to be one of the top assistants in that system. Guys like Pete Babcock would tell you that going from player or scout to GM is a jump that takes at least Fifteen years. Ferry did it in less than five years. It's hard not to be an elitist when you have always had things to go your way.

So with this elitist upbringing, where does that leave his current franchise, the Hawks? Well if you read my last blog, you would know that I believe Ferry is testing a theory. That theory is that he can confront the pampered, elitist players in the NBA with a team filled with hard working players with something to prove. In actuality, Ferry intends to go to war against the elitist of this league with blue collared determination! That is a brilliancy! Who better to know how to defeat the elite than an elitist. As you look at your 2012-2013 Atlanta Hawks, you see none of the trappings of the super wealthy players who have always had things to go their way. You know the ones who always can cry and get a call, who generally expect to win without playing the game? Some are in Miami, Some in Brooklyn, Some are in LA, Some have even found their way to Houston. These are the elitist teams that Ferry has prepared his team to face. On his team, there are no max players, nor are their any big threes. However, what you do have is a team that will fight, work hard, and bring a hard hat and a lunch box to every game.

We should attack the pampered elite teams of today with hardworking, hard hat teams. Is this how the elite think? Well, when you look at Coach K at Duke, consider the teams he put on the floor. Very few of his teams remind you of what you may see in Kentucky or Louisville. Instead, you see teams that have guys who will probably never be pros, but they believe that they will. The strange part about that is that Coach K has 4 NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. In the words of Jefferson Teague, "the shit works". That's what every Hawks fan is hoping about Ferry. They are hoping that his answer to elitist in the NBA leads Atlanta to it's first NBA championship. Everything after that is just the Elitist doing as Elitist do.