Just WOW! (Levenson will sell Hawks)

[GameTime]

Per Koonin - Ferry remains as GM. After the investigation by the Law firm (after the Gearon letter) they recommended punishment. Koonin didn't say what the recommended punishment was only that he exceeded the recommended punishment.

 

At this point Ferry can't be GM. No way possible.

 

Now I want Koonin gone too for not being responsible and letting him go now.

 

Doesn't seem like Ferry is gonna do it himself.  I don't want this circus to drag into October.''

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Edited September 9, 2014 by GameTime

[High5]

Per Koonin - Ferry remains as GM. After the investigation by the Law firm (after the Gearon letter) they recommended punishment. Koonin didn't say what the recommended punishment was only that he exceeded the recommended punishment.

 

It's interesting that the unbiased party closest to the situation didn't feel like Ferry should be fired. 

@High5 I'm glad you waived the white towel, btw.

 

It's like going on Fox News to talk about the positive contributions of a Democrat. What a tremendous waste of time. 

Edited September 9, 2014 by High5

[Guest]

It's interesting that the unbiased party closest to the situation didn't feel like Ferry should be fired. 

 

It's like going on Fox News to talk about a Democrat. What a tremendous waste of time. 

 

Lol, I imagine the law firm isn't versed in doing business in the NBA and what impact this situation is going to have.  They're certainly unbiased though.

[macdaddy]

The recommendation to punish not fire was based on this being an internal issue i'm guessing.   Once it's a public issue then the decision is a different one but it being public affects Ferry's ability to do his job.   I think he's toast.  He should resign or at the very least they should release the audio if they think it's not as horrible as it looks so far.   

[NineOhTheRino]

It's simple for me.  Danny Ferry has not earned enough equity to justify this level of a headache.  He's our Michael Sam!  Cut him loose, keep the coach, and move on.  

[Wretch]

#onlythehawks

TRUE. DAT.

 

 

And Ferry is going to have a stigma on him now.  How's he supposed to lure FA's with this now?  Not that he was successful at it anyway but this will make it worse.

 

This is very bad for us.  It's now common knowledge that free agents think we're a dull franchise, with a weak fan base, that can't get anything done in the playoffs.  NOW we have to overcome the "racist" stigma...

 

And Ferry won't step down?

 

I agree 100% with Kareem. This is not racist it's business. As a 32 year old affluent African American IT proffesional, I want to tell you these types of conversations go on in every well run business. I've even been on panels at my fortune 500 company about how to better penetrate certain demographics.

 

This was my initial perception of the situation as well (and I'm a 40 year old affluent African American IT professional, *fist-bump).  Marketing is to business what play-making is to sports.  And the marketing is based upon demographics.  The problem here though is that it's not necessary, and certainly not an intelligent business decision, to pander to the white market.  I bet they don't have problems making money on Lakers, Heat, Knicks, or Thunder night.

 

Could you imagine the bandwagoners alongside the real fans...showing up on a nightly basis to watch a star-driven Atlanta Hawks basketball team?  Imagine an already popular city like Atlanta with a big three.  That's the market for this team and it's a black market; and as @Sothron was pointing out, it doesn't make good business sense not to capitalize on it.  Thing is, that's not the market Bruce wants.  We've built a team with the intention to appeal to "40 year old white guys."

 

We give Ferry too much credit. What has he done other than clear up cap space?    

 

My question is, why don't more people understand the significance of having a trading partner that would agree to absorb Joe Johnson?  It's not really a genius move.  This isn't swapping Mookie for Rumeal, or Andrew Lang for Laettner.  This isn't trading Vlade Divac for the #13 pick and ending up with one of THE best players of all time.  This isn't drafting Tony Parker or Manu.  Hell, this isn't even picking up Paul Millsap (which I give him much more credit for).

 

This is a SALARY DUMP and you need someone willing to take on Joe's massive contract.  That's half of the "effort" right there.  Brooklyn with a new owner, arena, and desperate to keep their star spell the right place and the right time for the JJ trade.  You can't make the stars align more perfectly.  It's not a shrewd move and it's not a difficult decision to make.  Give the man credit for pouncing on the opportunity, but don't call him a genius.  You do that, then you have to call Billy Knight a genius for making the no-brainer decision to draft Josh Smith.  

 

You're a new Atlanta Hawks GM...  You've started over...  You get a chance to draft a projected lottery prospect at #17 who just happens to be FROM Atlanta?  You're a GENIUS!  Same with Ferry.  New Hawks GM.  Your sitting on the worst contract in the league that runs for four more seasons...and somebody WANTS it?  DUH.

[Makaveli96]

Jesus, now Ferry is in this mess. This team is in f***in shambles

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[Guest]

The recommendation to punish not fire was based on this being an internal issue i'm guessing.   Once it's a public issue then the decision is a different one but it being public affects Ferry's ability to do his job.   I think he's toast.  He should resign or at the very least they should release the audio if they think it's not as horrible as it looks so far.   

 

My point exactly.  Problem with the bold portion is they are clearly so arrogant that they believe they don't have to prove anything to us.  They clearly believe they have it all under control and just need to wait for the uninformed rabble to lose interest.

 

Don't worry Koonin/Ferry, the league will mete out the appropriate punishment in ultimate "ball don't lie" fashion.

 

Bigger problem is we're gonna get dragged through it along the way.

[HawkItus]

Where Kareem trips up is he leaves the word JUST out of his heading. It's not JUST racist, it's business.

 

Racism can, and does, permeate virtually every milieu, from public policy to academia to business to sports. It gets so entrenched that our senses become numb to it until someone else brings it into stark relief. Part of last month's media-driven brouhaha came because people in a small town in middle America decided "It's not racist, it's law enforcement!" was no longer a tolerable explanation for the bullet-riddled body laying in the middle of their street: "It's not JUST racist, it's our law enforcement." Deal With It, Because That's Just the Way It Is has a shelf-life.

 

Thankfully, nobody's life is at stake over on Marietta Street. Yet the direction, profitability, and long-lasting perception of one of the NBA's longest-lasting franchises is up for grabs, once again. This time, it's because "It's not racist, it's scouting!" and "It's not racist, it's business!" are no longer tolerable.

 

Discussions of whether Bruce Levenson, or Danny Ferry, is or isn't a card-carrying racist miss the point. Thanks to the permeation of racism in all matters of life, people that are not racist at heart can have cheeky discussions about Those People Over There and not even smell themselves, sometimes in casual settings like bars, sometimes in formal settings like board rooms.

 

In business, and in pro sports, you can either recognize the climate in which you function and adjust accordingly, or you can leave yourself exposed for failure as the climate changes and leaves your set-shot mindset in the dustbin. Could the Dodgers continue much longer as the Dodgers with Al Campanis making moves? Could the Reds still function in today's climate with Marge Schott roaming the diamond? "Look at That Little Monkey Run!" might have become a T-shirt worthy catchphrase in the 1960s, but by the 1980s it was the death-knell for a broadcasting legend. All of those individuals established themselves as respectable members of society, but they failed to adapt, and left themselves exposed when they started risking whatever revenues were flowing in their enterprises' way.

 

MG Junior may indeed have ulterior motives for expressing how appalled he was by Ferry's Folly. If so, Levenson and Ferry would be foolish not to have recognized MG's motives well in advance of 2014, Levenson especially. Yet here Levenson is, choosing to engage Ferry, The New Guy, in conversations of black-and-white, when white-collar-and-blue-collar would have sufficed for business operations. He left himself exposed for MG Junior and anybody else in town needing a reason to engage in a hatchet job for their own self-promotion.

 

Levenson poisoned the well with crass generalizations of supposedly "Southern," supposedly suburban white ticket buyers, as if none of them have to work hard for their money, and hard-spending black ticket buyers who can tell when they're being labeled as late-arriving welfare queens. Levenson set about setting these particular groups against each other (paraphase: "they think you guys are scary and broke... I think you other guys a bunch of bigots but I really need your money"), nevermind the persons from other races that could, and do, make great customers. Post-Sterling, "2014 Levenson" will take his quarter-billion profit, scream "my bad!" and gallop off into the sunset, leaving the Citizens Too Busy To Hate to wrestle over his accusations. But before "2014 Levenson" poisoned the shallow revenue well, "2012 Levenson" poisoned his general manager: It's not racist, it's how we do business! Somehow, what is now "inflammatory nonsense" in 2014 was "just business" in 2012.

 

Danny Ferry is the son of a man who came of age when basketball, sports, and society was still segregated, yet joined the NBA and played right alongside Si Green and the championship-contending St. Louis Hawks. In a town with its own shifting demographic calculus less than a decade after the Civil Right Act, Danny's dad Bob would go on to become a respected 18-year executive for the Washington Bullets during the NBA's rise to prominence as Black stars, and stars from other continents, expanded their contributions, earning Bob one NBA title and the Executive of the Year award twice.

 

Benefiting from such exposure, learning from great minds of people from multiple races and backgrounds, Danny himself would grow to become a collegiate hoops star... and an NBA punchline. He knows all too well the unfair racial connotations attached to Duke players and their supporters during its school's sudden rise to prominence. He knows the racial connotations attached to NBA players who seemed to maintain prominent roles on middling teams despite bringing precious little to the table in terms of pro-level skillset. He knows the racial connotations behind the critiques that came when he, unlike many others, was allowed to build on his bloodline to parlay an underwhelming playing career into a front-office position. He knows the racial insinuations behind critiques that arrived when he was unable to satisfy the greatest player of our current generation in order to keep him in said player's home metropolis.

 

In sum, Danny Ferry knows better. He knows enough, has seen enough, has learned enough, and gets paid enough, to know when something doesn't smell right. He knows how to consult his corporate ethics guidelines when someone above him does or says something ethically questionable. He knows enough to know who to seek out for advice, how to take what other people say that he values and put it in his voice. He failed, at least twice, to act upon what he knows, perhaps because he thought that what was being said was the nature of "scouting," the nature of "business." Hey, it's worked so well over the past 50 years for our Atlanta Hawks, right?

 

Now, while it remains to be seen, all this flexibility he built, the cornerstone of his existence and reputation as a Hawks executive, seems to be laid to waste. Fans are feeling p*ssed on and are expected to blame one another, while players are being told not to sideeye as the Hawks bargain with them. Ferry is standing there with a pot of annual salary cap space, and Levenson with rows of tickets, asking aloud, "Who Will Buy?"

 

It's Not Racism, It's Just Our Business? No. It's Not Just Racism, It's Your Business. And until that changes, you'll be out of touch and your revenue base will be out of patience.

 

~lw3

BRAVO!!!!!!!

 

[GameTime]

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[HawkItus]

I hope Silver smacks him down and tells him to sell too.

[DatWerkk]

 

Anybody know what time? I can get there in about 15 minutes and give him and his buddies a piece of my mind. :laugh:

[High5]

 

I hope he's gone, too. 

 

[Bahamut]

This ownership is OFFENSIVE!!!

[Guest]

This ownership is OFFENSIVE!!!

 

LOL, Like!

 

Hopefully we'll get a new owner .... oooorrr 33333333333!!!!

[willthepureshooter]

I agree 100% with Kareem. This is not racist it's business. As a 32 year old affluent African American IT proffesional, I want to tell you these types of conversations go on in every well run business. I've even been on panels at my fortune 500 company about how to better penetrate certain demographics.

Most companies develop persona names for the different demographics. For instance you may call the demo he's desiring "Disposable Income Dan" and the group he has "Budget Conscious Brandon". These persona names would have a full descriptions that outline each demo's ethnic split(if relevant for product), budgetary ranges, and desires.

Any discussion about marketing to these demographics would use the persona names instead of over simplified words like black and white. Everyone in the company would have a shared understanding of what the Disposable Income Dan demo looks like, and no-one gets butt hurt.

The irony is I'm African American and fit in his desired demographic. Which is why you don't split your demo lines on race. It is however smart to understand the ethnic mix in each demo in case it's a marketing differentiator.

The more and more I live the more the world is becoming like the book "1984". The thought police are everywhere and the government and the media are telling me everything I should think and be offended by. Scary time ladies and gentleman, scary times.

Gearon Jr finally got his revenge; I hope he's happy, for he may end up destroying one of the things he loves most.

Go Hawks!

Screw Kareem and the new imaginary world he supposedly thinks everyone lives in. I stop listening to this clown after his Ferguson statement. If he actually left the comforts of Malibu and Santa Monica he would actually see and understand whats really going on in the South and Midwest. Who made him some kind of voice or political figure for black folk? Negro please... Tell Kareem to have several seats.

[lethalweapon3]

Y'all pretty much covered the radio calls from Koonin (I wish I turned to V-103 for the calls he got during Ryan Cameron's show, he could barely talk about those.)

 

Koonin is stuck in that situation that happens far too often, the guy who gets brought in late to the game and left to clean up the toxic mess somebody else created, the guy who has to get everything Back to Abnormal. He's the person you trot out there when the Love Canal issues begin bubbling to the surface.

 

He has huge cachet among Atlanta's power players (Emory, the Aquarium, the Metro Chamber, the ASO, Coke, Grady High, Turner) but little rep in Atlanta communities directly aggrieved by what's unfolding. He's out there catching the slings and arrows because the guys with the biggest accounts knows he's among the ones who are held least accountable by Atlanta-area citizens.

 

Lauded as being among "The Smartest People in Television," Koonin's appeal comes from taking staid, tone-deaf media outlets and giving consumers a reason to watch, in turn allowing commercial sponsors to better justify their investments. The job of drawing the eyeballs of people with spending cash became arguably even more arduous when he joined the Atlanta Hawks. Now the newest equity partner gets to serve as his fellow owners' shield while he's tasked with rectifying the problem.

 

What's odd (as if there's just one thing) for me is that Koonin keeps insisting he just got here, that he was brought into this situation only after the internal freakout started and the investigation was well underway. He was brought here in April, not June or July. If he indeed was left out of the loop, why?

 

Citizens and fans are left to trust a person who somehow was left out of the loop to now judge, with literal independence, whether the investigative lawyers' recommended punishment for Ferry was too light, to act on the findings of an investigation he didn't enact. As difficult as this would be for Nique, I'd take his word more sincerely than I would Koonin's.

 

I'd be asking Koonin, how did we go from (paraphrasing) "Ferry will be punished privately" to "Ferry has been punished enough, take my word for it" in the space of two days? And we're expected to take you at your word, why?

 

~lw3

[Guest]

Screw Kareem and the new imaginary world he supposedly thinks everyone lives in. I stop listening to this clown after his Ferguson statement. If he actually left the comforts of Malibu and Santa Monica he would actually see and understand whats really going on in the South and Midwest. Who made him some kind of voice or political figure for black folk? Negro please... Tell Kareem to have several seats.

This just in.....

Kareem smokes freedom tokes...yah man

[willthepureshooter]

This just in.....

Kareem smokes freedom tokes...yah man

Lol

[Watchman]

I hear Joe Dumars and Billy Knight are available for a GM job.