Just WOW! (Levenson will sell Hawks)

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

GQ.com article:

 

 

Two of our regular NBA writers debate the unfolding troubles of the Atlanta Hawks:

 

Bethlehem Shoals: The Hawks story has gone, within a matter of days, from one about the perception of racism in the NBA to one about some harsh realities. What started as an owner selling his team because of a single offensive email—an overreaction that seemed to be more about conceding a PR defeat than addressing any real issues—has given way to some real questions about what goes in behind front office doors in this league.

 

When news broke Bruce Levenson was selling the Hawks because of an email, this story was at least simple. Adam Silver has made it clear that he won't tolerate hate-speech—Donald Sterling's banishment was technically not a lifetime achievement award—and Levenson, one of Sterling's most vocal critics, was suddenly a hypocrite. It was a little baffling, since at that time, he appeared to be doing so voluntarily. Yet while the consequences were enormous, the offense was relatively minor. Levenson's little note about race and audience did little more than make explicit the culture wars that were behind so much of David Stern's reign as NBA commissioner. Things took an abrupt turn when some blanks got filled in: there had been an internal probe stemming from the time Danny Ferry read an offensive scouting report (written by whom?) in a meeting; thenon Monday night, we learned via internal memo that Ferry wasn't just reading the memo, he was most definitely giving voice to it. And yet somehow Levenson is the one walking out the door.

 

Myles Brown: The opportunity for the Hawks to distinguish themselves from the Ravens is long gone. Ferry—while currently employed—is surely finished, but now it will be painted as reactionary rather than responsible. How did Levenson resign first? What does this say of the Hawks mangerial culture that Ferry not only felt comfortable saying whatever the hell he meant, but also remained for months afterward? Levenson's inquiries began in earnest, yet this isn't about the intricacies of NBA demographics anymore. Danny Ferry said something very ignorant. While it wasn't necessarily racist, he's not only surrendered that benefit of the doubt, but cast a shadow over his peers. How many trusted with the careers of so many black men think this way? What else do they think?

 

BS: It almost seems like Levenson walked away from a situation he knew was only going to get worse. I can't shake this sickening feeling that we're finally now seeing how things sound and work within NBA franchises, the thing that so many people brought up in the wake of Sterling, i.e. he was just dumb enough to get caught. Levenson seems almost secondary here, even if he's the one taking the most dramatic action. His "racist" email seems mild by comparison, and intentionally or not, he's preserving some moral high ground by leaving. My biggest fear is that it's the institution, the organization, that's sick, and Levenson is simply extracting himself from it. In less than two days he's gone from the next Donald Sterling to a reactive enigma to someone who knew exactly why a zero tolerance policy makes sense. That probably gives him a little too much credit but at least it explains why on Sunday, he went out and announced he was a racist deserving of punishment. He went out like a racist to distance himself from real racism.

 

MB: The politics of Stern's packaging were always seen as an objective—and successful—means to an end. In order to sell a black league to a white public, compromises had to be made. Yet suddenly the most progressive league isn't progressive enough. Levenson's email had its tone deaf moments, however most of it was something one could easily hear Michael Jordan positing. These are the problems for a black owner, too, and I doubt he has the answers either. But now they've been superseded by an image problem that can be fixed with more black faces upstairs. Faces in positions of accountability that are still predominantly white. Owners won't lose money at the gate if fans think their GM's are racist, but they will lose leverage/money in the next round of collective bargaining. Right?

 

BS: If this is what things are like inside the guts of NBA organizations—and it starts to come to light—then things could get really ugly, really fast. We've always been told that owners are businessmen and players are the culture of basketball. But as players are looking more and more like businessmen, it's like we're also learning that the culture of the league is a bunch of moneyed, cranky while males with exactly the attitudes you'd expect them to have. The assumption that the league was progressive because it marketed black men turns out to be its opposite—inside the Hawks, at least, it seems to have made someone like Ferry especially unpleasant about race. The players are the progressives as they move toward a culturally neutral, money-or-bust way of doing things; the front offices are too busy calling Luol Deng a shifty African to think about his value to a basketball team. Worlds haven't collided, they've been turned upside down.

 

MB: Ferry's insistence that he was merely repeating another's words isn't doing anything to isolate the problem either. Doesn't that just mean there are more ignorant employees in his command and he lacks the discernment to discipline them? As a Duke alum, shouldn't he have been privy to better intel on Deng, if not more protective of a fellow Blue Devil? Furthermore, let's not forget that Ferry is a product of the vaunted Spurs system. The Spurs system featuring Gregg Popovich, who believes foreign players are "fundamentally harder working than most American kids." This isn't to cast aspersions, but rather to declare everyone's words are going to be seen in a new light. Let's not forget that "the racial diversity of our management team has changed for the worse since Ferry took over" either. For all the flying colors the NBA continues to pass the racial and gender report cards with, there are only three black GMs in the league: Toronto's Masai Ujiri, who impressed the rank and file for years (initially working as an unpaid scout for Orlando) before ascending to the role in 2010; the Clippers' Doc Rivers, who attained his position in the Sterling fallout; and Brooklyn's Billy King, who will presumably be out of a job soon enough. Some remarkable shit has to happen for a black man to be in a decision-making position in the NBA. It's time for more than just one new addition. They might not be lucky enough to find a job on the golf course like Steve Kerr.

 

http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/2014/09/nba-atlanta-hawks-racism.html

[ViperXX79]

GQ.com article:

 

 

http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/2014/09/nba-atlanta-hawks-racism.html

 

I just don't know how anyone can read the things that are being said about the Hawks and realize that a major change is needed.  This is our reputation now.  Before it was that we were just not a very good franchise.  Now we look incompetent and maybe a little racist.  This is a PR nightmare.

[willthepureshooter]

http://youtu.be/LcaOYh6E8RY

Gearon when he got screwed over by Levenson a couple years ago. "You even tryin to riff like me.." lol

[ViperXX79]

Probably because some people have patience and forgiveness and are willing to hold off the torches at the moment? Just a hunch, but I know I'm in the minority being a skeptic and holding off on opinions for most things of this magnitude.

Well I'm glad your so righteous.  I can forgive him too but it doesn't change the fact this man should not be left in charge.  Forgive him and lets move on from him.  People forgave Vick but he can't play for the Falcons again.  People will forgive Rice but he'll never play in Baltimore again.  I'll happily forgive Ferry for being an insensitive prick(allegedly...I guess) but I don't want my team to have to deal with his mess just like I don't want to deal with the ASG's bs either.

[Mdizzle5]

Probably because some people have patience and forgiveness and are willing to hold off the torches at the moment? Just a hunch, but I know I'm in the minority being a skeptic and holding off on opinions for most things of this magnitude.

 

While there are some fans that might, this surely won't help us with our FA issues and therein lies the problem. No top FAs, no butts in seats, potentially no advancing to the ECFs and less money. 

Edited September 11, 2014 by Mdizzle5

[Admin]

While there are some fans that might, this surely won't help us with our FA issues and therein lies the problem. No top FAs, no butts in seats, potentially no advancing to the ECFs and less money.

I'm telling you I heard this same stuff for half of last season and all offseason with the Dolphins and we are fine. This will blow over just like everything else does. I mean look at Penn State, that was a million times worse and they're driving on just fine. Ownership will have to be shaken up or changed entirely and maybe Ferry has to go, but either way the Hawks won't he in any worse shape than they were prior to this.

[MrMeltdown]

I'm telling you I heard this same stuff for half of last season and all offseason with the Dolphins and we are fine. This will blow over just like everything else does. I mean look at Penn State, that was a million times worse and they're driving on just fine. Ownership will have to be shaken up or changed entirely and maybe Ferry has to go, but either way the Hawks won't he in any worse shape than they were prior to this.

 

 

Probably better now that Ferry has opened the door wide for  the true racist and KKK members letting them know they are the ones he desires.

[NekiEcko]

I'm telling you I heard this same stuff for half of last season and all offseason with the Dolphins and we are fine. This will blow over just like everything else does. I mean look at Penn State, that was a million times worse and they're driving on just fine. Ownership will have to be shaken up or changed entirely and maybe Ferry has to go, but either way the Hawks won't he in any worse shape than they were prior to this.

Dol, I hope this will blow over as well. But I think this situation finally showed the NBA and the world why we hate the ASG and they need to go.

Change is going to come to the Hawks one way or another.

[Mdizzle5]

I'm telling you I heard this same stuff for half of last season and all offseason with the Dolphins and we are fine. This will blow over just like everything else does. I mean look at Penn State, that was a million times worse and they're driving on just fine. Ownership will have to be shaken up or changed entirely and maybe Ferry has to go, but either way the Hawks won't he in any worse shape than they were prior to this.

 

That's exactly my point and I should've stated that... unless there's changes made, I think it'd definitely make things harder. I could be wrong though, it wouldn't be the first. lol. But would Penn State really be just fine had they kept the people involved in the incident? 

[lerspec]

Anyone know when the season starts? 

[GameTime]

Ferry's past coming out.

 

Tweet Added - Refresh Page to see it live!

If you don't see the Tweet here AFTER REFRESHING PAGE, then it wasn't entered correctly. Please edit and try again.

Important: If the Tweet doesn't load, please refresh the page before editing the Tweet as it may need to refresh to parse properly

[ATLien_]

Ferry's issue seems to be that Deng is "Secret Agent Man." But what that has to do with his nationality strains credulity. One too many 619 scams for your taste, Danny?

~lw3

I don't understand why the scout/ferry felt the need to invoke Africans to convey this message. If he said Deng is a good guy overall, but can be a phony and a locker room politician we aren't even talking about this now.

Using weak generalizations and corny stereotypes is lazy. What the statement insinuates is a small but valid constructive criticism Deng. However because he used lazy language, this franchise is in a terrible place. It's like the guy that curses when telling story to convey impact, lazy.

Three more thoughts. Firstly, based on my unofficial Squawk poll I don't believe any of us understood the "Some African in him" stereo type. The Squawk is very diverse group; this makes me believe this is not an American stereotype. My theory is this scouting report is either from someone of African heritage or from someone international. Who has been known for scouting the most internationally? Who would Danny Ferry wholeheartedly trust a scouting report from? Who would the league protect that's known as the model franchise? What would cause the biggest black eye for the league? Perhaps the reigning NBA champs?

Perhaps I'm crazy, and watched to much Columbo growing up? Riddle me this, why don't we know the scout who wrote these comments? Should be easy to find.

Secondly, for those calling Danny Ferry a racist calm down. Was what he said wrong? Was it inappropriate? Should he be reprimanded? Yes. If the litmus test for being a racist is using weak generalizations and stereotypes than we are all guilty. If you've never thought or verbalized a stereotype I would love to meet you. Unicorns may be walking among us.

Lastly, this should never have been made public. I know we have some HR people on here, but this is not how HR violations are normally handled. These types of things normally aren't even communicated to even the broader organization. Even terminations are usually communicated as just that with no detail on what happened. Just more evidence of how dysfunctional this organization is.

Edited September 11, 2014 by ATLien_

[Admin]

Probably better now that Ferry has opened the door wide for the true racist and KKK members letting them know they are the ones he desires.

What??

[Admin]

Ferry's past coming out.

I'm very skeptical of this. Odd timing that this appears to be the first we have ever heard of this, and it's coming from an out of work attention whore like Wells.

[lethalweapon3]

I don't understand why the scout/ferry felt the need to invoke Africans to convey this message. If he said Deng is a good guy overall, but can be a phony and a locker room politician we aren't even talking about this now.

Using weak generalizations and corny stereotypes is lazy. What the statement insinuates is a small but valid constructive criticism Deng. However because he used lazy language, this franchise is in a terrible place. It's like the guy that curses when telling story to convey impact, lazy.

Three more thoughts. Firstly, based on my unofficial Squawk poll I don't believe any of us understood the "Some African in him" stereo type. The Squawk is very diverse group; this makes me believe this is not an American stereotype. My theory is this scouting report is either from someone of African heritage or from someone international. Who has been known for scouting the most internationally? Who would Danny Ferry wholeheartedly trust a scouting report from? Who would the league protect that's known as the model franchise? What would cause the biggest black eye for the league? Perhaps the reigning NBA champs?

Perhaps I'm crazy, and watched to much Columbo growing up? Riddle me this, why don't we know the scout who wrote these comments? Should be easy to find.

Secondly, for those calling Danny Ferry a racist calm down. Was what he said wrong? Was it inappropriate? Should he be reprimanded? Yes. If the litmus test for being a racist is using weak generalizations and stereotypes than we are all guilty. If you've never thought or verbalized a stereotype I would love to meet you. Unicorns may be walking among us.

Lastly, this should never have been made public. I know we have some HR people on here, but this is not how HR violations are normally handled. These types of things normally aren't even communicated to even the broader organization. Even terminations are usually communicated as just that with no detail on what happened. Just more evidence of how dysfunctional this organization is.

 

 

Many valid questions you ask here.

 

Somewhere in the world, there's an individual who, since Sunday, has been walking the streets looking like he/she just swallowed a live mouse. It is more than a bit odd that an unnamed source would be so harshly critical of an active NBA player for being - you guessed it - an unnamed source.

 

We don't know if he (merely for the sake of discussion, I'll go out on a limb and assume it's a male) is a close colleague of Ferry's or even Deng's. What if this Secret Squirrel is a major figure from The Spurs Way? What if it's a highly respected figure in league circles: a Lenny Wilkens, a Wayne Embry (who immediately stepped out in support of Ferry), a Mike Fratello, a Hubie Brown, even a Bill Walton or a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who also got right out in front to cover for Levenson)? What if it's somebody from the Bulls' organization? What if it's somebody who's high-profile in the sports media?

 

Koonin is bending over backward to insist it's not some lowly scout, but I'll bet even he doesn't know who this International Man of Mystery is. Alston and Bird, we're told, screened through tens of thousands of e-mails... but did they just check Sent Mail folders, and not bother with the Inbox to see what kickstarted this? Is it possible Ferry collected this particular criticism via dictation from the telephone?

 

This clandestined individual would do Ferry a lot of favors by coming forward and saying he gave Ferry that advice in confidence, is terribly regretful, and is willing to face whatever consequences come his way. But the league may not be able to afford the backlash if the hood gets pulled back and it's someone everybody knows taking an L for the "team". It's shuddering to think, but Danny Ferry may actually be a better Fall Guy for the league's sake than this mouse-swallowing guy.

 

Ferry and the Hawks' brass, and maybe the league, are hoping against hope that they can keep Secret Squirrel's name out of the hands of TMZ, Anonymous, Deadspin, and the usual cast of folks who bother to do investigative work the way the print media used to. For Ferry's sake, he needs to reevaluate how indispensable this contributor to his "intel" reports is, because his own reputation, employment, and legacy (such that it is) hangs in the balance.

 

Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon, Jr., and the lot we call A$G are Very Important People Erring Ridiculously (VIPERs). And they've been VIPERs for a long time, well before June 2014. Danny Ferry willingly left The Spurs Way to join this Den of VIPERs.

 

Danny Ferry is being paid quite handsomely, and was eventually allowed to bring a few pals like Bud and Quin along with him to Atlanta. In meetings and conference calls with these VIPERs, Danny Ferry was supposed to be the grown-up, the competent one, The Professional In The Room. He's the reason we've heard nary a honk from the clown car ever since KG shut Gearon's trap after dispatching the Hawks in the playoffs. He is supposed to be Above All The BS. To Hawks fans, that is his long-term selling point. He's the VIP amid the Den of VIPERs that was going to make everything alright. He's the one they trot out when the Hawks need to be taken seriously, by players, by media, by fans. He's supposed to be Rick Sund with a clue.

 

When Ferry speaks, in public, or in private, he cannot dumb himself down to speak in VIPER language. The ladies running the empty gift shop or the dudes sweeping the restrooms thinking no one's around? Sure, if it helps them to feel self-important to talk like that in confidence. But if they're caught, and someone takes offense, a VIPER like Gearon will pretend to be appalled to mollify a ticketholder, and those lackeys are gone. Why? Because they're expendable. Danny Ferry is not supposed to be expendable. But he's supposed to be acting like a VIPER, either.

 

"Now, Dirk Nowitzki's not perfect. He's got a little German in him, and never saw a beer he didn't like. He can't put the ball on the floor and rarely makes good decisions with the ball when he does anything other than catch-and-shoot on offense. But hey, he's German, and as they say, even Hitler had some good ideas. Amirite?"

 

If I'm the guy who gets caught saying that while shoving french fries into cups at the food court, the next sound you hear is me blabbering about "Contexxxxxxxxxxxt!" as my behind gets hauled out by security guards like Jazzy Jeff. As it should.

 

If I'm the GM, and I say that in company of these particular VIPERs at a free agency meeting, the next thing you would see is "Effective immediately, LW3 has been terminated from his position as the General Manager and President of Whatever from the Atlanta Hawks." As you probably should. And that's all you would see. There would be no circular firing squad, no wondering which dark alley I get my comedic material from, no internal investigations or even deep thoughts of whether they've ever said anything like that, in seriousness or in jest. I showed piss-poor professionalism and risked being offensive at what is supposed to be a business meeting. On top of that, at least one VIPER has had it out for both me and another VIPER for years. Whatever I did with Shareef and Theo's and Big Dog's contracts, or Joe and Marvin's contracts, would not matter one bit. Case closed, end scene.

 

But what if at least one VIPER sees me as somebody who's not expendable? How much PR nightmare hell are these VIPERs willing to risk betting that I won't screw up again in public, or that my ignorant faux-pas gets relayed outside of the Den of VIPERs? We're seeing what happens in that scenario as VIPERs wrangle over Ferry, the one man who was supposed to be The Professional In The Room.

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

I'm very skeptical of this. Odd timing that this appears to be the first we have ever heard of this, and it's coming from an out of work attention whore like Wells.

 

Technically it came from Bonzi's agent, in 2006, as published in the Sacramento Bee:

 

http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/bee-the-two-faces-of-bonzi.10903/

 

Then there was an incident while with the Blazers when Wells spit on Ferry, now the Cleveland Cavaliers' president of basketball operations.

(player agent William) Phillips said part of that story always gets omitted.

"Ferry (allegedly) called him a (racist name)," Phillips said. "That part of it never gets reported. And Ferry becomes the president of basketball operations.

"Let me ask you this. If Bonzi was such a bad dude, why did Cleveland, before Ferry took over, try equally as hard to bring him to the Cavs as the Kings did bringing him to Sacramento. The guy in charge of the Cavs before Ferry was Mark Warkentien, who was the assistant general manager in Portland when Bonzi was there.

"If Bonzi had problems with Mo Cheeks, why did Mo make him a captain?"

Ferry did not return a phone call to The Bee.

 

 

I'm sure he didn't.

 

Whether this happened or not, all I know is, as a professional, once "he spit, he said" is out there, no matter the source, I'm not getting myself tripped up on even borderline racially insensitive issues at any point of the rest of my career.

 

Hawks fans may not have known, or bothered to know, this accusation was floating out there from eight years ago. But Danny Ferry sure did. And you'd hope, given that, he would behave accordingly going forward. Now it's just more fuel to the bonfire.

 

~lw3

Edited September 11, 2014 by lethalweapon3

[lethalweapon3]

Nique Spiques!

 

Tweet Added - Refresh Page to see it live!

If you don't see the Tweet here AFTER REFRESHING PAGE, then it wasn't entered correctly. Please edit and try again.

Important: If the Tweet doesn't load, please refresh the page before editing the Tweet as it may need to refresh to parse properly

 

Tweet Added - Refresh Page to see it live!

If you don't see the Tweet here AFTER REFRESHING PAGE, then it wasn't entered correctly. Please edit and try again.

Important: If the Tweet doesn't load, please refresh the page before editing the Tweet as it may need to refresh to parse properly

 

~lw3

[Admin]

Technically it came from Bonzi's agent, in 2006, as published in the Sacramento Bee:

 

http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/bee-the-two-faces-of-bonzi.10903/

 

 

I'm sure he didn't.

 

Whether this happened or not, all I know is, as a professional, once "he spit, he said" is out there, no matter the source, I'm not getting myself tripped up on even borderline racially insensitive issues at any point of the rest of my career.

 

Hawks fans may not have known, or bothered to know, this accusation was floating out there from eight years ago. But Danny Ferry sure did. And you'd hope, given that, he would behave accordingly going forward. Now it's just more fuel to the bonfire.

 

~lw3

 

Yeah I'd never heard of it. And honestly if it were from about 95% of other players I'd put a lot more trust into it, but Bonzi was always a nut job and couldn't be trusted so I have a hard time believing this one. I mean really all the years Ferry played in the league and he only used a racial slur one time?? I just don't believe that a guy who would use that sort of term could hold his tongue all those years and only use it once. 

[Admin]

Nique Spiques!

 

 

 

~lw3

 

You stay classy Nique! Thank God we have a former superstar of the franchise like Nique to represent us positively like he does.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'm telling you I heard this same stuff for half of last season and all offseason with the Dolphins and we are fine. This will blow over just like everything else does. I mean look at Penn State, that was a million times worse and they're driving on just fine. Ownership will have to be shaken up or changed entirely and maybe Ferry has to go, but either way the Hawks won't he in any worse shape than they were prior to this.

The only difference between the Dolphin situation and the Hawks is the segment of people being undermined. We not are trying to sign gays in Atlanta (not that orientation matters), but a black All-Star would be nice.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk