Are you rushing to judgment on Danny Ferry?

[lethalweapon3]

 

 

Those Blue Devils sure have each others' back, don't they?

 

 

Well, unless...

 

~lw3

[DJlaysitup]

We need Bob Rathbun's take on this whole thing...as well as Sir Foster's.

[AHF]

Before Gearon came out with his letter, it was reported that Ferry said "he's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got a little African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way. He's a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

Now, Gearon comes in with his letter and says that Ferry finished that quote by describing Deng as "a two-faced liar and a cheat."

Gearon backs all that up by saying, in his letter, that he and his colleagues were recording the entire call. Implying that Ferry's exact words, whatever they may be, are on that tape.

Clearly Gearon has an agenda and it's to force out Levenson and Ferry. If Gearon actually has those words coming from Ferry's mouth on tape, why would't he just get it over with?

If you want to believe everything you read online and can't see through Gearon's bullshit in his letter, be my guest, but I'll hold my judgement until the real facts come out. And they will, they always do.

Gear on isn't claiming he said liar or cheat. He is saying the fraudulent salesman equates to calling Deng and other Africans a liar and cheat.

[benhillboy]

Naw, I can't judge him. I actually laughed and thought "yeah, they do do that."

[lethalweapon3]

Had Secret Squirrel not "rushed to judgment" on Luol Deng, and had Ferry not "rushed to respect" Secret Squirrel's thoughts, we'd all be nice and bored and looking forward to training camp.

 

And yet, here we are.

 

~lw3

[Wretch]

Before Gearon came out with his letter, it was reported that Ferry said "he's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got a little African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way. He's a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

 

Now, Gearon comes in with his letter and says that Ferry finished that quote by describing Deng as "a two-faced liar and a cheat."

 

Gearon backs all that up by saying, in his letter, that he and his colleagues were recording the entire call. Implying that Ferry's exact words, whatever they may be, are on that tape.

 

Clearly Gearon has an agenda and it's to force out Levenson and Ferry. If Gearon actually has those words coming from Ferry's mouth on tape, why would't he just get it over with?

 

If you want to believe everything you read online and can't see through Gearon's bullshit in his letter, be my guest, but I'll hold my judgement until the real facts come out. And they will, they always do.

 

I don't doubt that there is tension within the ownership group.  I'm also not going to defend Gearon or anyone else in our front office.  I have wanted them all gone for a long, long time.  That being said, the letter was written three months ago and rightfully so.  It is exactly what it is...an attempt to remove DANNY FERRY.  Gearon's group assumed Ferry had made the comment, took a recording of it to a third party, and called for his termination/resignation.  

 

Was there an actual recording?  Maybe there wasn't.  Maybe that was a ploy to make something happen, but Ferry has admitted to a mistake and has been disciplined.  There is a reason for that.  Also, the letter was a request sent to Levenson...not the NBA, not the NAACP, and not released to the media.  It was private and it was not asking him to step down, sell his shares, or otherwise turn the team over.  

 

Ideally, all of this should have been handled internally...but our ownership is completely dysfunctional, the result was the probe - obviously in an attempt to find dirt on Danny Ferry, but also likely to find something to hold against Levenson (for not firing Ferry).  The probe turned up the E-mail...which is where I'm having a problem with Ferry.  It was written TO Danny Ferry with ONLY the Washington guys CC'd on it.  

 

Why not the other owners?  

 

Because this shit is not in any way PC or harmless and the two groups, while both an embarrassment to our franchise, obviously have a differing set of values.  Danny Ferry is more closely aligned with the values of the Levenson group.  That is why he's the recipient of that Email and that is why he felt comfortable making (or repeating) the comment.

 

Moreover, no one can convince me that this information was tossed at Danny Ferry like old school "this just in!" news bulletins handed to TV anchors.  Who doesn't have their information prepped and reviewed before a staff meeting?  He was meeting with his bosses and the safe assumption is that he had his information prepared beforehand.  He made a conscious decision to say what he said or he just flat out said it and is denying it through the veil of a conference call.

 

There's no rush to judgement.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Wretch

[Wretch]

Deng's not rushing to judgement either.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

How did you come to this conclusion?

I did not even address Ferry,s employment situation. As far as social media is concerned , I can form a judgement without the twitter zombies help

Those twitter zombies include the national media writers.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Before Gearon came out with his letter, it was reported that Ferry said "he's a good guy overall. But he's not perfect. He's got a little African in him. And I don't say that in a bad way. He's a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

 

Now, Gearon comes in with his letter and says that Ferry finished that quote by describing Deng as "a two-faced liar and a cheat."

 

Gearon backs all that up by saying, in his letter, that he and his colleagues were recording the entire call. Implying that Ferry's exact words, whatever they may be, are on that tape.

 

Clearly Gearon has an agenda and it's to force out Levenson and Ferry. If Gearon actually has those words coming from Ferry's mouth on tape, why would't he just get it over with?

 

If you want to believe everything you read online and can't see through Gearon's bullshit in his letter, be my guest, but I'll hold my judgement until the real facts come out. And they will, they always do.

I want them ALL GONE. Gearon can kick rocks for all I care.

[IheartVolt]

Those twitter zombies include the national media writers.

And I should take them more seriously why exactly? 80% of the time they spew BS nonsense as well. Watch ESPN any?

[Admin]

"Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it," Ferry said.

Curious Ferry would say those are not words he would use. Sure doesn't sound like they are HIS words, unless he's flat out lying.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

And I should take them more seriously why exactly? 80% of the time they spew BS nonsense as well. Watch ESPN any?

This is not going away man. If not for the Ray Rice video, the heat would be turned all the way up on the Hawks. Those national writers can cause extensive damage as to how this franchise is perceived by others ... namely other NBA free agents.

The toxicity of all of this could stain this franchise for a long time, if Koonin doesn't clean house.

[Admin]

This is not going away man. If not for the Ray Rice video, the heat would be turned all the way up on the Hawks. Those national writers can cause extensive damage as to how this franchise is perceived by others ... namely other NBA free agents.

The toxicity of all of this could stain this franchise for a long time, if Koonin doesn't clean house.

They said the Dolphins had to clean house too but we didn't and we are fine and that was FAR worse across the board than this.

The Hawks will recover.

But until we get new ownership we are never gonna go anywhere.

[ViperXX79]

"Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it," Ferry said.

Curious Ferry would say those are not words he would use. Sure doesn't sound like they are HIS words, unless he's flat out lying.

Which goes along with him being incompetent enough to read it aloud.

[Admin]

Which goes along with him being incompetent enough to read it aloud.

If you are only able to view that statement in a bubble with nothing said before or after, sure.

[ViperXX79]

If you are only able to view that statement in a bubble with nothing said before or after, sure.

Ferry admitted to wrong doing and apologized.  That's enough for most people.  Clearly there wasn't some alternative context or he would tried to shift the narrative in his statement.  He didn't so what else is there to extrapolate other than some blind hope that maybe our GM isn't that big of a idiot and was trying to nobly draw attention towards a bigot...

[Admin]

Ferry admitted to wrong doing and apologized. That's enough for most people. Clearly there wasn't some alternative context or he would tried to shift the narrative in his statement. He didn't so what else is there to extrapolate other than some blind hope that maybe our GM isn't that big of a idiot and was trying to nobly draw attention towards a bigot...

And again if you want to view any of this in a bubble then sure go for it.

But I guarantee you that he'd have A LOT more to say in his defense if he were allowed to. Unless you think he's just 100% guilty and / or doesn't mind his reputation being killed right now.

[ViperXX79]

And again if you want to view any of this in a bubble then sure go for it.

But I guarantee you that he'd have A LOT more to say in his defense if he were allowed to. Unless you think he's just 100% guilty and / or doesn't mind his reputation being killed right now.

His reputation is being killed because he didn't defend himself and the evidence is damning.  He just took it.  Usually when someone doesn't defend themselves or have someone do it in a statement for them it's pretty damning as well.  

 

And there is no looking at it in a bubble.  You can form a pretty concrete opinion based on the facts we know based on the person in question admitting to wrong doing while apologizing, all while never defending himself.  So what are people supposed to think?  That some huge revelation will come out exonerating Ferry of all wrong doing?  If there was a possibility for that then why would he apologize and take a punishment?  That doesn't make sense at all.  No one has even hinted that this was taken out of context(not even Ferry) so really there's no reason to hope that it was.

Edited September 10, 2014 by ViperXX79

[Admin]

Because Ferry wants to keep his job so he's doing as he's told and keeping his mouth shut. Not saying he could exonerate himself but there's no way that there's not more to this story that I bet he's dying to bring to light.

[ViperXX79]

Because Ferry wants to keep his job so he's doing as he's told and keeping his mouth shut. Not saying he could exonerate himself but there's no way that there's not more to this story that I bet he's dying to bring to light.

Keeping quiet is what is going to cost him his job.  He'll be fired as long as the narrative is that he's some kind of racist.  That's the truth.  If he and the Hawks think this is just going to blow over then clearly they don't pay too much attention to their own sport or the news cycle.  And he was already found guilty and punished.  

 

So he was caught, found guilty, punished, publicly admitted to the wrong doing and apologized for it and you're telling me he did all of that to just save him job.  So he's completely fine with his character going in the tank as long as he can just keep his job.  Again that sure does sound like someone I want leading an organization.  That literally makes it sound worse because then the narrative is "Hawks GM has no integrity"...

 

Truth is Ferry can't say anything because he's already gone through the steps of a guilty man.  He put himself in a corner that there's no getting out of without making himself look even more incompetent.