From the onset of the Atlanta Hawks’ front office fiasco, general manager Danny Ferry has maintained he culled his racially insensitive remarks from a scouting report that was provided to him by another team. There was a prevailing thought that Ferry was just covering his own ass and laying blame on an anonymous scout — a thought that appeared to be confirmed by leaked audio of Ferry and Hawks owners, during which Ferry’s inflammatory remarks seemed to casually roll off is tongue. Well, it appears Ferry wasn’t lying about the contents of the scouting report.
The five-page report — which you can read in its entirety here — shows that Ferry merely presented a condensed version of what was written by the still-anonymous scout. Here’s what Ferry said in the recorded conversation:
He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way, other than he’s a guy that may make side deals behind you, if that makes sense. Like he has a storefront out front that’s beautiful and great, but he is maybe selling some counterfeit stuff behind you.
The scouting report reads:
He’s a good guy on the cover but he’s an African. He has a little two-step in him = says what you like to hear, but behind closed doors he could be killing you. Con isn’t bad, but it’s there. African-like, store front looks great but there is a black market section in the back. Chicago thought he was good for their culture, but an outlier. Teammates liked him, but he had less impact on the locker room than you would think. He complained about things like not enough jerseys in the team store and that his or that his bobblehead was last during the year. Has some con and a sense of entitlement. Luol kind of treated Cleveland like a pit-stop after the trade, where he probably became more protective of his body and focused on his contract because he didn’t know his long-term plan. He said some things to the media privately but denied them publically said it wasn’t him. He’s not terrible, but you’ve got to know that stuff is there with him.
At this point, we’ll have to consider that a small victory for Ferry and telling the truth (as ugly as it may be, in this case). Still, the Hawks announced that Ferry will be taking an indefinite leave of absence, with head coach Mike Budenholzer taking over all basketball operations:
“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.
While the issues related to race are deeply troubling, at the heart of this dispute is an unfortunate disagreement amongst owners. 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.
[BDL]
