Hawks discipline GM Ferry for comments regarding Deng, league will not
It has been one mess after another for the Atlanta Hawks over the last week. General manager Danny Ferry is in serious hot water after a letter written by co-owner Michael Gearon asking for Ferry to be fired for insensitive racial comments was released yesterday.
On Tuesday morning, Ferry released a statement refuting the claims, and claiming that the comments made were being repeated from an outside source.
In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players. I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.
In terms of the email that Bruce sent, the situation is disturbing and disappointing on many levels and I understand Bruce's words were offensive.
I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward.
An outside investigation into Ferry's comments is reportedly what led to owner Bruce Levenson self-reporting an email with racially insensitive analysis of the atmosphere and attendees at Hawks home games.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin has imposed discipline on Ferry, the details of which are undisclosed. The league will reportedly not go any further than Koonin's measures:
NBA reiterates Tuesday it will not seek to discipline Hawks GM Danny Ferry above and beyond team sanctions. #ATLHawks
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) September 9, 2014
The fallout from Donald Sterling's comments regarding African-Americans attending Los Angeles Clippers games appears to have an impact here, and it will be a surprise if Levenson and Ferry are still associated with any NBA team when the season kicks off in October.