Hawks Rumors

Southeast Notes: Beasley, Hawks, Magic

September 10th, 2014 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards haven’t won a division since the 1978/79 season, but there’s a strong chance they’ll finish first in the Southeast this coming season. The Heat and Hornets are contenders, too, and the Hawks aren’t out of the question, either. It’s indicative of the parity in the Eastern Conference outside of the two Central Division heavies in Chicago and Cleveland. While we wait to see if Washington can finally break through, here are a few items of note from around the Southeast:

Michael Beasley definitely won’t return to the Heat for this coming season, agent Jared Karnes tells Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The team’s coaches didn’t fully trust Beasley, Jackson writes, who hears that concern about Beasley’s defense and maturity dissuaded Miami from re-signing him, even though the 25-year-old showed more maturity last season than in the past.
The origin of the racially charged comments that Hawks GM Danny Ferry repeated about Luol Deng and the identity of the person who wrote the report that Ferry read are still unknown, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, casting them as the next major revelations in the story.
The Magic hired Jay Hernandez as an assistant coach for player development, the team announced. It’s the first NBA gig for Hernandez, who had been running a basketball training service in New York after playing professionally overseas. He replaces assistant Luke Stuckey, who’s taking an assistant coaching job at Cameron University in Oklahoma, according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter links).

And-Ones: Ferry, Hawks, Monroe, D-League

September 9th, 2014 at 8:25pm CST by Charlie Adams

Danny Ferry‘s controversial remarks have sparked a series of strong reactions, but at least two prominent African-American NBA figures have stepped forward and shown support for the Hawks GM, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst details. Wayne Embry, the NBA’s first African-American GM, and Bill Duffy, an agent to some of the league’s most notable players, both spoke out defending Ferry’s character. As more continues to surface about the scandal in Atlanta, let’s round up the latest from around the Association..

Bobby Samini, an attorney for Donald Sterling, thinks the latest trouble surrounding the Hawks is only the beginning of controversial dialogue surfacing around the league, Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today writes. “There’s not a single owner in the league who doesn’t have an e-mail, a conversation, a conference call comment, that by this standard that’s been established by Adam Silver, that wouldn’t completely taint them,” said Samini. “But my sense is that it’s the beginning. It’s not going to be a one-off.”
Greg Monroe will serve his two-game suspension in late October, reveals Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. The 24-year-old big man will be withheld from the Pistons’ game against Denver on October 29th as well as their matchup versus Minnesota on October 30th.
A new rule allows NBA teams to retain the D-League rights to one player they waive during the regular season, reports Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Previously, an NBA team couldn’t guarantee that anyone it waived during the regular season would end up on its affiliate if he signed a D-League contract.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Hawks Rumors: Tuesday

September 9th, 2014 at 5:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said Atlanta is in no jeopardy of losing the team to another city, even with the controlling interest up for sale, as he told Mike Conti this morning in an appearance on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, and as Conti passes along via Twitter. Still, there are many variables concerning the Hawks saga, and we’ll detail the latest here, with any additional updates on top.

5:40pm update:

Luol Deng issued a statement on the Hawks’ “African” comments regarding him, which Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel relayed in their entirety. In the release, Deng writes, “I’m proud to say I actually have a lot of African in me, not just ‘a little’. For my entire life, my identity has been a source of pride and strength. Among my family and friends, in my country of South Sudan and across the broader continent of Africa, I can think of no greater privilege than to do what I love for a living while also representing my heritage on the highest stage. Unfortunately, the comment about my heritage was not made with the same respect and appreciation.”
Deng continued on, writing, “Concerning my free agency, the focus should purely have been on my professionalism and my ability as an athlete. Every person should have the right to be treated with respect and evaluated as an individual, rather than be reduced to a stereotype. I am saddened and disappointed that this way of thinking still exists today. I am even more disturbed that it was shared so freely in a business setting.“

2:40pm update:

The NBA still isn’t planning to respond to Atlanta’s punishment of Ferry with sanctions of its own, a league spokesperson reiterated today, according to Vivlamore (Twitter link).

12:18pm update:

Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., who in June called for GM Danny Ferry‘s dismissal, will meet today in New York with executives from the league office, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ferry supported the idea of signing Deng and was willing to give him a $40MM deal this summer, a source tells TNT’s David Aldridge. Deng signed instead with the Heat on a two-year deal worth slightly more than $19.866MM.
Luol Deng has told people he’s close to that the racially charged description of him that Ferry recited confuses him, and that he doesn’t want to comment until he has a better handle on the situation, Aldridge reports in the same piece. Ron Shade, one of the agents for Deng, told Michael Lee of The Washington Post that it’s “a little disheartening” to hear of Ferry’s remarks but downplayed their effect on Deng’s frame of mind heading into the season.
It’s believed that Ed Peskowitz, who owns a non-controlling stake in the Hawks, will sell his share of the team, as Aldridge writes in his article. Peskowitz is a longtime business associate of outgoing controlling owner Bruce Levenson.
Levenson and Gearon haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but in light of Gearon’s call for Ferry’s dismissal, it’s tough to see how Ferry can stay in his job, argues Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Fellow Journal-Constitution scribe Mark Bradley echoes that sentiment and notes that Gearon, who used to be the team’s controlling owner, is believed to hold more shares of the Hawks than anyone else, even though he, like Levenson, does not own a majority stake.
A chastened atmosphere in the wake of the Donald Sterling episode puts all racially charged comments in the line of fire, whether or not the remarks were meant to be made public, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. A scout told Deveney that many commonly use language they might not otherwise as they compile scouting reports in an effort to make their points quickly and memorably.

Hawks Co-Owner Wanted Danny Ferry Out

September 9th, 2014 at 12:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:02pm: Koonin said retaining Ferry is “a decision I am willing to live with” while appearing with Mike Conti on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game, as Conti tweets (hat tip to Michael Lee of The Washington Post). “I have to be fair to the facts,” Coonin said (Twitter link). “As of today, based on the facts, this is what I’ve decided.”

11:06am: Gearon isn’t the only one among the ownership group who would like to see Ferry resign, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (video link).

8:59am: Hawks GM Danny Ferry has no immediate plans to step down in the wake of the discovery that Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. called for Ferry’s dismissal in a letter sent to controlling owner Bruce Levenson in June, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Zach Klein of WSB-TV in Atlanta obtained a copy of the letter, in which Gearon depicts an expanded version of the inflammatory comments that Ferry is to have made about Luol Deng. The following is an excerpt of that letter, as hosted by WSB-TV:

“As you know, last Friday there was a conference call attended by numerous persons including Hawks management and ownership. We believe that you and [co-owner] Ed Peskowitz were on the call, but we are not sure whether you were listening the whole time. During the call, which was recorded so that notes could be made for our partners unable to participate live, our GM Danny Ferry discussed player personnel issues at some length. With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then went on to describe his negatives, stating that ‘he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.’ Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.”

Gearon went on to write that an attorney advised him that the fallout from Ferry’s remarks would be “devastating,” and Gearon also asserts that if Ferry’s comments became public, “it could be fatal to the franchise.”

“Bruce, we are all too familiar with the current environment in the NBA and in the country generally from the fallout of Donald Sterling’s offensive comments,” the letter continued. “You have been on national television condemning Sterling and preaching zero tolerance of racial prejudice. We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterling’s because they were not from a private personal conversation – they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people. If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals.”

The co-owner points to the racial diversity of Hawks management as having “changed for the worse since Ferry took over.” Ferry expressed regret in a press release from the team this morning.

“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,” Ferry said in the statement. “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.”

The situation surrounding Ferry is having an “immense impact” around the league, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, as front offices discuss language and the way scouting frames ethnicity and race. The Hawks don’t plan further discipline for Ferry beyond the undisclosed punishment that he was already receiving, according to TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). The league still isn’t set to sanction Ferry in any way, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).

Ferry’s comments this summer sparked an investigation that led to the discovery of a racially charged 2012 email that Levenson had sent, and that in turn prompted Levenson’s announcement this weekend that he would sell his controlling stake in the team. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin is in charge of the Hawks while the sale is being conducted.

And-Ones: Hawks, Lakers, Ayon, Collison

September 8th, 2014 at 9:54pm CST by Zachary Links

The NBA and its network partners expect to reach an agreement on new long-term media deals by the start of the regular season, sources tell John Lombardo and John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. The new deal would see the league’s annual rights fee more than double, with ESPN and Turner combining to pay more than $2 billion per year on average. As it stands, the NBA takes in $485MM per year from ESPN and $445MM from Turner, good for a little under $1 billion per year. Several sources say the new deal will be an eight-year pact but one source says it’ll be a nine-year deal. Here’s tonight’s look around the Association..

Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. wrote a letter to majority owner Bruce Levenson in June asking to get rid of GM Danny Ferry, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Vivlamore also reprinted Gearon’s account of Ferry’s controversial comment.
The Lakers asked Byron Scott‘s opinion on their summer moves as they made them even before they hired the coach, who praised the team’s acquisitions of Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin in an interview with A. Martinez of 89.3 KPCC Public Radio.
Barcelona was also in on Gustavo Ayon before he landed with Real Madrid, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter). We learned earlier today that the center signed with the Spanish club on a multi-year deal.
Offseason addition Darren Collison knows it won’t be easy, but he’s excited about the opportunity to help lead the Kings, writes Steven Wilson of Kings.com. “We have a relatively young team and there’s still going to be a lot to learn – there are going to be some road blocks and it’s not going to be easy where we want to go, but I’m excited to take on that role,” Collison said.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Reactions To Hawks Situation

September 8th, 2014 at 8:04pm CST by Zachary Links

Throughout the day we’ve been providing the latest updates on the Hawks scandal that will spark an ownership change in Atlanta and lead to sanctions against General Manager Danny Ferry. Here are some of today’s reactions to the biggest story in the NBA this week..

The NBA waited until Donald Sterling lost any shot, however remote, of reacquiring the Clippers before letting word of the Levenson email leak out, writes Michael McCann of Sports Illustrated.
In a piece for Time.com, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explained that he doesn’t view Bruce Levenson as a racist but rather as a business man who was trying to better cater his product towards his targeted demo. While the Hall of Famer admits that some of what Levenson wrote was cringe-worthy, he feels that he was ultimately just trying to do what was best for his business.
Not everyone sees things Kareem’s way. Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution points out the franchise’s shortcomings in recent years and says that the team’s lack of ticket sales has nothing to do with the racial makeup of the crowd. In fact, he argues that Atlanta has as many, if not more, affluent African-Americans as most cities in America and a lot of them don’t go to Hawks games either.
The NBA has an issue and putting more African-Americans in charge of teams could help, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com. However, Adande doesn’t see many African-Americans out there with the kind of wealth to buy a team for somewhere between $500MM and $2 billion.
While Levenson’s statements were harsh and stereotypical, it’s ridiculous to assume that he’s the only NBA or professional sports owner to discuss racial demographics regarding attendance, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.

Hawks Rumors: Monday

September 8th, 2014 at 4:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

The revelation that Hawks owner Bruce Levenson has decided to sell the team because of a racially charged email that he sent is sending ripples throughout the league. We rounded up Sunday evening’s dispatches related to Levenson in this post, and we’ll track the latest developments throughout today right here, with additional updates at the top:

4:46pm update:

NBPA acting director Ron Klempner issued a statement on the Hawks situation to reporters, including USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt (on Twitter). The statement reads: “We’ve had continuing discussions with the league office about the incidents of disturbing statements attributed to representatives of the Atlanta Hawks’ franchise. We recognize that there is an ongoing investigation regarding the circumstances, and we will continue to monitor these events and take any action we deem appropriate.”
Meanwhile, Zillgitt hears (link) that the comments read by Ferry on the Deng background report were the extent of his comments on the player’s race.

11:55am update:

The NBA does not plan to give Ferry additional punishment on top of what the Hawks are already doling out, Vivlamore reports (on Twitter).

11:53am update:

Ferry made contact with Ron Shade, one of Deng’s agents, to apologize, and he’s reached out to Deng, too, Wojnarowski tweets.

11:48am update:

Ferry met with Hawks coaches and players Sunday and apologized as he told them what he said about Deng, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. A source disclosed Ferry’s statement about Deng to Wojnarowski. “He’s still a young guy overall,” Ferry said of Deng, according to Wojnarowski’s source. “He’s a good guy overall. But he’s not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way.”
The NBA and officials from the Hawks helped convince Levenson to sell the team, Wojnarowski writes, which seems to conflict with Windhorst’s report that Levenson chose to sell the team on his own volition.

11:07am update:

The Hawks are set to discipline Ferry, but it’s unclear if the NBA will also levy a punishment against the GM, Vivlamore reports. A person involved tells Vivlamore that they had “never heard a comment as offensive” as the one directed at Deng. The person who wrote the report that Ferry read was not with the Hawks organization, as Koonin says to Vivlamore.

9:06am update:

The NBA isn’t interested in having the Hawks move to Seattle or elsewhere, Mannix hears (Twitter link). The team’s lease at the arena in Atlanta, which runs through 2017/18 as Windhorst pointed out in his story, would also help forestall a move, Mannix says.

8:59am update:

Luol Deng is the player who was the subject of the background report that contained an offensive and racist remark that Hawks GM Danny Ferry read, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That report sparked the investigation that uncovered Levenson’s email.
Ferry faces discipline, but he will remain GM of the team, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com hears.
Prospective buyers are already inundating Hawks CEO Steve Koonin with calls, as he tells Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I had over seven phone calls directly today from multi-billionaires,” Koonin said. “It blew my mind some of the people who wrote me today.” The league, rather than Levenson, will take the lead in conducting the sale, as Windhorst writes in his piece. It’s unclear how much of a role Koonin, who owns a share of the Hawks and who has been placed in charge of the team in Levenson’s stead, will play in finding a new controlling owner.
Levenson made the choice to sell on his own, believing that his racially charged email would become public and that it would hurt business if he continued as owner, Windhorst writes. But an executive for another team tells Chris Mannix of SI.com that he believes Levenson is using the affair as an excuse to cash in on skyrocketing franchise values.
Players and people around the league generally liked Levenson prior to Sunday’s revelation, according to Windhorst. However, Koonin told CNN’s Martin Savidge that he was “morified and angry” about the email, and that when he met with Hawks players Sunday night, “It was like walking into a funeral,” as CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin and Holly Yan pass along. “These are young men who wear our city’s name and our logo on their chest,” Koonin said. “They play for a team, and they are supposed to be supported by their ownership. And ownership failed in supporting them.”

Eastern Notes: Hawks, Knicks, Pistons, Stiemsma

September 8th, 2014 at 1:10pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Hawks lost an estimated $23.9MM on their basketball operations last season, a figure partially offset by $11MM in combined proceeds from luxury tax payouts and the league’s revenue-sharing plan, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports. The Bucks, who went for $550MM this spring, lost an estimated $6.5MM, but revenue sharing lifted them to a profit, Lowe also reveals. Still, the NBA and its television partners are expected to strike a deal that would give the league an average of more than $2 billion a year, up from $930MM in the current agreement, as John Lombardo and John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal report. The NBA is a hot property, but while outgoing owner Bruce Levenson has the controlling stake in the Hawks, he doesn’t have the majority share, Lowe notes. It remains to be seen whether the Hawks sale will reap a figure close to the $2 billion Steve Ballmer paid for the Clippers, the Bucks sale price, or an entirely different number, but as we wait to see, here’s more from the East:

Knicks owner James Dolan and team president Phil Jackson have agreed to keep the existing front office staff in place for a year, a source tells Marc Berman of the New York Post. The club hasn’t let go of any front office personnel since Jackson’s hiring, and the only addition has been Clarence Gaines Jr., who serves as an adviser to Jackson, Berman points out. Rick Fox said Sunday that he’d be interested in joining the organization, though there’s been no movement toward that end, as Berman chronicles.
Otis Smith confirms that he and Pistons president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy discussed making Smith the team’s GM, a job that instead went to Jeff Bower, but Smith told Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel that the timing wasn’t right (Twitter links). “I don’t think I’m ready to go back to NBA,” said Smith, the former Magic GM who joined the Pistons as the coach of their D-League team.
Greg Stiemsma‘s one-year deal for the minimum salary with the Raptors is indeed partially guaranteed, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Exum, Douglas-Roberts, Levenson

September 7th, 2014 at 9:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Scouts are still evaluating Dante Exum, one of the bigger gambles taken in the NBA Draft lottery. The Jazz selected him without having seen him play against top-level competition and the jury is still out on Exum as a player as he shows his stuff in the World Cup, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. When asked what he’s learned about Exum so far, one Eastern Conference scouting director said, “Not much. He’s not ready for the NBA, that is for sure. But a lot of guys are not ready for the NBA and they have got to learn on the fly. He is no different. But he is not going to jump into the league and all of a sudden average 20 points a game. There’s just no way.” Here’s tonight’s look around the NBA..

Chris Douglas-Roberts‘ deal with the Clippers is fully guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). That doesn’t come as a huge surprise since Ekpe Udoh‘s minimum salary deal is also fully guaranteed for the 2014/15 season. CD-R averaged 6.9 points in 20.7 minutes per game and shot a career-high 38.6% from downtown last season.
Even before the Donald Sterling situation erupted, there was some talk that Bruce Levenson would explore selling his controlling interest of the Hawks, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
Whether Levenson’s fate is well-deserved or Orwellian is up for debate, but it’s clear this is a different world in the post-Sterling NBA, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Supply and demand could keep Reggie Jackson with the Thunder, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Only four teams – the Mavs, Lakers, Knicks, and Heat – currently have a clear need and the necessary cap space to make a run at him next summer. Jackson is after a sizable payday and a starting role, but that could be hard to find in the middle of an extremely talented free agent class.
The Jazz have several players in the World Cup, including Exum and stashed Brazilian talent Raul Neto, and Dennis Lindsey admits that he is somewhat worried about injuries and fatigue, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. At the same time, he feels that his younger players are also gaining valuable experience in international play.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Latest On Hawks, Bruce Levenson

September 7th, 2014 at 9:30pm CST by Zachary Links

9:30pm: In an interview with Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said there will be other disciplinary actions taken, including actions against GM Danny Ferry. It turns out the internal review that unearthed Levenson’s email was actually prompted by an incident involving the GM.

When the Hawks held a meeting in early June to discuss free agency, a player was being discussed and Ferry cited a background report that included an “offensive and racist” remark. “Instead of editing it, he said the comment,” Koonin told Vivlamore.

“I support Steve’s leadership and greatly appreciate his support,” Ferry said. “I look to learn from this situation and help us become a better organization.”

6:35pm: Not far removed from the Donald Sterling ordeal, another NBA owner is on his way out of the league thanks to a racial scandal. Hawks owner Bruce Levenson has agreed to sell his team after an inflammatory email from 2012 came to the surface. When word of the email first broke, the identity of the owner was unknown, which left many to wonder if they were the one caught in the crosshairs, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

More than one owner wondered if they were busted for saying something off-color and team executives asked others if it was their club’s owner that was in trouble. Before Levenson’s identity was revealed, Wojnarowski writes, several people around the league were bracing for a severe punishment.

When Sterling’s scandal broke and the NBA was deliberating how to handle the situation, Mavs owner Mark Cuban expressed concern that ousting the then-Clippers owner would set a dangerous precedent going forward. While others didn’t speak out on the issue, Wojnarowski hears that Cuban was not alone in his sentiments.

“Adam [Silver] had far less support on Sterling than anyone knows,” a league source who is in frequent contact with the commissioner told Wojnarowski.

Meanwhile, that same source says that the NBA’s claim that Levenson blew the whistle on himself is simply a matter of semantics. It’s not clear when Levenson truly gave the NBA his mea culpa, but it’s clear that there could be more owners in trouble going forward.

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