After picking up their 17th straight win Wednesday night, the Atlanta Hawks continue to wow the basketball world. The questions you hear about them are all positive. How many All-Stars do they deserve? Is there even a rival for Mike Budenholzer in the Coach of the Year race? One you don’t hear though is this: is Danny Ferry the Executive of the Year?
The answer of course is a resounding yes, but unfortunately for Ferry he has made the process a whole lot more complicated than that.
Now that the Hawks have become national news, there’s been a lot of false talk about continuity being a factor in their success. Let’s consider the Hawks roster from as recently as 2012 when Ferry took over.
There was Al Horford, Jeff Teague and … oh wait, nobody else that makes up the current Hawks squad. Instead it was a roster padded out with guys like Erick Dampier, Jason Collins, Willie Green, Jannero Pargo, Vladimir Radmanovic, Ivan Johnson, Kirk Hinrich and semi-retired veterans like Tracy McGrady and Jerry Stackhouse.
So, in other words, in the space of two full seasons Ferry transformed that group into a roster that’s 38-8 having won 31 of their last 33 games. How exactly has he done that?
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Well, quite simply, Ferry has done a bit of everything. In the future, no matter what the outcome of this season is, this team will be looked back on as a masterclass in team-building.
In an age where general managers are lauded by many for their “intelligence” in bottoming out, creating cap space and pushing for high draft picks, Ferry has kept Atlanta competitive while elevating them from mediocrity to a title contender.
There’s been so many great moves by Ferry, all of which were underrated at the time, that you can’t just single out one as being decisive.
He had only just arrived in Atlanta when immediately he traded Joe Johnson‘s supposedly unmovable contract to Brooklyn for filler that created cap space. Not only that, but he also acquired the right to swap picks with the Nets, a move that could have the ultimate payoff in gifting Atlanta a lottery pick this summer.
Marvin Williams was another underperformer earning far too much that was quickly jettisoned. A year later, Atlanta native Josh Smith, who was still highly productive at the time, was allowed to walk away as a free agent, and look at how that turned out.
On the acquisition side, Ferry virtually picked up two key starters in Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll off the NBA scrap heap. Just to emphasize, Korver–who many feel could be made an All-Star later Thursday–was picked up for nothing more than a trade exception.
Free agent money was spent wisely on Paul Millsap, a two-year, $19 million deal that could prove to be one of the biggest bargains in NBA history.
Macedonian Pero Antic was picked up from Europe as an unknown to most American fans only 18 months ago, and he has become a key part of the Hawks identity.
In the draft, picking up Dennis Schröder in the first round and even Mike Scott as a second-rounder have proved incredibly shrewd decisions too.
So let’s run through that again. Ferry has rid the franchise of the mistakes of previous regimes, picked up underrated and undervalued players on excellent deals in free agency, unearthed unknown gems from Europe and selected and oversaw the development of under the radar draft picks.
Did I mention that he also hired Mike Budenholzer as coach?
If this was MLB, Ferry’s construction of this Hawks’ team would be constantly compared to the work of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics.
Moneyball or not, let’s get to the reason that nobody is talking about Ferry. Of course, I’m talking about the Luol Deng race controversy. By now everyone knows the ins and outs of what happened, all that really matters is where we stand now.
Currently Ferry is on indefinite leave from the Hawks, having accepted his wrongdoing, and now trying to develop a greater understanding of race relations through his work with community leaders in Atlanta.
Ferry, himself, has apologized. Luol Deng has forgiven him, and even gone on the record in saying that he doesn’t believe Ferry is a racist.
Equally important, the Atlanta Hawks’ players have made it clear they would welcome Ferry back into the fold. According to Sports Illustrated:
"Al Horford said Ferry “made a mistake” and doesn’t see why the team wouldn’t welcome him back. He called the incident “one of those things that was unfortunate that happened.”"
So, the question now is, if Luol Deng forgives Ferry, and his team does, and he’s served his time, would it not become a bit of a mockery if he wasn’t given the award his basketball work has clearly merited?
I’ll leave you to decide for yourself.