Hawks GM Ferry takes leave of absence

Sep 12, 2014 - 11:36 PM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry is taking a leave of absence after making controversial remarks about NBA player Luol Deng.

Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said Friday that Ferry requested an indefinite leave of absence. Head coach Mike Budenholzer will take over the basketball operations department.

Ferry has come under fire over racially charged comments he made about Deng during a conference call with Hawks ownership and management in June.

He apologized after the story broke this week and said he was repeating things written about Deng in scouting report.

In an audio clip of the call obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and posted online Thursday, Ferry says Deng is "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 other than he's a guy that ..."

At that point someone in the room where the tape was made, apparently Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr., talks over Ferry and mentions former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, saying: "That's going to be on TMZ tonight."

Ferry continues talking about Deng: "He has a nice store out front that's beautiful and great but he may be selling some counterfeit stuff behind you," he says.

"When I say that I mean, for example, he could come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, 'That was absolutely not me. I can't believe someone said that.' But talking to reporters, you know it's him."

Ferry says: "He could be a lawyer in the locker room when the coach is not around. Yet when the coach is around he's the greatest guy in the world."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday obtained a heavily-redacted Hawks scouting report on Deng that includes similar comments.

Among several scouting reports, someone wrote of Deng: "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."

The report says: "African-like, store in front looks great but there's a black market section in the back."

The remarks are found on the fourth page of a five-page report that includes both positive and negative comments about Deng, who was born in what is now South Sudan and is a member of the Dinka tribe. Deng's family fled to Egypt when he was five to avoid a civil war in Sudan.

The report shows Atlanta received input on Deng from former teammates, coaches and executives from the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers.

The offending section is labeled "2013-2014 - Front Office - N/A" and begins, "From a physical when we got him, Chicago had run him into the ground."

Deng spent his first 10-plus NBA seasons with the Bulls, who traded him to the Cavaliers in January. He was a free agent when Ferry made his comments but has since signed with the Miami Heat.

Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson announced Sunday that he was selling controlling interest in the team in the wake of a racially insensitive email he wrote two years ago about issues related to low attendance that he self-reported to the NBA.

In a letter obtained by Atlanta TV station WSB and dated June 12, Gearon wrote to Levenson about Ferry's statements and asked for Levenson to fire him or ask for his resignation.

On Wednesday, Yahoo Sports reported on a rift between Gearon and Levenson.

"While the issues related to race are deeply troubling, at the heart of this dispute is an unfortunate disagreement amongst owners," Koonin said in his statement on Friday.

"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."

Koonin said the team would hire a diversity officer and would continue to meet with community leaders over the issue.

"The process of selling the team, which is to remain in Atlanta, is already underway," he said. "I am deeply saddened and embarrassed that this has put a blemish on our team and our city, which has always been a diverse community with a history of coming together as one. We should build bridges through basketball, not divide our community or serve as a source of pain."

Earlier this year, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life and forced him to sell the Clippers after audio surfaced of him telling a female acquaintance not to bring black people to games.