The racism issue involving the Atlanta Hawks ownership and management is almost nearing a year anniversary. Right before last season started, there was e-mails and a recording leaked that showed Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry repeating some less-than-stellar comments about then-free agent Luol Deng and his race. Those comments weren’t the only piece of information leaked as the Hawks owner at the time, Bruce Levinson, had some horrible remarks about the Hawks fans and the demographic of Atlanta.
Over time, Ferry took a leave of absence and stepped down from the organization and Levinson’s team was sold to an ownership group which includes Grant Hill and the team made head coach Mike Budenholzer one of the most powerful men in the NBA. He was promoted to the president of basketball operations and still holds the title of head coach.
This all might not have happened if it wasn’t urged on by Mike Budenholzer himself.
Following from ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz and Brian Windhorst.
Budenholzer very much owed his job to Ferry. His former Spurs colleague had pleaded with Levenson that the Gregg Popovich assistant was the man for the position. Yet Budenholzer felt Ferry should resign, lest the Hawks be subsumed in disruption when training camp opened, and he made his wishes known in a heartfelt conversation with Ferry and Levenson at that time.
There’s two sides to look at this. On one side, Coach Bud wanted to eliminate all off-court distractions so that his team could focus on the on-court things they need to focus on, which was winning a franchise record 60 games. On the other side, could this possibly be a powerplay by Coach Bud to take over the reigns of this Hawks team? No one will exactly know but Windhorst did allude to that on the Lowe Post podcast recently.
The Hawks are in a strange situation right now. A team that just won 60 games is not the favorites in the Eastern Conference next year and they also aren’t the team to beat in their own division. After the drama has left the team it may appear that success also might depart with it.
