Mike Budenholzer is the Hawks nominee for Executive of the Year according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, but he will not take credit for the work GM Danny Ferry has done by creating this team if he wins. ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz reported Budenholzer saying,
“Anyone who has followed the Hawks for the last two or three years knows that Danny Ferry is the executive that’s most responsible for the makeup of our team.”
Danny Ferry has been absent from the team due to racist comments he made in the summer about potential free agent Luol Deng. The absence of Ferry puts the Hawks in an awkward spot if they win the EOTY award at the end of the season, as they don’t have him to accept the award. Budenholzer has taken the role of GM, making personnel decisions for the season while Ferry is suspended and he would be the best fit to accept the award for the Hawks.
Budenholzer has done an amazing job getting the players to play at the top of their game and setting the record for the most wins in franchise history, but the potential Coach of the Year did not assemble the team. Ferry did all the work in putting together the deep roster the Hawks have. Budenholzer credits Ferry with him being where is now saying,
“Danny is responsible for me being here,” Budenholzer said Sunday. “Our team is in a good place. I’m very grateful to work with such good players and such a great staff.”
The Hawks are not expected to win the award, as Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin is the frontrunner for the honor due to the offseason acquisitions of LeBron James, Kevin Love and making some trades during the season for Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Timofey Mozgov, all in a span of 8 months. Budenholzer could win the award though, and it would speak to the progress of the Hawks he won both Executive of the Year and Coach of the Year this season.
