Danny Ferry’s days as the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks seem to be over. He was forced to miss the entire 2014-15 season due to racially insensitive comments he made about Luol Deng. Ferry will be getting replaced by the man who held down the job for the entirety of the season. The NBA’s Coach of the Year, Mike Budenholzer will still remain coach of the Hawks but he’ll also add another title to his description. President of Basketball operations of the Atlanta Hawks.
Following from Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Atlanta Hawks plan to promote coach Mike Budenholzer to the franchise’s ultimate basketball decision-maker, clearing the path to part ways with exiled general manager Danny Ferry, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Budenholzer will become president and head coach, partnering in the front office with Wes Wilcox, who will become the Hawks’ general manager, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The Hawks’ new ownership group, led by Tony Ressler, cannot negotiate those agreements until the NBA’s Board of Governors approves the sale to Ressler at a meeting on June 24 in New York. Once Ressler’s group – which includes Rick Schnall, Sara Blakely and Jesse Itzler – takes over, its first order of business will be to negotiate contracts with Budenholzer and Wilcox, league sources said.
The Hawks experienced their most successful season in franchise history posting a franchise-best 60 wins and making it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. While they did get swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers, this past season for Atlanta should definitely be deemed as a success.
While Ferry might have built this current Atlanta roster, Coach Bud has a daunting task ahead of him. He has to address the futures of both DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap, two players dramatically important to the Hawks success this season.
