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  • Atlanta Hawks Open Training Camp Amidst Turmoil

    The Atlanta Hawks opened training camp Tuesday at the University of Georgia amidst a cloud of a racially charged scandal that has forced owner Bruce Levenson to put his controlling share of the team up for sale and general manager Danny Ferry to take an indefinite leave of absence.

    “This is a fluid situation,” coach Mike Budenholzer said at a media session Monday, according to The Associated Press.

    Atlanta Hawks players seemed willing to accept Ferry back as general manager, even after he was recorded in a telephone conversation making derogatory comments about free agent Luol Deng and Deng’s African heritage. Ferry has maintained that he was reading off a scouting report and that those comments did not reflect his personal views.

    “He was very remorseful,” said Al Horford, who has been with the Hawks longer than any other player. “He understood what he had done, and he’s trying to move forward and make it right.”

    Kyle Korver talked about how the culture in the Atlanta Hawks organization has changed since Ferry took over.

    “I did not want to come to Atlanta,” Korver said. “There were a lot of perceptions about the Hawks that were not good. True change starts at the center, at its core, like the guts of the whole thing. And I really believe Danny has done a good job being the general manager of this team, a really good job.”

    But Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, who played most of his career in Atlanta and now serves as a vice president and team broadcaster, had a different view of the situation.

    “It’s hard for people to forget,” said Wilkins. “I’m disturbed by anybody who makes those type of accusations, who has those type of views.”

    Hawks CEO Steve Koonin accepted Ferry’s request to for an indefinite leave of absence but has resisted the calls of civil rights activists for Ferry’s firing. “Danny is on an indefinite leave of absence. There’s really not much to talk about in that area. We look forward to now playing basketball.”

  • Tim Duncan Voices Support For Danny Ferry

    Tim Duncan Voices Support For Danny Ferry

    Tim Duncan recently joined several other NBA players in voicing their support for Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry. Ferry was accused of making racial remarks about player Loul Deng.

    Ferry claims that the remarks were not his own opinion and that he was only repeating comments that were made in a scouting report, the author of which remains unclear.

    Ferry has received a lot of criticism for his comments and is currently on a leave of absence and away from the team.

    Duncan said in a recent radio interview that he does not believe that Ferry is racist.

    “Knowing Danny, he’s not what everybody’s saying about him,” Duncan told another former teammate, Antonio Daniels, during the interview with the San Antonio radio station KZDC. “He’s not a racist.”

    “We both know Danny,” Duncan told Daniels. “Danny is a jokester. He plays around. … For it to have gone this far, it’s unfortunate because he’s not that kind of person. He said something absolutely wrong and he regrets it. He’s not a racist. I know him well enough to feel comfortable saying that.”

    Luol Deng, the player Ferry was talking about when he made the allegedly racist comments, has also said that he forgives Ferry for what he said and that he does not think Ferry is racist either.

    “It’s not something I want to hold onto for the rest of my career or the rest of my life,” Deng said. “I had a chance to speak to Danny. I really believe that he’s really sorry for what he said. Whether it came from him or wherever it came from, I think the main focus really should be how we move on forward.”

    Ferry allegedly said that Deng “had a little African in him” during a conference call with team officials over the summer. Other NBA players have also come to Ferry’s defense and say that they feel confident that he is not racist.

  • Luol Deng Forgives Ferry For Racially-Charged Comment

    Heat forward Luol Deng said Friday that he has forgiven Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry for making racially charged comments about the veteran forward in June. Deng, who was born in what is now South Sudan in Africa, also said he spoke to Ferry recently and hopes they can turn this negative situation into a positive.

    “I don’t think Danny’s racist,” Deng said, according to The Associated Press.

    “I think one of the hardest things to do as a human being, and it’s something we should do more often, is forgive,” Deng added. “I really do forgive Danny. It’s not something I want to hold onto for the rest of my career or the rest of my life.”

    The Hawks are reeling from a pair of racially insensitive incidents. Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson said he would sell his controlling share of the team after comments made in an email in 2012, and then came the revelation that Ferry referred to Deng as someone who “has a little African in him.” Ferry maintains that he was reading a scouting report and that the comment does not reflect his personal views.

    “I really believe that he’s really sorry for what he said,” Deng said. “And whether it came from him or wherever it came from, the main focus really should be on how we move on going forward. What are we going to do about it?”

    Deng suggested the possibility of Ferry joining him in initiatives that promote African heritage.

    “We could really turn this into a positive thing where people can benefit from,” Deng said. “It’s something we’d like to start, working together with Danny and helping people back home in Africa or working with an organization. Just so that one day we could look back and say this happened and it was something negative, but look at how it turned around and how it became something positive.

    “I’m not the type of person to hold on and be angry at somebody or be angry at Danny. I don’t think Danny is racist. I really don’t. I really don’t know Danny to describe him as a person. I just know who he is. That’s just what I believe in. I would like to put it behind me and just move forward. But I would really love if I could do something positive out of it.”