Reports: Ferry Out As Hawks GM; Budenholzer, Wilcox Promoted

By Robert Galerstein | Jun 18, 2015

According to several reports (and the always trusty Hawks beat writer, Chris Vivlamore), Danny Ferry‘s tenure as General Manager for the Atlanta Hawks is over. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports was the first to break the story late this morning and the Hawks have declined to comment.

-= Related: With Tony Ressler In, Is Danny Ferry Out? =-

While nothing is official, this should not come as a surprise to any Hawks fan. Following the release of a racially charged email from Majority Owner Bruce Levenson, an internal investigation revealed insensitive comments about Luol Deng. Following this, Ferry asked for an indefinitely leave of absence and has not officially been part of the Hawks front office since September.

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While this seems like an obvious move for the Atlanta Hawks, the organization procrastinated the decision until the end of the season. Individuals surrounding the organization still spoke very highly of Danny Ferry even when he was on indefinite leave.

To his credit, Ferry has done a great job assembling the team, identifying some of the best value contracts in the NBA in Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll. That being said, the comments not only call his person into question but also directly implicate his ability to be an effective general manager – how can you recruit talented black athletes with those statements on your record?

Going into next season, the Hawks new ownership group plan to promote Mike Budenholzer to President of Basketball Operations and Wes Wilcox to General Manager, although neither has been informed of their promotions.

While Coach Bud already held this position in the interim during the season, the free agent market this offseason will require much more involvement, especially given contract negotiations with the aforementioned Carroll and Millsap. Wes Wilcox, the Assistant General Manager who has worked behind the scenes this whole season to “keep things oiled and running,” has a difficult task ahead of him.

At this point, it might be too early to predict what this means for the Hawks organization. However, we can feel confident that both Coach Bud and Wilcox will follow the same building process as Ferry, as well as the influential San Antonio Spurs. That means focusing on building a contender in the long-run and looking for value in contracts and depth in the roster rather than splurging on individual talent.

Ferry’s resignation should have only minor effects on the Hawks. Coach Bud and Wilcox should have no problem picking up right where he left off.

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