Former Duke Great Danny Ferry Caught Up In Controversy

We don't know the full situation of Danny Ferry's situation with Atlanta, and even as we wrote some comments about it, we kept coming across new information. The original Ferry quote reported about Luol Deng was this: "He is still a young guy overall. He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way."

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An e-mail from Hawks minority owner Michael Gearon to majority owner Bruce Levenson maintains that Ferry said this: "[H]e has a little African in him, not in a bad way, but he's a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

Those are two very different and irreconcilable quotes and Ferry's professional future may hang in the balance as perceptions are sorted out.

Gearon sent e-mail to Levenson urging him to fire Ferry and saying that the comments would come back to haunt the franchise. A Levenson e-mail, which seemed to come out of the blue Monday, was actually part of an investigation sparked by Gearon's concerns and conducted by a law firm.

As a result, Levenson announced he would sell his share of the Hawks.

We do not know which characterization of Ferry's comments are closer to the truth. It is perhaps worth mentioning though that Ferry was coached by three of the most perceptive and extraordinary coaches in history in Morgan Wooten (DeMatha), Mike Krzyewski (Duke) and Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs). He was also highly regarded by the Spurs and was a valuable part of their front office before moving on.

Prior to this situation, no one has ever questioned Ferry's integrity.

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