Just WOW! (Levenson will sell Hawks)

[Guest]

Singular is the key word. Group ownerships suck. Have 1 owner and 1 owner alone responsible for success as well as failure. With a group, everyone is just pointing the finger at everyone else. Smh.

Ps No offense to Nique, he's my guy, but I don't think he has the funds to do it.

 

This is my initial feeling as well.  However, I think we need to be aware that our clownership (yeah, I'm riding that one til' the wheels fall off) is really exceptional, and I mean that in a bad way (hehe).

 

Most teams are group-owned to some degree (IIUC) their groups just consist of professional business people rather than the cast of Saved by the Bell which is what we're dealing with.

[Vol4ever]

Same here, I love Nique, but I'm not sure I want a guy who struggles to get through basic English words sometimes as our figurehead or making major decisions for is. Call me a hater or whatever but I want a mega rich, well spoken, well liked guy who will come in and just dump money on the team and city as our new owner.

Owning a business is not just about having money.  I love Nique but we need someone who has experience in running a operation of this size.  Look how Michael Jordan has struggled until recently as a owner.  

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Owning a business is not just about having money.  I love Nique but we need someone who has experience in running a operation of this size.  Look how Michael Jordan has struggled until recently as a owner.  

 

Nique would be just the face of the ownership, probably 5% owner or something.  Koonin would continue as CEO and actually run the organization and then they would sell the rest of Levenson's share to a billionaire benefactor, i.e. Arthur Blank, Ted Turner, etc.

[Randy]

I don't know.  Right now and expansion team in Atlanta doesn't sound that bad if its the only way to get rid of this clownership.  Having a respectable team starts with the owner.  You get a respectable owner and the team and fans will follow. 

[Guest]

Ownership:

Larry Ellison 70%

Magic Johnson 25%

Nique 5%

Nique would be the face!

Magic would be the voice!

Larry the $

[Guest]

I don't know.  Right now and expansion team in Atlanta doesn't sound that bad if its the only way to get rid of this clownership.  Having a respectable team starts with the owner.  You get a respectable owner and the team and fans will follow. 

 

 

Solid points.  I'd rather have my Hawks fixed than take on an expansion team though.

[HawkItus]

At this point if it wasn't for Phillips I would say good riddance to the Hawks.  Let them move to Cobb or Gwinnett.  Let them go to Seattle.  Save my money on paying for sportssouth and actually just watch TNT and NBA tv to follow real teams.  Hey my black dollars aren't important anyway.   I'm seriously one bad trade from ditching these clowns 

[lethalweapon3]

We shall overcome some day, Hawks fans.

 

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"While you all wait, would you like to look through our season ticket packages?"

 

~lw3

[Randy]

lw3 - that was sooooo funny. 

[HawkItus]

We shall overcome some day, Hawks fans.

 

 

"While you all wait, would you like to look through our season ticket packages?"

 

~lw3

Grandstand much?  I hate these folks.  There are a million other injustices going on in Georgia right now that would be more worthy of your time.

[Guest]

Grandstand much?  I hate these folks.  There are a million other injustices going on in Georgia right now that would be more worthy of your time.

 

Absolutely agree.  However, I'm a little curious to hear why did they cancel the meeting?  Why set it in the first place?  The execs knew what they were getting into.  This just fuels the grandstand fire.

 

ETA: Again, the poor management rears it's head.

Edited September 10, 2014 by kg01

[OldTimeHawk]

I agree - what they should be doing is having the meeting, get to the bottom of whats going on , and get these people on their side- the longer it goes on the more people will be sitting in and the bigger chance the media picks up on it.  But I also agree they should be working on problems in the community then worrying about shaking down the Hawks.

[lethalweapon3]

"Just WOJ!" Yahoo obtains the transcript, and Woj summarizes it here.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/an-exclusive-look-at-hawks-gm-danny-ferry-s-fateful-phone-call-180253404.html

 

 

Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry had been cornered where no NBA executive wants to be: a late afternoon, Friday conference call with the limited ownership partners. For all the contract language that dictated that Ferry had only to report to owner Bruce Levenson, these information calls remained an obligation of his duties.

One of the owners on the line in June, Michael Gearon Jr., had once been a far greater power player within the franchise. No more. Levenson and Ferry had neutralized him, and Gearon's days of input into basketball decisions had been long gone. He disdained Ferry, and told people often inside and outside the organization: He longed for Ferry's ouster as GM.

So now, Gearon had a notoriously impatient general manager on a conference call on a Friday afternoon, with owners whom sources say he didn't respect or like; or in some cases, both. As it turned out, Gearon had the perfect storm for the beginning of the end for the Atlanta Hawks’ two most powerful figures: Levenson and Ferry...

 

 

~lw3

Edited September 10, 2014 by lethalweapon3

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

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[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'm telling ya.  Gearon NEEDS to be gone ASAP.  Businesses come crashing down due to people like Gearon.  He has his own agenda and wants his GM toys back.  What better way than to wait for Ferry to screw up to get the fire started.  He is a childish weasel that needs his ownership stake striped from him.  All of these problems could have been kept in house and the media would have not given the light of day... Gearon knew exactly what he was doing.  I really hope it ends up costing the ass.

[Guest]

He should just change his name to Adreian Woj-a-ninja.  Dude gets his hands on errything.  He's almost as good as CViv!

 

[GameTime]

 

Ferry's clinging to the story that the racially charged words belonged to someone else – that a riff connecting Africans to a con man stereotype weren't his words at all. In context of the transcripts, it appears that those had been Ferry's own interjections on the call, somehow supporting the intel culled outside of the Hawks.

 

Hmmmmm......so no mystery scout huh.

 

Ferry you lied to me!!!

 

[lethalweapon3]

Ferry's issue seems to be that Deng is "Secret Agent Man." But what that has to do with his nationality strains credulity. One too many 619 scams for your taste, Danny?

 

Once he started talking on the call about Deng, it wasn't long before Ferry marched himself directly into a foolish, ignorant riff of African stereotypes. On and on, Ferry started about how Deng "has got some African in him" and proceeded to make a comparison to Africans with phony facades selling counterfeit goods.

As soon as those words left Ferry's mouth on the call, Gearon responded in a dramatic way in the background of the tape recording, according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by Yahoo Sports.

"Oh my God, that comment sounds like Sterling on TMZ," Gearon said.

Gearon didn't stop Ferry. He let him keep talking. In the transcript, Ferry detailed the information he'd gathered on Deng. Ferry attributes those characterizations – and inappropriate phrasing – to outside sources.

On Deng, Ferry said: "… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, 'That absolutely was not me. I can't believe someone said that.'

"But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it]."

Ferry kept going on Deng: "… Good guy in Chicago. They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy."

Ferry's clinging to the story that the racially charged words belonged to someone else – that a riff connecting Africans to a con man stereotype weren't his words at all. In context of the transcripts, it appears that those had been Ferry's own interjections on the call, somehow supporting the intel culled outside of the Hawks.

 

 

 

~lw3

[Guest Zone]

What a circus. All these clowns need to go. Ferry included. Nobody in their right mind would keep him around after this.

 

Embarrassing. 

[HawkItus]

Ferry's clinging to the story that the racially charged words belonged to someone else – that a riff connecting Africans to a con man stereotype weren't his words at all. In context of the transcripts, it appears that those had been Ferry's own interjections on the call, somehow supporting the intel culled outside of the Hawks.