So here's the rest of the story (per Brian Windhorst on NBA radio):
- Hawks were having a post-Sterling ban free agency meeting during which Ferry (GM) was reading a background report.
- Report (prepared by someone outside the organization) contained something (which Ferry read out loud) that a different owner felt was offensive.
- Said owner called for a full investigation which turned up the email in question.
** Remember that since inception the Hawks' ownership group has been and remains a dysfunctional group, so it's not unusual to have an owner try to start mess. (Surprise, surprise the franchise can't get anything significant done.)
- Email was basically a poorly-worded marketing discussion which, as @forensicbuzz said, contained racially-insensitive language.
- Levinson (email author) felt selling was the least-damaging route to take. Windhorst's opinion was this was likely survivable, but Levinson stated that the process of fighting it would be unnecessarily damaging to the Hawks. So he decided to sell.
- Windhorst said there are 5-6 ownership groups ready to buy a team so the Hawks could probably sell by this afternoon if the NBA wanted.
I wonder if Ferry survives this considering it was his reading that sparked it all and considering he was hand-picked by Levinson. Ferry also said a primary reason he left SAntonio was because of the stability brought on by Levinson taking over as the Hawks' owner spokesperson or w/e.
- Hawks were having a post-Sterling ban free agency meeting during which Ferry (GM) was reading a background report.
- Report (prepared by someone outside the organization) contained something (which Ferry read out loud) that a different owner felt was offensive.
- Said owner called for a full investigation which turned up the email in question.
** Remember that since inception the Hawks' ownership group has been and remains a dysfunctional group, so it's not unusual to have an owner try to start mess. (Surprise, surprise the franchise can't get anything significant done.)
- Email was basically a poorly-worded marketing discussion which, as @forensicbuzz said, contained racially-insensitive language.
- Levinson (email author) felt selling was the least-damaging route to take. Windhorst's opinion was this was likely survivable, but Levinson stated that the process of fighting it would be unnecessarily damaging to the Hawks. So he decided to sell.
- Windhorst said there are 5-6 ownership groups ready to buy a team so the Hawks could probably sell by this afternoon if the NBA wanted.
I wonder if Ferry survives this considering it was his reading that sparked it all and considering he was hand-picked by Levinson. Ferry also said a primary reason he left SAntonio was because of the stability brought on by Levinson taking over as the Hawks' owner spokesperson or w/e.
