Ferry Makes Waves in First Week with Hawks

ATLANTA, Georgia--Experts say when you first take a job, you have about ninety days to make an impression. For Danny Ferry the process took a little over a week.

Ferry looked squarely at his biggest problem, the lack of cap room, and unloaded the biggest obstacle in his way by sending Joe Johnson to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Johan Petro, Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Jordan Williams and a signed-and-traded DeShawn Stevenson. The Hawks also received a lottery-protected first-round draft pick via the Houston Rockets that turns into a second-round selection if Atlanta doesn’t use it by 2017. No sooner had that deal been completed when Marvin Williams was traded to the Utah Jazz for guard Devin Harris.

Both moves were good from a cap standpoint, but they also served to unload players not living up to expectations on the court.

Johnson went from averaging over 25.2 points in his second year in Atlanta to averaging 18.8 in 2011-2012. He also failed miserably as a finisher. Counted on as a take charge guy at game’s end, Johnson came up short far too many times.

As far as Williams goes, he never lived up to his potential as a No. 2 draft pick. Marvin had streaks, but overall he wasn’t close to being the player the Hawks bargained for when they took him over Chris Paul in the 2005 draft.

Despite all the hoopla over Danny Ferry’s first moves, the “proof in the pudding” will likely not come until the 2013 season when Atlanta can take advantage of that cap room to make some major free agent acquisitions. Some have speculated Atlanta will try to follow the Heat formula of building a core of three key players—perhaps Josh Smith, if they can keep him; maybe Dwight Howard, if he becomes a free agent in 2013; and maybe Paul, also free-agent eligible after next year.

Whether that scenario comes about remains to be seen. Even with those three, however, there would be a potential downside, particularly in the case of Howard. But that’s putting the cart first. Let’s just be satisfied that the Hawks finally have a solid basketball guy at the helm and one who very quickly showed that he was in charge.

Tiger’s Back, Will Sponsors Return Too?

No matter how you slice it, having Tiger Woods back is the best thing that could happen to golf. Regardless of what you think of Tiger he has apparently regained his focus and is once again the most electrifying player on tour.

Should his play continue, and he’s able to add a major to his current string of victories, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of those sponsors who jumped ship think about coming back. As it is he still has a number of marquee names backing him including, according to his website: EA Sports, NetJets, Nike Golf, TAG Heuer, Tatweer: The Tiger Woods Dubai, TLC Laser Eye Centers, and Upper Deck.  The sponsors who dropped Tiger from advertisements and ended endorsement contracts were Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and Gillette. In a world where business interests often beget forgiveness, don’t be surprised if a few of the companies that jumped ship return to the fold. The bigger question is whether or not Tiger will want them back since, undoubtedly, a plethora of others will be waiting in the wings.

Erin Go Bragh

As this is being written we just returned from a week in Ireland where they say if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute. That was the case for the entire week we were there as sunny skies and warm weather gave way to clouds, rain and wind in a matter of minutes.

What an enchanting country, though, from the old world charm of Dublin to the scenic Cliffs of Moher to the Silicon Valley feel of Galway. As with most parts of the world, Ireland is a country that relishes sports. With an emphasis on local rivalries, the Irish have a very personal rooting interest in their parish teams, many of whose players are neighbors and friends. The Irish love their Gaelic football, rugby, hurling, and soccer and cricket to a lesser extent. Even American collegiate football will be played in Ireland again this fall as Notre Dame tangles with Navy at the new Aviva Stadium on Sept. 1. Aviva, with a capacity of 57.200, opened in 2010.