ATLANTA - The Atlanta Hawks are sticking with general manager Danny Ferry even though the teams new majority owner wants him fired for racially charged comments. Air Jordan 1 Outlet .CEO Steve Koonin on Tuesday told the Hawks flagship radio station that he made the decision to discipline Ferry but allowed him to keep his job managing the team. He did not say what the punishment was, but noted that he relied on a law firms three-month investigation of Ferry and his description of Luol Deng.Ferry made the inflammatory comments about Deng in a conference call with the Hawks ownership group in June when the team pursued Deng as a free agent.A letter from co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. recommends that Ferry resign or be fired. Gearon cites Ferry telling the ownership group that Deng has a little African in him.His June 12 letter to co-owner Bruce Levenson said Ferry went on to say, Not in a bad way, but hes like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.Added Gearon: Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.Deng, 29, was born in what is now South Sudan. His father moved his family to Egypt and then England. The 10-year NBA veteran is now a British citizen and played for England in the 2012 Olympics.Deng, like Ferry, also played at Duke.Koonin said Atlanta law firm Alston and Bird went through 24,000 documents, conducted 19 interviews and read every email Danny Ferry has ever sent as general manager of the Atlanta Hawks. Koonin said no other negative information on Ferry was found in the probe.I took their advice and far exceeded their advice, Koonin said of the undisclosed punishment he imposed on Ferry.Hawks spokesman Garin Narain said the investigation of Ferrys comments uncovered a racially inflammatory email written two years ago by Levenson. That discovery led to Levensons announcement Sunday that he will sell his controlling share of the team.Despite Gearons desire to remove Ferry, Koonin is standing by him.I understand that emotion, Koonin said of Gearons recommendation. I certainly understand that emotion. I know people who have said that to me. But if we sentence people based on what everybody wanted, we wouldnt have a justice system.I listened to what (the law firm) said because they had done the work ... so thats a decision Im willing to live with.Gearon warned Levenson he believed Ferrys comments could be fatal to the franchise if made public.Gearon said he and the other co-owners were appalled that anyone would make such a racist slur under any circumstance, much less the GM of an NBA franchise on a major conference call.Gearon declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday and Dengs agent, Ron Shade, did not respond to an interview request.Ferry apologized Tuesday but said he was only repeating what he had heard about Deng.In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players, Ferry said in a statement released by the team.I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning.Koonin has agreed to meet with Atlanta civil rights leaders on Wednesday. The Rev. Markel Hutchins said Monday he asked for the meeting to discuss what he believes is a racist attitude throughout the organization.In his letter to Levenson, Gearon compared Ferrys remarks to much-publicized racist comments which forced Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers.We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterlings because they were not from a private personal conversation a€” they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people, Gearon wrote. If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals.Ferry was named the Hawks general manager in 2012 following two years as vice-president of basketball operations for the San Antonio Spurs. He was general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-2010 and helped build the team that advanced to the 2007 NBA Finals.There was renewed optimism about the direction of the team after Ferry hired coach Mike Budenholzer from San Antonio in 2013.Now, the turmoil threatens to derail all their efforts.New ownership must be found and despite the support of Koonin, Ferrys ability to survive the crisis is unknown.In his letter of apology, Ferry pledged he would learn from the incident.I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation, Ferry said. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward.___Follow Charles Odum on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CharlesOdum Wholesale Air Jordan 1 .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. Cheap Air Jordan 1 .Y. - Matt Harvey wants to make sure hes on the mound in late October — if the New York Mets get there for the first time since 2006. https://www.cheapairjordan1outlet.com/ . Alexander was released last week by the Edmonton Eskimos, where he spent the past three seasons at safety. He had 121 defensive tackles, five special teams tackles and seven interceptions in 51 regular-season and three playoff games.The Toronto Maple Leafs signed two forwards on Wednesday, with Peter Holland signing a two-year, $1.55 million deal and Carter Ashton accepting his one-year, two-way qualifying offer. Holland scored five goals and five assists in 39 games with the Leafs last season. He was acquired in-season from the Anaheim Ducks along with Brad Staubitz in exchange for Jesse Blacker and two draft picks. Air Jordan 1 From China. In 68 career NHL games with the Ducks and Leafs, Holland has 10 goals and seven assists. Ashton appeared in 32 games with the Maple Leafs last season, and had three assists. The 23-year-old was drafted in the first round (29th overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ashton was suspended for two games in November for boarding Derek Smith of the Calgary Flames. ' ' '
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