duncan228
05-16-2009, 02:54 PM
Hit the link for an interview:
Danny Ferry talks about the team chemistry of the 2008-09 Cavaliers and taking it one game at a time throughout the '09 Playoffs.
Twenty years later, Ferry is finally paying off for Cavs (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/john_schuhmann/05/16/ferry.cavs/)
By John Schuhmann, NBA.com
In November of 1989, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded star guard Ron Harper, along with two first-round picks, to the Los Angeles Clippers for journeyman Reggie Williams and the draft rights to Danny Ferry, who L.A. had selected with the second pick of the '89 NBA Draft.
After an illustrious college career at Duke, Ferry had decided he didn't want to be a Clipper and had gone to Rome to play. And even though he was traded to Cleveland early in the 1989-90 season, Ferry spent the rest of the year in the Italian League. At the time of the trade, Cavs general manager Wayne Embry compared Ferry to Larry Bird, who the Celtics drafted a year before he left Indiana State, and told Cleveland fans that Ferry "would be worth the wait."
The wait was just 15 years longer than Embry expected. Ferry played 10 solid but unspectacular seasons for the Cavs, never living up to the expectations put on him as a college star and No. 2 pick. But since being hired as general manager in 2005, he has made a real mark on the organization.
When he took over for Jim Paxson, Ferry had LeBron James, Mike Brown (who was hired as head coach a few weeks before him) and not much else. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a former teammate of Ferry's, was a free agent that summer. The Cavs had come one game short of the Playoffs in each of James' first two seasons, and hadn't been to the postseason since 1998.
"We had to be aggressive in turning the culture around here," Ferry told NBA Entertainment on Thursday.
The Cavs' roster lacked the pieces to a championship puzzle at the time, but Ferry and Brown had a lot of cap space and a championship philosophy from Day 1, having both spent time in the Spurs organization. Ferry finished his playing career in San Antonio and immediately moved into the front office, where he worked with R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich for two seasons.
"Being able to learn as a player and a front office person [in San Antonio] was incredible," Ferry said, "and was really invaluable for me here in Cleveland."
Ferry's first priority that initial summer with the Cavs was re-signing Ilgauskas, and he used the cap space to sign Larry Hughes (after trying for Michael Redd), Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall. All of the above helped the Cavs win 50 games in each of the next two seasons and reach The Finals that second year, where they were swept by Ferry's former employer.
"We felt like it was really important, Mike and I did, that we started winning right away," Ferry said. "And we were fortunate to be able to go out and start that right away."
The culture had changed, the Cavs were winning and they were doing it the right way. They used the Spurs as their inspiration, but they also forged their own identity.
"Mike is different than Pop," Ferry said, "LeBron's different than Tim [Duncan]. We're a different organization. We have a lot of the same principles, but organizationally, just the personality of who we are and what we're doing, is different."
In the third season, Ferry decided to shake things up. He made a three-team, 11-player trade that shipped Hughes, Marshall and Drew Gooden out of town just eight months after the franchise's first trip to The Finals, and brought Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace and Delonte West to Cleveland.
"We were starting to lose the identity that we wanted to have from a defensive standpoint and a lot of other areas," Ferry explained. "That trade was the first step in changing that. And I think it was the first step in getting this team in the direction that it's in right now."
The Cavs suffered some growing pains after the trade, but still took the eventual champion Celtics to the final minute of the seventh game in the Eastern Conference semifinals last May.
Three months later, Ferry orchestrated another three-team deal that may just have put his team over the top. He traded Smith and Jones to bring in Mo Williams, his most important acquisition to date. And Smith eventually returned to Cleveland after being bought out by Oklahoma City, so the Cavs essentially got Williams for a guy who played 108 total minutes this season.
With the collective bargaining agreement rules the way they are, trades with other GMs who are looking out for their own best interests are difficult to make in today's NBA. For every deal that gets made, there are a dozen other rumors that never go through. Yet Ferry's best work with the Cavs has been done in making trades.
Now, his team is four wins away from a return to The Finals. If the Cavs make it, they will certainly have more success than they did two years ago.
And while the rest of the league has been clearing cap space in case James chooses to leave Cleveland in 2010, Ferry has quietly given the MVP a better supporting cast and team chemistry than he's likely to find elsewhere.
"It's a group that works, and likes to work," Ferry said. "And that's been a big key for their success."
He hopes that the success doesn't stop here. The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season and are the first team to have swept through the first two rounds of the Playoffs since the 2005 Miami Heat, but none of that will mean anything if they don't get eight more wins.
"The hard part's in front of us still," Ferry said. "I think it's really important that this group has the mindset of 'We've got to get better.' We have to continue to get better every day.
"If we have that mindset and we really live it, I think good things can happen."
Construction of the Current Cavs Roster Under Danny Ferry
Zydrunas Ilgauskas August, 2005 Re-Signed
Daniel Gibson June, 2006 Drafted (42)
LeBron James July, 2006 Contract extended
Sasha Pavlovic October, 2007 Re-Signed
Anderson Varejao December, 2007 Re-Signed (Matched offer sheet)
Wally Szczerbiak February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Ben Wallace February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Delonte West February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
J.J. Hickson June, 2008 Drafted (19)
Darnell Jackson June, 2008 Rights acquired in draft-day trade
Tarence Kinsey August, 2008 Signed as free agent
Mo Williams August, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Lorenzen Wright September, 2008 Signed as free agent
Joe Smith March, 2009 Signed as free agent
Jawad Williams April, 2009 Signed as free agent
Danny Ferry talks about the team chemistry of the 2008-09 Cavaliers and taking it one game at a time throughout the '09 Playoffs.
Twenty years later, Ferry is finally paying off for Cavs (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/john_schuhmann/05/16/ferry.cavs/)
By John Schuhmann, NBA.com
In November of 1989, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded star guard Ron Harper, along with two first-round picks, to the Los Angeles Clippers for journeyman Reggie Williams and the draft rights to Danny Ferry, who L.A. had selected with the second pick of the '89 NBA Draft.
After an illustrious college career at Duke, Ferry had decided he didn't want to be a Clipper and had gone to Rome to play. And even though he was traded to Cleveland early in the 1989-90 season, Ferry spent the rest of the year in the Italian League. At the time of the trade, Cavs general manager Wayne Embry compared Ferry to Larry Bird, who the Celtics drafted a year before he left Indiana State, and told Cleveland fans that Ferry "would be worth the wait."
The wait was just 15 years longer than Embry expected. Ferry played 10 solid but unspectacular seasons for the Cavs, never living up to the expectations put on him as a college star and No. 2 pick. But since being hired as general manager in 2005, he has made a real mark on the organization.
When he took over for Jim Paxson, Ferry had LeBron James, Mike Brown (who was hired as head coach a few weeks before him) and not much else. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, a former teammate of Ferry's, was a free agent that summer. The Cavs had come one game short of the Playoffs in each of James' first two seasons, and hadn't been to the postseason since 1998.
"We had to be aggressive in turning the culture around here," Ferry told NBA Entertainment on Thursday.
The Cavs' roster lacked the pieces to a championship puzzle at the time, but Ferry and Brown had a lot of cap space and a championship philosophy from Day 1, having both spent time in the Spurs organization. Ferry finished his playing career in San Antonio and immediately moved into the front office, where he worked with R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich for two seasons.
"Being able to learn as a player and a front office person [in San Antonio] was incredible," Ferry said, "and was really invaluable for me here in Cleveland."
Ferry's first priority that initial summer with the Cavs was re-signing Ilgauskas, and he used the cap space to sign Larry Hughes (after trying for Michael Redd), Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall. All of the above helped the Cavs win 50 games in each of the next two seasons and reach The Finals that second year, where they were swept by Ferry's former employer.
"We felt like it was really important, Mike and I did, that we started winning right away," Ferry said. "And we were fortunate to be able to go out and start that right away."
The culture had changed, the Cavs were winning and they were doing it the right way. They used the Spurs as their inspiration, but they also forged their own identity.
"Mike is different than Pop," Ferry said, "LeBron's different than Tim [Duncan]. We're a different organization. We have a lot of the same principles, but organizationally, just the personality of who we are and what we're doing, is different."
In the third season, Ferry decided to shake things up. He made a three-team, 11-player trade that shipped Hughes, Marshall and Drew Gooden out of town just eight months after the franchise's first trip to The Finals, and brought Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace and Delonte West to Cleveland.
"We were starting to lose the identity that we wanted to have from a defensive standpoint and a lot of other areas," Ferry explained. "That trade was the first step in changing that. And I think it was the first step in getting this team in the direction that it's in right now."
The Cavs suffered some growing pains after the trade, but still took the eventual champion Celtics to the final minute of the seventh game in the Eastern Conference semifinals last May.
Three months later, Ferry orchestrated another three-team deal that may just have put his team over the top. He traded Smith and Jones to bring in Mo Williams, his most important acquisition to date. And Smith eventually returned to Cleveland after being bought out by Oklahoma City, so the Cavs essentially got Williams for a guy who played 108 total minutes this season.
With the collective bargaining agreement rules the way they are, trades with other GMs who are looking out for their own best interests are difficult to make in today's NBA. For every deal that gets made, there are a dozen other rumors that never go through. Yet Ferry's best work with the Cavs has been done in making trades.
Now, his team is four wins away from a return to The Finals. If the Cavs make it, they will certainly have more success than they did two years ago.
And while the rest of the league has been clearing cap space in case James chooses to leave Cleveland in 2010, Ferry has quietly given the MVP a better supporting cast and team chemistry than he's likely to find elsewhere.
"It's a group that works, and likes to work," Ferry said. "And that's been a big key for their success."
He hopes that the success doesn't stop here. The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season and are the first team to have swept through the first two rounds of the Playoffs since the 2005 Miami Heat, but none of that will mean anything if they don't get eight more wins.
"The hard part's in front of us still," Ferry said. "I think it's really important that this group has the mindset of 'We've got to get better.' We have to continue to get better every day.
"If we have that mindset and we really live it, I think good things can happen."
Construction of the Current Cavs Roster Under Danny Ferry
Zydrunas Ilgauskas August, 2005 Re-Signed
Daniel Gibson June, 2006 Drafted (42)
LeBron James July, 2006 Contract extended
Sasha Pavlovic October, 2007 Re-Signed
Anderson Varejao December, 2007 Re-Signed (Matched offer sheet)
Wally Szczerbiak February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Ben Wallace February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Delonte West February, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
J.J. Hickson June, 2008 Drafted (19)
Darnell Jackson June, 2008 Rights acquired in draft-day trade
Tarence Kinsey August, 2008 Signed as free agent
Mo Williams August, 2008 Acquired in three-team trade
Lorenzen Wright September, 2008 Signed as free agent
Joe Smith March, 2009 Signed as free agent
Jawad Williams April, 2009 Signed as free agent