These being the Hawks, there’s always some strange precedent. A man from Los Angeles sought to buy them in 2011, and a lavish briefing was held at Philips Arena to introduce Alex Meruelo as the new owner of Atlanta’s NBA franchise.
We learned the basics of Meruelo’s background: He started in his dad’s tuxedo-rental shop and became a major player in Southern California; he owned a chain of eateries (La Pizza Loca), a bank and even a TV station. For better or worse, he never quite got around to owning the Hawks. The sale collapsed without a real explanation as to why, though it was widely assumed that Meruelo’s finances weren’t up to NBA snuff.
Meruelo-as-owner was filed into that overstuffed folder of Hawks what-ifs: What if Julius Erving had been allowed to join this club? What if Dominique Wilkins had taken the last shot of Game 6 against Boston? What if they’d drafted Chris Paul? Meruelo the man was quickly forgotten, at least locally, although if you Google him you’ll find the first image shows him wearing a Hawks cap.
Nearly four years later, the circle turns back toward SoCal: Another man from L.A. wants to buy Atlanta’s NBA franchise. On the face of it, there seems a better chance this sale will be consummated. Antony Ressler was named by Forbes as the 418th-richest person in these United States. Not to say that Meruelo was a lightweight — as noted, he owns a bunch of stuff — but Ressler seems a heavier hitter.
Bloomberg Business reports that Grant Hill, a sporting blueblood — his dad Calvin went to Yale and played running back for America’s Team; Grant went to Duke, won two NCAA titles and was briefly one of the first next Michael Jordans — will be the team’s chairman. (Hill is also one of Ressler’s co-investors, along with Spanx founder Sara Blakely and her husband.) That sounds promising.
Again with the weirdness: The Hawks won 60 games with their architect in exile. General manager Danny Ferry took a leave of absence after an unfortunate phrase he uttered regarding Luol Deng was brought to light at the insistence of one bloc of Hawks ownership. (With the Hawks, 99 percent of the bizarre doings can be traced to owners.) That leave is in its seventh month.
Ferry has made no public comment since September, but it stands to reason that the reason he remains on the payroll is that he’s awaiting new ownership. If the point man is a Duke grad, it might bode well for Ferry — also a Dukie — and his chances of resuming his managerial duties. (Then again, Deng went to Duke.)
On the other hand, it’s believed Michael Gearon Jr. will keep a tiny portion of the team, and franchise icon Dominique Wilkins’ profile has been heightened — his statue outside Philips was unveiled last month — to the extent that he could well say, “I can’t live with Ferry,” and perhaps sway the new owners. (The root of Gearon’s disdain for Ferry can be traced to the belief that the GM marginalized the Hall of Famer.)
OK. Deep breath here. If there’s a bottom line to this latest bit of bottom-lining, it’s surely this: Once again, it appears — appears, we stress — this city might be rid of the group formerly known as the Atlanta Spirit, which deserves its place in civic infamy. This aggregation came together at the last minute to keep Turner Sports from selling the Hawks, the Thrashers and the arena to the Texas car dealer David McDavid, and everything since has been comedy laced with tears.
The Thrashers were allowed to leave for Winnipeg. These owners would sue one another over the Joe Johnson trade. They would be embarrassed that an in-house probe brought Bruce Levenson’s racially charged email to light. They would fight over Ferry’s characterization of Deng, and ultimately their internecine strife nearly destroyed the franchise.
Surely Alex Meruelo would have been better. Surely Antony Ressler — who’s married to Jamie Gertz, who males of a certain age will recall from her winsome movie roles in the ’80s — and the founder of Spanx will do better. It would be impossible to do worse.
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