The Cleveland Cavaliers made Danny Ferry their general manager on Sunday when he agreed to a five-year deal worth close to $10 million, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Associated Press both reported.
Informed sources tell ESPN.com that Danny Ferry has been guaranteed final front-office say on personnel decisions by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And that Ferry wouldn't have left his job as No. 2 in one of the best front offices in the league to make a lateral move to be No. 2 in Cleveland.
Which means the likelihood of Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown joining the Cavs has lessened to virtually nil.
After the considerable criticism Brown received for his clandestine negotiations with the Cavaliers -- in the midst of the Pistons' title defense -- it's believed he gradually cooled on the Cleveland idea. The hiring of Ferry pretty much confirms that notion.
Brown and the Cavaliers have been talking since the end of the regular season, with the widespread expectation that Brown would join the Cavs as team president after Detroit's playoff run. The Cavs, though, wanted their new decision-marker in charge before Tuesday's draft, and with free-agency season opening Friday. Brown is at least a week away from deciding anything about his future, and the Cavs decided they could no longer wait on a maybe.
Smart move. You know by now where we stand on the concept of Larry working exclusively on the personnel side. Ferry, by contrast, is the son of a former GM (Bob Ferry) and has been schooled for the past two seasons by San Antonio ace architect R.C. Buford.
The Cavs are much better off entrusting LeBron James' future to Ferry and new coach Mike Brown, two rising stars who worked together with the Spurs, than to the Brown, who likes to move around.
The paper and the AP -- each citing two league sources -- reported Ferry's deal also includes incentives. Ferry, who played 10 seasons with the Cavs, was the director of basketball operations for the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.
Ferry's hiring is expected to be announced Monday -- one day before the NBA draft.
The Cavaliers currently don't have a selection but have reportedly discussed trading forward Jiri Welsch for a second-round pick. That deal could be easier to make now that the Cavs have found a replacement for Jim Paxson, who was fired the day after the season ended.
Ferry spent the last two years as San Antonio's director of basketball operations under GM R.C. Buford. The 38-year-old Ferry played in a club record 723 games for the Cavaliers from 1990-2000.
He played the final three years of his career with San Antonio, where he worked with Cleveland coach Mike Brown, then an assistant with the Spurs.
Ferry's return will make some Cleveland fans cringe.
An All-American at Duke, Ferry was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in 1989 by the Los Angeles Clippers. But he held out in a contract dispute and played one season in Italy before the Cavaliers acquired his rights in a trade.
The club dealt rising star Ron Harper for Ferry and waited an entire season until he finished his contract in Italy. Cleveland then signed Ferry to a 10-year, $34 million contract, a decision that made it tough for them to sign other players.
Ferry may have never lived up to being "the next Larry Bird" as some had predicted, but he was a solid player, averaging 7.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 913 career games.
In Cleveland, Ferry will have some immediate challenges as he tries to rebuild the Cavs, who faded down the stretch last season.
The club will have roughly $25 million to spend in the free-agency period beginning July 1, in an effort to build around LeBron James. The Cavaliers also have to decide whether to re-sign All-Star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who made $14.6 million last season. Ferry and Ilgauskas are former teammates and have remained close friends.
