After years of their fans pleading with them to make a major change in the front office, the Wizards finally did so, firing longtime president Ernie Grunfeld at the end of another disappointing season in Washington.
In the weeks since that firing, things have been quiet in the nation’s capital on their front office search, but on Tuesday, there were finally a pair of names who we now know to be targets. According to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post, Danny Ferry interviewed for their vacant front-office job on Tuesday.
I’m hearing that Danny Ferry interviewed with the #Wizards today for the GM position.
Also, Gersson Rosas is in town for his interview, @FredKatz was first with that news.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) April 30, 2019
Ferry was formerly the GM of the Atlanta Hawks and, most recently, the interim GM in New Orleans prior to David Griffin taking over their basketball operations department. His tenure in Atlanta famously ended following audio of him reading a racist scouting report of Luol Deng that led to widespread condemnation from those around the league. Ferry has since spent years slowly working his way back into the NBA world and trying to rebuild his reputation.
There is, obviously, plenty of background work teams will do on Ferry and his perception around the league after his rapid fall, but prior to that he was a widely-respected basketball executive for what he did in building up the Hawks during his brief tenure in Atlanta. Washington will also interview Gersson Rosas, the VP of basketball operations in Houston, this week, per The Athletic’s Fred Katz.
Rosas is well regarded for his work over the years with Daryl Morey in building this Rockets team into a contender out West, and he would bring a different analytical approach to the Wizards front office that wasn’t necessarily as present under the old regime. Rosas has also interviewed for the vacant president of basketball ops job in Minnesota, which is further along in the interview process than Washington.
