Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry wound up second last season in the balloting for NBA Executive of the Year, finishing with seven votes from the 30-member panel of team execs to nine for Denver's Mark Warkentien. Now Ferry has a great shot at capturing the award that his father Bob won in 1979 and 1982 as GM of the Washington Bullets.
For the second consecutive season, the Cavaliers have the best overall record, following up on their 66-16 mark in 2008-09 with a 61-20 season heading into Wednesday's finale at Atlanta. The last team to get sole possession of the league's top record in back-to-back seasons was the Chicago Bulls in 1995-96 (72-10) and 1996-97 (69-13). Only nine franchises have put 60-victory seasons back-to-back (done 18 times) and only five teams in the past 35 years could claim the league's best home record in consecutive seasons.
Ferry didn't just let last season's success ride, either. He aggressively made over a Cavs club that lost in the Eastern Conference finals to Orlando, acquiring Shaquille O'Neal, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon and Leon Powe in the offseason. In February, Ferry added Antawn Jamison to the mix and he even managed to bring back Zydrunas Ilgauskas after using him in the Jamison deal. The reconfigured Cavs enter the 2010 postseason "consumed" -- that's Ferry's word -- by the goal of winning the franchise's first NBA title and Cleveland's first major sports championship in 46 years.
I spoke to Ferry Monday about that ambition, along with the championship itch he got scratched indirectly last week as an alumnus of Duke University:
NBA.com: You were in Indianpolis for Duke's victory over Butler a week ago. Pretty nice to have a job where you can claim that sort of thing as a "work day."
Danny Ferry: Every time I go watch a basketball game with good players it's work-related. But I didn't have my pen and paper out.
NBA.com: You couldn't have held them anyway, what with the pom-pons.
DF: [Laughing] Exactly.
NBA.com: You got to two Final Fours with Duke, but under Mike Krzyzewski, that school only started winning NCAA titles two years after you graduated. How does it compare, what you felt as a player there vs. watching from the stands now?
DF: It's definitely different than being out there. But it's something I enjoy following. I take a lot of pride that I played there, and played for Coach. And I was part of getting everything started. Johnny Dawkins' class, Mark Alarie's class really got it started. I got to sit with Johnny at the [championship] game, and it's something that all of us who were there the first five, seven years that Coach was starting take a lot of pride in all the success that's happened there since.
NBA.com: Do you run into the "Duke haters," or are people more discreet than that?
DF: No, it's fine. It's all part of it. It makes it fun. There's an anti-Carolina sentiment, there's an anti-Duke sentiment. When teams have had a great deal of success, there's going to be that. I have no problem with it.
NBA.com: So now you're looking to generate some anti-Cavaliers sentiment.
DF: Sure, that would be great. There's always going to be a large group that loves you and a large group that hates you even more. The Bulls were able to create that with all the success they had.
NBA.com: Where do you see your team now on the brink of the 2010 playoffs, compared to the past few years?
DF: Hopefully we've learned something every year. We certainly respect that it's a big challenge. With this particular team and roster, they've done a great job. We can play different ways. We have size, we have length, we shoot the ball and we have a great player. We'll be defined by how well we defend, and hopefully we can make the big shot somewhere.
NBA.com: Your coaches have decided to sit LeBron down the stretch and, not surprising, your team has taken three straight losses. Are you OK with that balance between resting players vs. maintaining or building momentum?
DF: Every decision you make, there is no exact right answer. This is based on where you are as a team, where your guys' bodies are, and you make the best decisions you can and you move on. I'm confident that if we defend, we'll build that momentum. We certainly have momentum from winning 60-plus games for the year. At some level, we'll have momentum because the guys who have a bump, a bruise, etc., will be feeling better. You can't tell me we don't have momentum when we've won 60-some games.
NBA.com: What is different about this season's Cavaliers squad?
DF: One, LeBron has continued to grow and get better. He's so much a better player than he was three, four years ago. He's worked hard, he's improved his skills, he's matured as a player and a leader. That's an important place to get better. Along with that, this particular team, I have more length. We should be able to find ways to score better than any team we've had. But again, you go back to what our identity needs to be: With our length and athletic ability, you'd hope we would be able to defend, because that will give us the best chance to win.
NBA.com: How satisfied are you with how the deal for Jamison worked out?
DF: He brings us a dimension we were lacking. There are not many teams that have won championships in recent that have not had that [power forward]: You look at Rasheed [Wallace] when he was in Detroit, Robert Horry in L.A., [Toni] Kukoc or [Horace] Grant in Chicago. The versatility that Antawn brings us really makes us a tougher opponent, especially in a playoff series where matchups are so important. Whether he makes a shot or misses a shot, they're going to guard him. He rebounds at a high level and just generally has been great to have with us.
NBA.com: Was it difficult to smooth things over with Zydrunas Ilgauskas after you traded him?
DF: It was a hard decision to trade him -- he's been so important to our franchise and so important to our team on the court and in the locker room. The type of person he is, that's who you want in a pro. We had no certainty, by any means, that he was going to be available to come back or that he'd want to. So it was an emotional thing. But I think he was personally invested here from his family's standpoint. He was personally invested in the success that we've had through the years. And he wanted to continue to be a part of it this year. It's fantastic to have him back.
NBA.com: Delonte West is an important player for you, but he also is a fragile player based on his bipolar disorder and off-court incident. Is it uncomfortable for your team to have so much riding on someone who can be such an unknown?
DF: Delonte's doing well. We'll continue to support him. On the court he's done a really nice job, especially as the year has gone on. It's been great to see him really emerge as the important player he is for our team. We're supporting Delonte. Hopefully, we put him in a position to succeed and our team in a position to succeed, and we'll balance all those things.
NBA.com: Talk about Shaq and how that has worked out.
DF: He was cleared to practice [Monday] for the first time [since tearing a thumb ligament six weeks earlier]. He's done a great job with his rehab. He's done a great job of staying in good shape. He'll hopefully be a big factor for us as the playoffs unfold and he gets his basketball feel.
NBA.com: Working Jameer Nelson back into the rotation was tricky enough last spring for Orlando. How does that compare to working Shaquille O'Neal back into the middle of things for the Cavaliers at a time when most coaches don't like to be fiddling with things?
DF: Everything is going to be a challenge. But when you're talking about throwing Shaq out there, that's a challenge we want to take. He can be a force. We'll get him back and get him involved. We had the whole year, minus the last few weeks, where he was an important part of our team. I think we can work him back to being a real factor for us.
NBA.com: You're satisfied with the acquisition overall?
DF: He has done a really nice job this year. Before he got hurt, he was playing really good basketball. Teams and seasons are fragile based on injuries, and we're just lucky that he's able to come back for the playoffs. Because I know our chances are better with him than without him.
NBA.com: How has your organization been able to separate the pressures and questions about LeBron James and his future from your day-to-day business this season?
DF: The goal of winning the championship has to consume us. Obviously LeBron's situtation this summer is important. But our priority has been this season and this year. That's most respectful to everyone on our team. LeBron did a great thing at the beginning of the year where he stopped talking about it. The first week of the season, it was something that LeBron answered. After that, it was kind of, "I've got to focus on this year and my teammates now." That was the right thing and he stuck to it. We started playing well and racking up wins pretty quickly when we started focusing on right now.
NBA.com: Are you happy with Mike Brown's performance and growth in the job?
DF: Mike's done a great job. He's built an identity as a defensive team. He works as hard as or harder than any coach in the NBA in my opinion. He's done a really nice job.
NBA.com: Every GM wants to improve his team, win more games and chase a championship. It's said that Danny Ferry has to stay busy to do all that -- and to impress LeBron James, too.
DF: I've got to stay busy because my owner wants to win. He's pushing us. I've got to stay busy because LeBron and Mike Brown and Mo Williams, they all want to win. I'm trying to put them in the best position they can be. Lastly, northeast Ohio badly wants to win a championship and we want to bring that to them. All those things, that's just me doing my job.
NBA.com: How busy is an NBA GM during the season?
DF: First of all, it's basketball. You've got to make sure you don't take yourself too seriously. It's something we're all fortunate to work in and be a part of a team. But it is a lot of work. I'm fortunate to work with really good people, which makes it a lot more fun and makes the challenge not as big.
NBA.com: How are you better now than when you were hired five years ago?
DF: Ahhh ... I think experience can be important. As an organization, we've tried to build an identity. Again, I work with good people who all help me move different things forward. And our owner has put us in an unbelievable position to do so. From our practice facility to our offices, from what we're able to spend to put a great product on the basetkball court to day-to-day life, it's certainly one of the top places to get up and go to work in the morning in the NBA.
NBA.com: What surprised you around the league this season?
DF: Just looking at teams, I think [coach] Scott Skiles and [GM] John Hammond did a great job in Milwaukee, with the adversity they had in losing [Michael] Redd. I didn't walk into the season expecting the Bucks to do what they've done. Oklahoma City as well -- the big step they took this year was impressive.
NBA.com: The Lakers are the defending champions, but your team is the No. 1 seed overall and considered by many the favorites to win the title this spring. Do you like being the hunted?
DF: We want to be here and I want us to be talked about as a team that can win it. Certainly we've been that the last few years. Now we need to be consumed with doing it.
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