Power ranking the Bulls’ interesting candidates for top executive position

4. Danny Ferry

For some reason, former Hawks GMs who were involved in racism-adjacent controversies really speak to Chicago brass.

According to the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson, former Hawks GM and president of basketball ops Danny Ferry has interviewed for the Bulls’ lead executive position.

From a basketball perspective, Ferry was immensely successful with the Hawks. He hired head coach Mike Budenholzer, signed Paul Millsap and oversaw the construction of the 2014-15 Hawks team that won 60 games and made it to the conference finals.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to being a successful NBA executive than just on-court results. For example: NOT reading offensive and racist comments from scouting reports out loud over a conference call.

An investigation found that the comments in question — directed at Luol Deng — were not Ferry’s, nor was his reading them aloud motivated by racism. Ferry actually recommended Deng when he gave his own opinion, and since then, he’s served as a special advisor and interim GM for the New Orleans Pelicans. Again, though, hiring a guy who was fired from his last major gig due to controversy isn’t a good look for a franchise that desperately needs a revamp.