Ressler said that there is no one to blame but himself for the troubles early on in his ownershipNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Hawks Principal Owner & Chair Tony Ressler has "significantly moved the franchise forward in several ways the past year, and equally important, he acknowledges his early missteps put the franchise in a dreadful hole," according to a profile piece by Jeff Schultz of THE ATHLETIC. Ressler said of when he bought the team in '15, "Let’s cut the bullshit -- I didn’t know what I was doing. I can blame someone else, I can blame you, I can blame my wife. But there was only one schmuck in the room, and that was me." Ressler purchased a 60-win Hawks team in April of '15 and did the "easy and seemingly most logical thing after the playoffs: He cut ties with the polarizing" GM Danny Ferry, promoted coach Mike Budenholzer to team President and elevated Assistant GM Wes Wilcox. Ressler said, "It was a recipe for disaster. Total dysfunction." Schultz noted Wilcox had player personnel skills but "lacked the temperament to lead people." Ressler decided to remove Budenholzer in '17 and hired Head of Basketball Operations & GM Travis Schlenk. Budenholzer eventually became the Bucks' coach. Ressler: "For two years, I was a deer in the headlights. ... I don’t want to blame somebody else because I was the schmuck." But Schutlz noted there has been "bad ownership in Atlanta," and it is"not Tony Ressler." He "pushed for a long-overdue practice facility and got it built." He "purchased a developmental G-League franchise," and most recently spearheaded a $200M makeover of State Farm Arena. Ressler has "fixed what he can for now." There is "peace in basketball ops, and he’s staying out of the way" (THEATHLETIC.com, 10/22).
