Danny Ferry Has Lots to Laugh About Now

Danny Ferry knows it is a potentially touchy topic and he treats it with diplomacy. Unless he suffers a serious injury or some other unforeseen event occurs, the Duke University all-America will be among the first players picked in next June’s National Basketball Association college draft. And his father, Bob Ferry, general manager of the Washington Bullets, will be one of the pickers.

Danny says they haven’t talked about it. The son knows his father inevitably would take some heat, so he isn’t pushing an idea that may never have a chance to materialize.

“I have no real control and I might be around at the 12th pick next year,” Ferry said, referring to the Bullets’ drafting position the past two years. “It will be a real strong draft next year. Winning a lot of games and playing a part in that is how I can help myself. It would be neat to be home playing but the main thing is getting a chance to play anywhere. That’s been the goal and something I’ve dreamed of my whole life.”

Bob Ferry has proudly watched his son grow up, blossoming into a collegiate player of the year candidate. But his job is to be cold and calculating in deciding which players would make the Bullets winners. He has said it’s next to impossible to be cold and calculating about your own kid. It would be a tough call.

“If he’s the best player available, then we’ll probably have to consider him,” Bob Ferry said. “But in his case, as it usually is, I would never take a player the coach really didn’t want. And in Danny’s case, they know his abilities because he’s scrimmaged against us.”

Danny Ferry’s basketball upbringing has been well-documented. He was a star at DeMatha High and, at Duke, last season’s player of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was among the last to be cut from the U.S. Olympic basketball team--and at that an injury was a factor--and many think this year’s Duke team could win the NCAA championship. He will answer all the questions about those topics politely, if somewhat impassively. But when the subject turns to his reputation as a practical joker, the most mischievous smile spreads across his choirboy face.

His big moment in that regard came last fall.

“I got Quin,” Ferry said with considerable satisfaction. “It was pretty good.”

The victim was Quin Snyder, Ferry’s best friend and the guy who will have to get the ball to Ferry if Duke is to reach the Final Four in Seattle and if Ferry is to win national player of the year honors. Snyder was set for a first date, and thought Ferry was being a buddy by letting Snyder borrow his car. But when Snyder and his companion emerged from the restaurant where they had dinner, the car was gone.

“My first reaction was that Dan was going to kill me,” Snyder said the other day before practice. “Then I found the car and my next reaction was that I was going to kill Dan.”

Ferry, of course, had a second set of keys, so he and another friend had moved the car. They also had decorated it with streamers, tied cans to the bumper and written on it, “Just Married.”

“And they wrote a few other things of a more provocative nature,” Snyder said with laugh. “The net effect was that I was pretty embarrassed.

“She was pretty shocked. Actually, she took it a lot better than I did. She has a pretty good sense of humor. It was her idea to pay him back.”

Ah, sweet retribution.

“We went to the store and bought a couple boxes of double-stuffed Oreos,” Snyder said. “We went home, split the Oreos in half and stuck them all over the car.”

There have been other incidents, with different methods and different victims: pie throwing at Thanksgiving and itching powder deposited in penny loafers, and elsewhere. Usually, Ferry is behind the shenanigans.

“I generally try to take his side,” said Snyder, a fellow co-captain. “When it comes to practical jokes, he’s a superpower and I’m more a Third World nation.”

“We all grew up in a household where you weren’t allowed to take yourself too seriously or somebody would jump on you,” said Bob Ferry.

It is that awareness of the situation and an ability to do as much as he can within the parameters facing him that makes Ferry such a good player. With his father playing and working in the NBA, Ferry has grown up around basketball and benefited from being around those who know the game.

Wes Unseld, now the Bullets’ coach, was a master of pushing, shoving, nudging for position under the basket. Though not all from Unseld, Ferry has learned the nuisances of a well-placed elbow, how to push the opposing rebounder in the small of his back without the official getting a good look. That experience, with a willingness to pass and the capablity to score on hook shots and three-pointers alike, makes Ferry a considerable threat.

“The way Danny should play the game is that things should just happen for him,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He is the focal point offensively for us. When you say that about a youngster, most interpret that as ‘He’s the guy they want to score.’ Well, yes and no.

“We want the ball to touch his hands. Then he’ll make a decision and we’ll make a decision on whether he shoots or passes. He can play all over the court and defensing him becomes a little tougher. If, say, I only played him inside, I’d be putting limits on his ability and making him easier to defend. I’d be doing two really bad things.”

Ferry did a lot of good things last season. The 6-foot-10, 230-pound then-junior led the ACC in scoring with 19.1 points per game. He was the leading rebounder and second to Snyder in assists for a team that won the ACC and reached the NCAA semifinals before losing to champion-to-be Kansas.

Ten of the 12 members of that team return, and the Blue Devils will have six players 6-10 or taller. Ferry must do yet more, but he will do it with a sense of humor, which can be especially handy for a team that does weightlifting at 6:30 a.m. and is doing aerobics under the direction of Jerri Spurrier, wife of football coach Steve Spurrier.

“The main thing for me in terms of leadership is doing it by example,” Ferry said. “This year, I’ve had to talk more, and as one of the co-captains I have the responsibility of getting people places and making sure everybody knows what is what. But on this team, that hasn’t been a problem, so I go out and try to play hard every practice. Hopefully, people will follow.”

The Blue Devils are glad Ferry is back to be followed. Last spring, he decided against entering the NBA draft, and took out an insurance policy on himself worth more than $1 million. Then, scrimmaging with the Bullets between Olympic team workouts, Ferry hurt his knee. He worked on it, but after tests revealed he had only 75% of normal strength, he wrestled with the conflict of wanting to be an Olympian while not wanting to jeopardize his senior season and an NBA career. So after talking with Olympic Coach John Thompson, who had a limited amount of time to pick a team, Ferry was released.

“I never felt as if I wasn’t getting a fair opportunity,” Ferry said. “I really appreciated the way Coach Thompson handled it.”

In its final form, the Olympic team’s strengths did not include outside shooting. Though Ferry won’t say it, his shot would have helped, especially when Hersey Hawkins hurt his knee and could not play against the Soviets in the semifinals.

“I think that’s something I could have helped with,” Ferry said Sunday at the ACC’s Operation Basketball. “I feel I’m a pretty good shooter, but they had good shooters, too. They just didn’t shoot well against the Russians.”

While Ferry’s knee healed just fine, he hurt a little watching the U.S. team in Seoul.

“It was disappointing for me,” Ferry said. “I’m not saying I would have made it, but when I hurt my knee, I lost my opportunity to complete trying out. The hard part was the first couple days and then when the Olympics came around. I wish I could’ve been a part of that. It was hard to watch, but it’s something I have to put behind me. Actually, I used it somewhat as a motivation for this year.”

This year is important because college teams usually are remembered for their seniors and Ferry wants to leave with an NCAA title. That dream and the one of playing in the NBA has a chance to be fulfilled because Ferry has progressed every year at Duke. Off the court, he is majoring in political science and has overcome his concerns that he wouldn’t be able to handle the academic load. On the floor, he has done more and his confidence has grown.

“Every year I felt more and more important on the team, and my confidence increased,” Ferry said. “It was a whole mind-set. As a freshman, maybe I didn’t want to shoot, so I’d give it to Johnny (Dawkins) so he could shoot because I knew he could do it better. But now, it’s to the point where I want the ball.”