Danny Ferry Still Thinks He Made the Right Choice : Basketball: Future in NBA remains on hold. He’s home for Christmas but will return to Italy where he says he’s happy.

Four months after shocking the basketball world by spurning the NBA to play in Italy, a homesick Danny Ferry is going back to America.

For Christmas.

Nearly halfway through the Italian regular season, Ferry is flying home today to spend the holiday with his family. But he’ll be back in a few days to rejoin Il Messaggero Roma for its next game.

Although his team is hovering around .500 and he admits he misses home and is still struggling to adjust to Italy, Ferry dismisses any speculation he might consider joining the NBA this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers recently traded for the rights to the former Duke All-American, who was the No. 1 pick of the Clippers in last spring’s NBA draft.

“I’m not thinking about that at all,” Ferry said after practice at Rome’s Palaeur arena. “I don’t think I should be at this point. Ideally, I’d like to finish this year real well and think about my options over the summer. The ownership here has given me no reason to think about going anywhere else.”

After rejecting the Clippers, Ferry signed a five-year deal with Messaggero that pays him about $1.5 million a season and gives him the option each summer to return to the NBA. Messaggero scored another coup by luring guard Brian Shaw away from the Boston Celtics.

Ferry makes no secret of his wish to play in the NBA some day, but he appears in no rush.

“At some point, that’s what I want to do,” he said. “But it wouldn’t be crazy if I came back here for another season. I’m here and I don’t think a lot of people expected that. Business-wise, this is an intelligent thing to do. There is a lot positive about being over here.”

Shaw, who has a two-year contract with Messaggero, said he’s keeping his options open.

“I haven’t closed the door on anything,” he said, adding that if he returns to the Celtics he wants a multiyear contract.

Going into Saturday night’s game against Phonola Caserta, Messaggero was 6-7 in regular season play but 7-1 in Cup play of Italy competition separate from league. Ferry was averaging 22 points and 6.8 rebounds in regular-season games; Shaw was averaging 23.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, both team highs.

“I think I’ve done OK. I’ve done fairly well,” Ferry said. “But I can improve. There are two or three games I’d like to have back and do over again.”

Those include last weekend’s one-point loss to Benetton Treviso in which Ferry scored only 17 points and missed key shots in the final two minutes. The Italian press took Ferry to task for his performance, but he wasn’t fazed.

“I think the press has been fairly good. When you win they’re with you. When you lose they’re on you. Fortunately I can’t read the newspapers.”

“Brian and I are both under a microscope,” he said. “All the Americans are.”

The pressure was especially intense at the start of the season when Messaggero lost five in a row after an opening-game victory. The team has since gone 5-2.

“The team started off so slowly,” Ferry said. “It was frustrating. I’ve never been on a team that started like that. But now the whole attitude is changing. Its more enjoyable. Now I’m enjoying the winning again.”

Ferry says he’s still learning the Italian style of play, which emphasizes set plays and good shooting and relies less on individual performance.

“I’m still adjusting to everything,” he said. “I think I will be adjusting all year. It’s so different. It’s basketball, yes, but it’s different from what I’m used to.”

He singled out the one-game-a-week schedule.

“It can wear on you. If you have a bad game, you have a long week ahead of you. You get antsy. Sure it’s a nice job and people say we have it easy. But I’d prefer to play several games a week.”

The fans are different, too. After a recent Cup of Italy road victory over Vismara Cantu, the Rome players needed a police escort to get to the team bus through a mob of 500 rock-throwing fans.

“It was kind of scary,” Ferry said. “For two kilometers on the highway, cars pulled up alongside our bus to throw rocks.”

Off the court, Ferry lives in a 13th century palazzo in the popular Trastevere section with the son of Raul Gardini, a millionaire media magnate. He takes Italian language courses three times a week and keeps track of the NBA through newspapers, television and phone calls home.

“Sure you get homesick,” he said. “Every player would say so. It’s nice here. But it’s not home. I miss people, my family, friends, the easiness of life. Here you’re so dependent on people. I’m really looking forward to getting home.”