Hawks submit Budenholzer for Executive of the Year consideration

There was bound to be some awkwardness when it came to the potential Executive of the Year candidacy for Atlanta Hawks general manager Danny Ferry, who's been on a leave of absence since racist comments he made about Luol Deng became public in September. 

As Ferry has languished in exile, the Hawks have taken off, winning a franchise-record 60 games (and counting) and locking up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in more than 20 years. 

Rather than recognizing their absentee GM, the Hawks have submitted head coach Mike Budenholzer - who has served as the acting head of basketball operations all season - for Executive of the Year consideration, according to Chris Vivlamore Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In a way this is understandable, given that somebody in the Hawks organization obviously deserves recognition and it would be odd to pull Ferry back into the limelight when nobody has quite decided what his role (if he has one at all) with the Hawks will be moving forward. 

Budenholzer has done a wonderful job crafting a system and molding a roster without a true superstar into a 60-win juggernaut, and he's sure to garner serious attention for Coach of the Year. But he hasn't made any personnel decisions (aside from the decision to stand pat at the trade deadline) since taking over as an interim front office executive. 

Ferry hasn't been heard from in months, but the team excelling this season is one he carefully assembled, making savvy moves like shedding Joe Johnson's cumbersome contract, signing Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll to bargain free-agent deals, bringing Kyle Korver aboard, and extending Jeff Teague on the cheap. 

But the Hawks felt they needed a candidate, and they obviously didn't want it to be Ferry. Perhaps a vote for Budenholzer will simply represent a vote for the entire organization. In a season in which the team's entire starting five won Player of the Month, that seems about right.