Things could have gone worse. Things could not have gone that much worse, but nobody's on crutches, at least. The Atlanta Hawks have been shaken to their figurative core, though. The team is up for sale, the squad's ostensible (and failed) leader is on indefinite leave , and the franchise has done little to enhance its roster in spite of a momentum shifting playoff turn, heaps of cap room, and decades-long presence in the jewel of the American south. Its prized free agent played a total of five seconds in his last team's final game of its playoff run. Its second-year coach now has to run both the front office and work the sidelines. Its general manager only makes news these days when some NBA legend or would-be Hawk goes on record to call him not racist. Not "racist," but "not racist." Such a wonderful distinction! That GM, NBA lifer Danny Ferry, did well to partially blow up the staid operation that was the Atlanta Hawks after taking over in 2012. He dumped Joe Johnson's millstone of a contract , earned draft picks, refused to fall in love with what Josh Smith could do, and he appears to have done a sound job in his latest attempt at raiding Gregg Popovich's staff –...