Hawks GM Ferry fined for post-game interaction with referees

The NBA fined Danny Ferry on Monday. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) ByBen Golliver Nobody went home happy with the officials following a Sunday night game

The NBA fined Danny Ferry on Monday. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

ByBen Golliver

Nobody went home happy with the officials following a Sunday night game between the Celtics and Hawks.

The NBA announced Monday that Hawks GM Danny Ferry has been fined $15,000 for "inappropriate interaction with the game officials following the game" after Boston beat Atlanta 89-81 at Philips Arena. Also on Monday, the NBA suspended Celtics guard Rajon Rondo one game for chest bumping referee Rodney Mott during the game's fourth quarter.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Ferry "handed game officials a DVD" citing "a person familiar with the situation." Presumably, the DVD of the game was delivered as a passive-aggressive commentary on the quality of the officiating.

By NBA standards, $15,000 is about as soft as it gets when it comes to fines and Ferry surely understood that he was running the risk of punishment from the league office when he took his unusual post-game action. The NBA has a formal system for submitting disputed calls; hand-delivering evidence of alleged incompetence to the referees is not part of that system.

Ferry was signed by the Hawks to a six-year contract back in June. He was the Cavaliers' GM from 2005 to 2010 before taking a position in the Spurs' front office.