team made the NBA playoffs six times. San Antonio Spurs After Ferry left the Cleveland Cavaliers, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent on August 10, 2000. As an off-the-bench shooter, Ferry played for San Antonio for three seasons and won an NBA championship with them in the 2002–03 season before retiring in 2003. Management career From 2003 to 2005, Ferry worked in the San Antonio Spurs' front office. On June 27, 2005, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Ferry to a five-year contract worth close to $10 million as their eighth general manager. Ferry began his management tenure with the Cavaliers overseeing a series of less-than-optimal transactions. Nonetheless, the team flourished with superstar LeBron James and newly installed head coach Mike Brown at the helm as the team made a series of serious postseason runs beginning in 2006. Ferry, Brown, and Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert began to add talent and depth to the Cavs' roster, notably acquiring one-time All-Star guard Mo Williams, former All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal, starting shooting guard Anthony Parker, forward Leon Powe, and former All-Star Antawn Jamison between 2008 and 2010. The personnel shuffling paid off in the 2008–09 season, when Cleveland not only won its first Central Division title since 1976 but also—for the first time ever—finished with the best record in the NBA. In the 2009–10 season, Cleveland repeated these feats, attaining the NBA's best record for the second consecutive season. The Cavaliers also reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 2007. On June 4, 2010, it was announced that Ferry and the Cavaliers had come to a mutual agreement to part ways. The Cavaliers went 272–138 during Ferry's tenure. In August 2010, Ferry returned to the Spurs as Vice President of Basketball Operations. On June 25, 2012, Ferry accepted a position as President of Basketball Operations and General Manager for the Atlanta Hawks. In June 2014, Ferry read aloud verbatim an "offensive and racist comment" written in a scouting report during a conference call about Miami Heat player Luol Deng. Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. called for him to resign or be dismissed. On September 9, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin announced that the team had decided not to dismiss Ferry and that they were instead going to discipline him. A few days later, Ferry asked to take—and was approved for—an immediate, indefinite leave of absence. In June 2015,