Ferry Isn’t Certain He’ll Return to the Cavs Next Year

AKRON, Ohio —  Danny Ferry, who plays basketball for Rome’s Il Messaggero team, is undecided about whether he will play for the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.

Cleveland owns the rights to Ferry, after a trade that sent Ron Harper to the Clippers. Ferry bypassed the Clippers to play in Italy, where he is averaging 22 points and earning $2 million.

Ferry said the NBA would be rougher on him.

“I am the first to admit that this isn’t the NBA,” he said in an interview published today in the Akron Beacon Journal. “It’s mostly like college ball. Some of it major college, some not.”

Basketball is relatively new to Italy, he said.

“Soccer still owns the country like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It is like baseball and football all put together. When there is a match, people carry the garbage out with transistor radios pressed to their ears.”

As fans filed into the Messaggero game recently, they carried radios and unleashed a huge cheer when a local soccer team scored a goal.

They also bring enthusiasm to basketball. Fans come to their feet for any dunk, regardless how mundane. They mockingly whistle when an opposing player has problems, and they take special delight at an opponent’s missed free throws.

The Italians permit each team to sign two foreigners, or “strangers,” as they are known. Usually the players are Americans, fading stars or players who spent most of their life on the end of an NBA bench.

The average American player earns about $300,000, the average Italian about $100,000. If a team is losing, the usual move is to dump the Americans and bring in two more.

“There are a lot of horror stories about guys being used,” Ferry said. “You have to be careful which team you sign with. Messaggero treats its players the best, but some of the others aren’t well run.”

The games seem to be slow, methodical and physical. Few shots are blocked; there is little quickness. It is definitely played under the rim.

“Rather than jump over you or go around, guys just go through you,” Ferry said.