If the Nets were to hire Danny Ferry as their next GM, the first two questions would be about what got him dumped in Atlanta, his repetition of a Hawks scout's racially insensitive remarks about Luol Deng. The third would be about his relationship with Billy King.

Still, Stefan Bondy reports --and NetsDaily can confirm-- Ferry is part of the mix of candidates for the Nets GM job as is Bryan Colangelo. Multiple sources say the Nets are encouraged by the interest in both GM and head coaching jobs, but the search is in its infancy.

"League sources outside of the direct search told the Daily News that they expect the Nets to look at two other experienced candidates for GM -- Danny Ferry and Bryan Colangelo," writes Bondy, who notes that before his ouster in Atlanta, Ferry was a respected NBA executive. Ferry's reputation since the controversy has been endorsed by a number of people, including King and more importantly, Adam Silver, who's said it should not hurt his chances for a new job. An outside counsel's investigation of the incident also cleared him of any racial motivation in repeating his scout's comments.

Mikhail Prokhorov did interview Ferry for the GM job in 2010, but Ferry dropped out when he learned King, his long time friend and Duke teammate, was also in the running. Ferry had just been ousted from his job as GM of the Cavs. He was then hired as vice-president of basketball operations by the Spurs. In 2012, Ferry became GM of he Hawks. He built the Hawks into a team that, with minor tweeks, won the Eastern Conference last season.

Prokhorov told Sarah Kustok Monday that he has assembled "a small team to put forward the list of possible names." According to reports, the group includes Dmitry Razumov, CEO of ONEXIM and chairman of the Nets board; Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment; Irina Pavlova, CEO of ONEXIM Sports & Entertainment and Prokhorov's representative in New York; as well as Sergey Kuschenko, also a member of the Nets board and former GM of CSKA Moscow. Prokhorov returned to Moscow after Monday's loss to the Spurs.

The Nets owner told Monday's press conference, "As soon as we have our decision, it's better to start early than later. So now, we have very good position. We have the opportunity to meet people, to discuss strategy. We're not in a rush in making any deals. We're not in a rush of finding people, so we have time."