Early Monday evening, 76ers co-managing owner Josh Harris introduced Jerry Colangelo as the organization’s Special Advisor and Chairman of Basketball Operations. In Colangelo, the team will be obtaining a respected, successful, veteran basketball resource. He’s accumulated nearly half a century worth of experience and wisdom during his Naismith Hall of Fame career, currently highlighted by his stint as Chairman and Managing Director of U.S.A. Basketball.”We’re always looking to add world-class talent to this organization,” Harris said in explaining the move. “I was racking my brain. I think we’re ready to go to the next phase. I think Jerry’s contacts, his standing in USA Basketball, the Hall of Fame. He knows every player, every coach, a lot of people. I think his knowledge and everything else will be invaluable.”
Colangelo came into his own over the course of a lengthy tenure with the Phoenix Suns. When the expansion franchise lured him away from the Chicago Bulls in 1968, he was, at the time, the youngest general manager in the NBA. He went on to earn NBA Executive of the Year honors in 1977, 1982, 1990, and 1984. The Illinois native also played a pivotal management role in launching both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Coyotes.
Harris first approached Colangelo about an opportunity with the Sixers a week and a half ago. Colangelo said he, President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Sam Hinkie, and the rest of the Sixers’ front office will use a “collaborative effort” to make decisions with “the same idea in mind.”
Colangelo said, “Through the experiences I’ve had, I think there’s something that I can offer which will be very helpful to the franchise, and that’s to Sam, by way of example, who has a great reputation as a young mind in this game. He has a plan, and that’s something that we’re going to continue to talk about. I’m intrigued, quite honestly. Through those experiences, I think I can offer a lot of mentoring to Sam, to help him in his job to make him even better at what he does. And then on an ownership basis, since I spent a lot of time in ownership in basketball and baseball, I’m making myself available to Josh and his partners, because I’ve been there and done that.”
“I’m excited about this. It’s nice to feel that there’s someone there who feels you have something to offer at this stage of my life.”
Hinkie himself believes the addition of Colangelo will bring benefits.
“I feel really good about this,” Hinkie said. “I’m so big on diversity of opinion, and people having their own ideas, and being a meritocracy of ideas where the best ideas win. In any meeting, we’re constantly trying to pit someone as the Devil’s advocate, someone to take the other side, someone to make a new, clever argument from their unique experience. Often, those opinions are best formed out of a diversity of experiences as well. So being able to have someone like this in our group, I think that’s really positive.”
Having logged 15 years of experience in the NBA, Brett Brown has admired Colangelo’s achievements from afar, and pointed to one specific aspect of Colangelo’s approach that has left a lasting impression.
“I think just getting stuff done, making stuff happen, not being afraid to follow his gut,” Brown said of Colangelo. “Historically, you just look at what he has made happen, guot stuff done, grabbed things and moved them forward. You can’t help but think that will be what he does with us.”Over the past three days, Colangelo has worked hard to obtain as much information as possible about the Sixers to prepare himself for his new assignment. “My iPad is full,” he said.Colangelo plans to maintain a primary residence in the Phoenix area, which he called “homebase.””With technology, you’re as close as the time you want to put into it,” Colangelo said. “There’s a commitment to be involved with as much time as I am capable of giving, or what’s required or necessary. In my lifetime, I’ve never taken on a responsibility where I haven’t given it my best.”
