Jerry Colangelo’s Impact on the Philadelphia 76ers is Overrated

Many people praised the Philadelphia 76ers for hiring Jerry Colangelo to quickly improve a then 1-21 team and save a franchise that was perceived to be failing under general manager Sam Hinkie’s leadership.

While I can see Philadelphia 76ers’ vice president of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo making a difference one to two years from now, his impact on the team this season and upcoming free agency is likely overblown.

Colangelo’s big move to improve the team this season was trading two second round picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for Ish Smith. Giving up two second round picks for a player that will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and has played for ten different teams in a five-year career would usually be considered a slight overpay, but knowing Smith had success with Nerlens Noel last season, desperately needing a point guard, and potentially having four first round picks in the upcoming draft made the trade acceptable. Comparing last season’s run with Smith to this season’s run with Smith, it’s clear that he adds a short-term boost to the team before falling back to earth.

In the first 17 games Smith played for the Sixers in the 2014-2015 season the team had a 6-11 record, which was a big improvement over the 12-38 record they had before his arrival. The Sixers then loss their next ten games in a row with Smith missing only two of them. This season the Sixers went 5-13 in Smith’s first 19 games with the team — he didn’t play in his 20th game with the team that they won. The Sixers then lost their next 11 games in a row, with Smith playing. As someone that was deeply concerned that the Sixers were winning too much and hurting their lottery position due to Smith improving the team, I now realize that was a huge overreaction by me.

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Colangelo’s second big move to improve the team this season was bringing 36 year old power forward Elton Brand out of retirement. Two of the biggest issues people had with the Sixers under Hinkie was drafting players that didn’t play the entire season — Noel, Joel Embiid, and Dario Saric — and signing players whose careers previously featured time playing in the D-League that most people believe have no business playing in the NBA. There have been 25 games since Brand signed with the Sixers on January 4, 2016, and Brand didn’t to a play single second until the 26th game. Brand played a total of 13 minutes and 18 seconds against the Miami Heat thanks to injuries to Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and Nik Stauskas, but he did decent making 3 out of his 6 shots and grabbing 4 rebounds. Brand is likely to go back into retirement when the season is over and could be helping the team by giving advice to his much younger teammates, but the Sixers could have signed him as an assistant coach instead of having him use a roster spot that could be used on a player that didn’t need three starters to get injured to see any playing time.

Combining Colangelo’s previous moves with one failed trade deadline move that would have given the Sixers a future second round pick, it seems that Colangelo agrees with Hinkie that it’s in the Sixers best interest to have the worst record, which would logically hurt the team’s chances of luring free agents. Luring free agents was supposed to be Hinkie’s biggest weakness that Colangelo was brought in to fix and the Sixers will have enough cap space to offer multiple max contracts, so why would free agency not be a big part of the Sixers offseason plans?

Here’s a theory that’s been created by some fans and media members: Creating Phoenix Suns teams that went to the NBA Finals in 1976 and 1993 but did not win the championship either year, and helping team USA win gold medals in 2008 and 2012 are accolades of Colangelos. Jerry Colangelo could be the one person to convince good-to-star level players to overlook the Sixers record and toxic national image. I wish this theory was true, but there is a recent example that shows players don’t really care about the reputation or personal connection of the front office when choosing to join a team.

The Detroit Pistons signed NBA agent Arn Tellem as their vice chairman of Palace Sports Entertainment — this title and Colangelo’s position as chairman of basketball operations shows NBA teams makeup front office positions when they want to add a general manager like job when the position is filled — before 2015’s NBA free agency. Tellem was the agent to 2015 star free agent LaMarcus Aldridge, so it’s possible that the Pistons hiring Tellem would give them a shot to sign Aldridge despite their 32-50 record. While Aldridge ultimately signed with the San Antonio Spurs to have a realistic chance at winning the championship this season, the Pistons didn’t even get the courtesy of bragging to your fan base that an NBA star considered signing with you even though both sides knew there was a slim chance of that happening. Aldridge gave the 39-43 Suns got a feel good meeting and the 21-61 Lakers got two of them, after a rumored arrogant incapable of realizing he is washed up Kobe Bryant ruined the first meeting.

Next: Is the NBA Snubbing Sixers Players?

The point of this article isn’t to say signing Colangelo was a mistake, but people should slow down with the idea that Colangelo’s presence will magically turn around the team and accept that Sixers future success will be built around winning the lottery this year and improvement from Okafor, Embiid, Noel, and Saric.