With Jerry Colangelo’s arrival, the Philadelphia 76ers became “old school” vs. “new school”. Unfortunately, “old school” has won.
You’ve seen the science-fiction movies. A scientist or engineer makes a great discovery, years of intensive focused sacrifice to invent a device “for the good of man”. Ultimately, the government powers that be determine the device is too powerful to remain in private hands, and takes the device as part of eminent domain. We know the carnage that happens next. In similar fashion, Jerry Colangelo, a man of distinction arrived to the Philadelphia 76ers organization at the insistance of majority owner Joshua Harris. His goal was formally announced as Chairman of Basketball Operations, and casually described as a go between from the doings of the team to detail the front office actions to increasingly nervous ownership.
Apparently “Trust The Process” was never more than a marketing campaign to either Jerry Colangelo nor to the owners.
ESPN sources say Sam Hinkie has stepped down from his posts in Philadelphial
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 7, 2016
When Jerry Colangelo arrived to the Philadelphia 76ers, the first rumors to follow along behind him were that he would supplant then current president and general manager Sam Hinkie with his son, Bryan Colangelo. But that rumor subsided as the trilogy of Sam Hinkie, Jerry Colangelo, and Brett Brown seemed to find a sort of symbiosis – a relative matter of mutual respect for where the Philadelphia 76ers were and where they intended to go. Then, on April 6, 2016, everything began to spiral out of control.
You see, this is the home stretch, virtually the first off-season where the team would no longer take a long-term approach. In the coming months, words fell from all of the Sixers who mattered that this would be an off-season with free agency. We already know that both Dario Saric and Joel Embiid, each a first round draft choice from the 2014 NBA draft, will be joining the team. And then the final element of bright hope – as many as four first round NBA draft picks in the 2016 NBA draft. We know that Sam Hinkie has loaded up the current roster with developing talent, talent which many scoff at on the Sixers roster, but that same talent continues to find a home on basketball courts worldwide. Apparently Sam Hinkie has two incredible talents. He finds basketball talent in overlooked places and signs the players to very team friendly contracts. The other talent? He has amassed so many assets for the team heading into the 2016 off-season that he has been deemed “unworthy” of handling this any further.
Next: Smiling Faces... Smiling Faces
Smiling faces, smiling faces…
And so, the patient “have faith” guiding hand of executive Jerry Colangelo proved to have no faith at all. The man who has a reputation of seeing it all and having been there done that swept in within four months and directed the team to… hire his son, Bryan Colangelo, as a general manager.
Sixers issuing statement soon on Hinkie resignation, with Bryan Colangelo on his way into his third GM job in league, sources say.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 7, 2016
And so, just as was once the case in the the yesteryear of the Phoenix Suns run from the 2003-2006 era, the triad of Mike D’Antoni, Bryan Colangelo, and Jerry Colangelo have replaced Sam Hinkie’s , who was on the verge of realizing his vision for the team. But as so many science fiction story plots reveal, when there are assets to use, trust flies out the window. The hinted at clues had been coming all along. Jerry Colangelo did not balk in the commentary that the Philadelphia 76ers did not have enough “basketball minds”.
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Now the debate will rage. Can the performance of president and general manager Sam Hinkie truly be judged on the win loss record of this team? I don’t think so, because so many events which occurred time and time again fell the wrong way for the team. Not one first round protected pick conveyed in the 2015 NBA draft. Joel Embiid required an additional year of rehab. The simplistic conclusion is that the Philadelphia 76ers tanked one year too long. But the true answer is that the Philadelphia 76ers are positioned to improve rapidly going forward.
And when it comes to sharing the credit for the improvement, it seems that the Colangelo family feels that it’s best to keep it all in the family.
The ironic thing is the #sixers just hired a replacement for Sam Hinkie who has ... admitted to tanking.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) April 7, 2016
Next: Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
Well, It’s very clear that the direction of the team has changed. What is that shift? Well it’s both directional and speed. It’s quite clear to all that the days of drafting and dealing in the second round of the NBA draft has gone the same way as the willingness of the Philadelphia 76ers to absorb castaway player contracts for a fee of draft picks as compensation. The days of signing talent to contracts and then sending them onto the basketball court to see if they can hold their own against the likes of NBA competition will likely be a thing of the past as well.
The Philadelphia 76ers are impatient. As painful as that sounds, feels, and seems to those who have patiently awaited the day when the Philadelphia 76ers would grow their team from the humble beginnings of marginal rookie seasons into a host of six year savvy NBA veterans, it is the course now.
That certainly places names on the “will listen to offers” which I had thought, and hoped, would not be available to be traded. In the days ahead, I expect trade rumors to heat up on both Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel. Not just one, but both. It would seem as though the team is prepared to entrust the advent of Joel Embiid, and that means that the team wants to build a team around the big man. Dario Saric’s arrival will slot into the power forward role. That leaves the team shopping or drafting for the small forward, shooting guard, and point guard positions.
The speed at which the team has already announced the intention to hire Jerry Colangelo’s son Bryan as general manager of the team suggests that this was not in response to the resignation of Hinkie, but rather was a cause of that resignation. In fact, that may have been one of the key elements which persuaded Jerry Colangelo to return to an NBA teams front office initially. Rather than his appearance immediately generate a hiring of his son, the four month delay gives an impression that it was not already a done deal back in December.
But a hiring of that magnitude, even in the instance of a father and a son, is not merely a phone call. The background of selling the candidacy to owners would take time to prepare, present, and then discuss. The background of selling the opportunity to his son, who had already begun the process of becoming a Canadian citizen, would likely have been equally as long. In fact, the timeline for today’s events likely were seeds that were planted as early as January. Such is the business side of the NBA.
Next: Phoenix Suns II
Phoenix Suns II
With the exception of head coach Brett Brown, the 2016-2017 Philadelphia 76ers decision makers are the same as that of the Phoenix Suns at the turn of the century. From the hiring of Mike D’Antoni as head coach until Bryan Colangelo resigned to assume the general manager duties of the Toronto Raptors. While Colangelo experienced success with the Phoenix Suns, he did not achieve similar results in Toronto.
Since the assembly of new faces onto this team will likely struggle early, I am no longer certain that head coach Brett Brown will be part of the long term solution to this team either. Brown clearly worked very well with Sam Hinkie, embraced his analytics use in player decisions, and developed the roster as best as he could. But with a new general manager, and with the history of the Colangelo/Colangelo/D’Antoni relationship already firmly entrenched, the first sign of any struggle by the organization next season will be reason enough for the team to part ways with Brown, and promote D’Antoni.
While many of us had hoped for the Sixers to convert the abundance of big men into a big ball version going forward, that seems highly unlikely now that Sam Hinkie is no longer with the team. It was his vision of securing the post with huge highly talented bodies. Now, the Colangelo X 2 plus D’Antoni suggest that the team will pursue the Golden State Warriors and their own model they had introduced in Phoenix at the turn of the century. Two way, ball handling, perimeter shooting small ball roster could be the plan now. In these early stages, where speculation can only be based on history from some long ago, that appears to be the most logical direction for this team now.
Next: Sam Hinkie to Philadelphia 76ers: It’s Not Me, It’s You
With the imminent hiring of Bryan Colangelo, the Philadelphia 76ers have reassembled the same group that had some success in Phoenix with Steve Nash and company. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think? On the verge of everything Sam Hinkie has worked for to finally come together, but just weeks before he is slated for demotion as a result? I bet Alanis Morissette would have a field day writing a song about this one. But I’m glad she never will, I won’t need any reminders over the events of this day.