The Philadelphia 76ers had legitimate reasons to fire Sam Hinkie, but the Chairman of Basketball Operations Jerry Colangelo choosing his son Bryan Colangelo to replace him is disgraceful.
I was disappointed when Sam Hinkie resigned, but understood the decision. The Philadelphia 76ers failed to win the lottery after twice finishing the 2013-14 season 19-63 and the 2014-2015 season 18-64, will barely finish the 2015-16 with double digit wins, both of his lottery picks in the 2014 draft are yet to play a single game for the Sixers, and he has done nothing to improve the team in free agency. While I personally agreed with majority of Hinkie’s decision during his time as general manager and wish he was given this upcoming draft and free agency before being pushed to resign by Jerry Colangelo, the idea that the Sixers wanted to make sure they had the best person they could find to lead the Sixers to the next phase of rebuild and weren’t sure Hinkie was that person is a decision I can accept.
What I can’t accept is choosing his replacement based on who he is related to instead of his ideas for moving the team forward or resume.
I have supported and defended this ownership after the disastrous Andrew Bynum trade and soon to be three horrifically bad seasons believing that once the Sixers had enough draft picks, prospects, and cap space they would be able to build a team that could compete for a championship, but now that time has arrived, they decide to allow nepotism to be the likely deciding facture on who should lead this team forward.
Based on reports, it wasn’t even Sixers owner Joshua Harris’ idea to hire Jerry Colangelo in the first place and then to allow him to just hire his son without conducting a real general manager search is a slap in the face of Sixers fans that believed what the organization was telling them. I imagine the conversation between Joshua and Jerry on who to hire after Hinkie resigned happening like this.
“Josh, it’s Jerry and we need to talk about making big changes with your team,” Colangelo said.
“Jerry? Is this about the Devils? I thought I made myself clear that we would discuss them missing the playoffs next month,” Harris said.
“No, I’m Jerry Colangelo your Chairman of Basketball Operations for the Sixers. Hinkie just quit being GM and my son Bryan needs a job, so I wanted to make sure it was ok for me to hire him?”
“That’s right, you’re the guy Adam Silver recommended I hire for that other team I own that’s not right outside of New York where I live. Listen Jerry, I have distressed businesses to buy, strip to the core, and sell for immense profit, so do whatever you want with the Sixers and don’t bother me if there isn’t a major PR issue.”
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The conflict I’m having is similar to the one fellow Sixer Sense writer Jack Davis explained in his article calling the Sixers a no good franchise and Rob Bauer’s article detailing the ownership’s flaws makes it even harder for me to have any faith in this team. Being a Sixers fan has always been like being a fan of a favorite TV show that I would watch every time there is a new episode. It didn’t matter how many people said that show sucked and questioned how anyone could possibly enjoy that show, I would defend it and be proud to be supporting it.
While the Sixers only had a few great episodes during the Allen Iverson seasons and the quality of the show usually varied from “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” to “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” during my time watching it, I never thought I would stop watching the show until now. If the Sixers manage to win a NBA championship, I’m not sure I’ll be happy that I finally got to see the team I rooted for since I was a child win a championship or disgusted that Joshua Harris and Jerry and Bryan Colangelo won one. With this in mind, I’m not sure I can still consider myself a 76ers fan. At the very least, I need consoling from Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers fans on how to support a team with management that you can’t stand.
It’s possible Bryan Colangelo does a good job as general manager. Michael Grange wrote a very positive article detailing Bryan’s life after he resigned as President of the Toronto Raptors and how he should get some credit for the team’s current success. While his Raptors teams did miss the playoffs five years in a row before he resigned, he publicly admitted to tanking the 2011-12 NBA season, and most recently failed to convince the Brooklyn Nets to hire him as general manager, he did win executive of the year twice. With all the resources the Sixers have this upcoming offseason and Bryan’s track record of drafting Andrea Bargnani with the top pick of the 2006 draft and giving Landry Fields a big contract, the worst case scenario would only be drafting Dragan Bender with the first overall pick and giving Kent Bazemore a max contract.
Next: Hinkie Innovated More Than Just Player Selection
Whether or not I still consider myself a fan of the team, going forward I plan on being fair to the team and looking at the pros and cons of any moves they make, but wanted to use this one article to explain my issues with the Bryan Colangelo hiring.