Nepotism Now? Seriously?
The problem now becomes who is best qualified to lead this team, spend these riches, and grow this roster into a championship caliber NBA franchise worthy of the lauded history of the Philadelphia 76ers? Well, based on the way the Sixers conducted their search, it was slated to be Bryan Colangelo all along, from the moment the team brought his daddy Jerry Colangelo into the fold. Something so historically significant cheapened to an obvious form of nepotism calls serious question into the commitment to improve this team at a minimum, and poses serious concerns as to whether the franchise has any interest in winning an NBA championship in its worst form.
There was time to consider several candidates. There is plenty of time for this franchise to remove Jerry Colangelo from the obvious conflict of interest situation, and conduct a four or five candidate search which would have tempered the concerns of a fan base which waited patiently for this off-season. Now, instead of being a house united in our off-season of glory, marching into the off-season together, the irresponsible methods used by this franchise have left us all feeling like employees of a company recently bought up in a hostile takeover. We know what comes next – layoffs and hard times, for a place we had shared the pain of patiently awaiting this moment in the sun.
Shame on you Philadelphia 76ers.
The backlash of the events which resulted in the vacated general manager position could have been minimized if the team had conducted itself as any other NBA franchise might have in these circumstances. Instead, they fell upon the back room handshake deals that come with Jerry Colangelo, a mover and shaker of the NBA in the capacity of the USA Team for the Olympics, but which no longer have a place in the running of an NBA franchise. What the Philadelphia 76ers fans have been asked to accept is that the most qualified candidate to run the team going forward is the son of the guy who was responsible for losing the last guy? No matter what the actual reasons, this is too much to ask of any fan base, particularly one that has been so loyal in support of a team that struggle to win games for three years.
Next: Ferry Was A Better Option