Inside the Quitting of Bryan Colangelo’s Last Job

Employers should be familiar with how their employees left their last job, how did Bryan Colangelo leave his?

Do you recall the last time you applied for a job, or were called in for an interview? Some of the questions asked on applications and in person are pretty generic, and the one that is probably most commonly asked (aside from “are you a felon?”) is “may we contact your past employers?”

There’s a reason for this. Often, history has a tendency to repeat itself, and often, people have a tendency to repeat past actions, especially in the workplace. If someone has a bad habit practiced in their previous job, there’s a good chance that they will carry it over to their next one.

Before he joined the Sixers in 2016, Colangelo was employed with the Toronto Raptors as the team’s president and general manager.

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Before we get to the termination of Colangelo’s employment, let’s look a little at his history with running the Raptors.

Once Vince Carter left the team, they were in need of a new franchise player. That player looked like it would be Chris Bosh, and Charlie Villanueva was seemingly hindering his development. Bryan shipped Villanueva for T.J. Ford, who was supposed to be a solid point guard for the team. Fans were split on this move, for the most part.

Following that, Colangelo selected Andrea Bargnani with the top overall pick in the NBA Draft, and Bargnani ended up being one of the most disappointing top overall picks in recent draft history, despite it being looked at as the right decision at the time.

Following these moves, Colangelo won the Executive of the Year award in the NBA after the team really turned things around and won their division, finishing with a record good enough to get them into the playoffs. Those who were skeptical when the moves happened had their doubts for the most part answered.

The following year, Colangelo traded T.J. Ford — the player that came Toronto’s way as a result of the Villanueva trade — for Jermaine O’Neal, which ended up being a bad move. O’Neal had so many injuries that he didn’t end up playing out as expected for the Raptors.

That same season, Colangelo fired his head coach and promoted an assistant to the vacant position.

What comes next is a bit strange. There is hardly any notable moves made by the Raptors organization from an executive standpoint in between the 2008 season — which was Colangelo’s first move that he saw through that turned out poorly — and the 2013 season, when he left the team.

Colangelo ended up resigning from the team in 2013, just four days before the NBA Draft, after the team announced they were looking for a new general manager but were looking to retain Colangelo as the president.

In this gray area of time where Colangelo didn’t make many executive moves, the Raptors never made the playoffs, and never booked a winning season.

What can the Sixers gather from this?

Mostly, it’s not good. But, in an optimistic sense, I’ll start with what the Sixers can take from his time with the Raptors in a positive light.

The first few seasons of Colangelo’s reign with the Raptors went well. He made some moves that were short-sighted — something that won’t sit all that well with Sixers fans — but was still able to do enough to push his team to the playoffs and also win the Executive of the Year Award.

He also landed some big trades that were, at the time, mostly good.

Colangelo really only had one hugely negative event. which was the Jermaine O’Neal trade. But after that, Colangelo seemingly forgot about all his duties with the team, going quiet for several seasons. With a team such as the Sixers, and plenty of things that could possibly go wrong within just the first season of Colangelo’s employment with the team, that’s not a good track record.

What we will need to see is Colangelo acknowledging mistakes — should he make them — right away, and also not be afraid to still make executive moves after making those mistakes.

The fact that he may now recognize 76ers talent better certainly could help him make decisions and power moves leading up to next season.

In some ways, Colangelo was very much a Hinkie-like general manager (as far as making big deals each year) until he made that one crucial mistake. From there on out, he stopped being a deal maker. Hinkie, on the other hand, was different. Even when he made mistakes, he powered through and still looked to make deals to put the Sixers in the best position possible.

Next: Does Colangelo Recognize Sixers Talent?

Colangelo could learn from Hinkie, as well as his departure from his past job, here, and the Sixers should be well aware of his previous mistakes, and be sure that history does not repeat itself.