The Sixer Sense
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Sixers to be Colangelo-free by end of 2018

By Stuart London

PHILADELPHIA,PA - DECEMBER 7: Hall of Famer Jerry Colangelo Joins Philadelphia 76ers as Special Advisor to Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations along side Owner Josh Harris and General Manager Sam Hinkie prior to the Philadelphia 76ers against the San Antonio Spurs at Wells Fargo Center on December 7, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA,PA - DECEMBER 7: Hall of Famer Jerry Colangelo Joins Philadelphia 76ers as Special Advisor to Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations along side Owner Josh Harris and General Manager Sam Hinkie prior to the Philadelphia 76ers against the San Antonio Spurs at Wells Fargo Center on December 7, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Jerry Colangelo will not have his contract renewed as an advisor to the Philadelphia 76ers when it expires at the end of the year. There were things he did, particularly in the beginning, that were helpful to the club.

For the first time since December 2015 the Philadelphia 76ers front office will soon not have any Colangelo’s.

The Washington Post quoted Jerry Colangelo as saying his contract as an special advisor to the 76ers will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the calendar year.

In a day that to Process supporters will live in infamy, Colangelo was named Chairman of Basketball Operations and Special Advisor to managing partner Joshua Harris on Dec. 7, 2015.

On an even darker day for Process people, on April 5, 2016, President of Basketball operations Sam Hinkie resigned and named to replace him, after a very short search, was Jerry’s son, Bryan Colangelo. His tenure ended in June 2018 due to reasons which Eric Jr. on Twitter can explain.

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Until the hiring of his unemployed for two-and-a-half years son ticked off a large number of fans, Jerry Colangelo’s hiring did have some good qualities and was not unwelcome to the Hinkie-Haters in the media.

Colangelo got involved at the recommendation (order?) of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to Harris.

While we curse under our breath at that memory, let us not forget the state of the Sixers when Colangelo was hired.

The 2015-16 season was the third year of ‘The Process’ with little on the court to show for it. The team had lost its first 18 games and was 1-20, with no signs of getting better any time soon.

Joel Embiid was in the second year of not playing due to a broken foot and rookie center Jahlil Okafor was showing how big a mistake Hinkie had made not taking Kristaps Prozingis instead.

The club had a stockpile of draft picks and injured future standouts, but the team they were putting out on the floor every night was a mess.

The 76ers could only dream of achieving the nine wins of the 1972-73 Sixers squad when Colangelo was appointed.

His first order business was to make the team at least able to bring the ball up the court, as on Dec. 24, with the team’s record now 1-30, he made Hinkie trade two second-round picks (and everyone knows Hinkie loved second-round picks like they were his own children) for Ish Smith.

Smith had looked good at the end of the previous season for the 76ers as a point guard, developing a nice rapport with Nerlens Noel. But Hinkie did not attempt to re-sign Smith. Maybe he thought he would make the team too good?

Even when Smith was cut by the Washington Wizards near the end of training camp, and even though by then it was obvious the Sixers were going to be a disaster at the point with the combo of a very green T.J. McConnell and veteran Kendall Marshall who was just coming back from knee injury, Hinkie did not make a move.

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A very good argument can be made that Hinkie would still be in charge of the club if Smith had been on the roster from the start of that season. They would not have been even respectable, maybe 5-16, but not so historically tragic where it forced Harris (or Silver?) to have to do something.

In his first game upon his return, Smith led the Sixers to a win over the Phoenix Suns (who were so embarrassed by this they soon fired the coach) and would win six of their next 15 games. The team ended up with 10 wins, awful, but at least not the worst ever.

Colangelo also looked at team’s organizational structure and openly wondered where all the basketball people were, as it was staffed with Hinkie’s analytics types. He began beefing up the basketball operations staff.

From the outside, it appeared Colangelo was suppose to be Hinkie’s Yoda, a wise advisor to guide the brilliant but inexperienced executive. Maybe it could have worked, Hinkie apparently was not against things being that way. However, Colangelo might not have been so sure, as his NBA and agent friends all despised Hinkie, mostly because he would not chit-chat and drove really hard bargains.

We will never know if the Hinkie-Colangelo partnership would have worked out. His son needed a job, and no one else in the NBA was giving him one despite being a two-time NBA Executive of the Year going on almost three years. Soon, Bryan had one and Hinkie did not.

It is not like Jerry Colangelo will have nothing to do when his 76ers duties end.

He is the President of USA Basketball and with the Olympics coming up in 2020 has plenty to do there. Since he took over, the United States has won the gold three straight times and all American basketball fans should commend him for the work he has done there.

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But his work in Philadelphia is done.

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