December 09, 2015
Strictly in terms of keeping the news under wraps, the Sixers deserve full marks. When Jerry Colangelo walked through the doors with Joshua Harris and Sam Hinkie at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday afternoon, nobody knew what was coming. That includes this dummy, who tweeted out his surprise in real time:
Jerry Colangelo?
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) December 7, 2015
Floored. I think that is the word which best describes my reaction to the Sixers’ hiring of Colangelo as Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations. With all of the information that has been trickling in over the past 24 hours — The multiple reports that Adam Silver stepped in, for instance — there has been quite a bit to take in.
More than 24 hours later, here are five thoughts on what Harris, Colangelo, and Hinkie said Monday:
Colangelo came right out and described how short the timeline of his hiring was. The possibility wasn’t on his radar even a week and a half ago, which is precisely when Jahlil Okafor found trouble in Boston. The initial TMZ video opened up the floodgates, and all of the rookie’s off-court missteps became public knowledge over the next few days.
Whether the initiative started with Silver or Harris himself, the Sixers clearly felt compelled to move quickly.
“This season to date has not been easy for us and even more difficult than we anticipated,” Harris said. “Our situation necessitated a review to make our organization better.”
“We’re always looking to add world-class talent to this organization. Obviously, we’ve had a tough start. When you go through a tough start, you think about it, you keep working on it, and it came to me. I was racking my brain.”
Would a change have been made at this moment if the Sixers were 10-11 and Okafor’s nights solely consisted of playing Xbox?
“I believe that it would make sense anyway,” Harris said. “Again, if you want to attract great free agents and understand who they are, why wouldn’t you want Jerry Colangelo around your team? Even if you were the Warriors, why wouldn’t you want it?”
All fair points, but why not make the move this summer when there is little else going on? The timing leads you to believe that someone wasn’t happy with how things were progressing, even if it might not have been Harris.
(Also, regardless of why the move was made, I’m sure the Sixers don’t mind all of the attention being taken off their rookie center at the moment.)
From ESPN’s Zach Lowe less than a week ago:
Philly hasn't always been polite about this stuff, and they also haven't always had time to observe the niceties. Agents today are talking a big game today about how this will cost Philly down the line when the Sixers finally want to sign players. Some agents claim they have already steered willing guys away.
The Sixers certainly aren't getting stars until they're at least mediocre. They reached out to the camps of both Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard during free agency last summer, got the expected cold shoulder, and went elsewhere. Studs who can earn the same maximum salary anywhere aren't choosing a losing team.
It’s hard to read too much into Hinkie’s ability to lure players to Philly when the team’s philosophy has been to punt on free agency outside of A-level players, but the negative perception is spelled out right there in Lowe’s piece. Since “The Process” started, the question was whether or not agents would push clients away from Philly if and when the Sixers became a contender and logical destination for established vets.
The hiring of Colangelo seems like a move made in part (and maybe more than that) to assuage those fears and develop some goodwill with agents.
“The one thing I was proud of in my career with the Bulls and Suns, I went through four-and-a-half decades in basketball on a handshake,” Colangelo said. “So my relationship with the agents and players was based on trust. Now that’s an element that can be significant in terms of value to a franchise.”
It’s not just past NBA experience that the Sixers are getting, either. For the third time in eight years this upcoming summer, Colangelo will be in charge of putting together the greatest basketball team in the world in preparation for the Olympics.
“Think about it, he knows all the best players and decides what happens in many cases in those organizations [USA Basketball, Naismith Hall of Fame],” Harris said. “Who wouldn’t want him? It’s a real asset for us.”
“I do think he brings a lot to the table with possibly attracting free agents, helping us evaluate players that are in the league, or even going into the league.”
Harris said the Sixers are entering the next phase of their plan. Brett Brown said that the organization would take a more serious look at free agency with Colangelo in the fold. From here, the question is which type of free agents the Sixers will target (still only stars?) and actually be able to land.
Regardless of how you ultimately see the new front office shaking out — Either Colangelo taking over the team with Hinkie ultimately on the way out, or Colangelo in an advisory role mostly meant to aid Hinkie and publicly cover up any perceived weaknesses — it’s impossible to deny that Colangelo brings a different set of eyes to The Process.
The fresh perspective might not just be exclusive to the executive role. Think about how many comparisons were made between how Hinkie ran the Sixers and how the ownership group ran their own businesses. Then read this quote from yesterday.
“I think it’s been a learning experience for the ownership,” Colangelo said. “They haven’t been in this business. This is a unique business. People can be very successful selling widgets, real estate, whatever it may be, and much of that can be transferred into the sports world. But part of it is learning it’s a different culture.”
Colangelo noticeably volunteered distinctions between his own philosophy and Hinkie’s a couple of other times, first on the subject of media availability and then about the team’s need for veteran players on the court.
"There needs to be some support within the organization around the players," Colangelo said. "There seems to be a void of leadership player-wise. That is a reflection of the youth of the players."
Hinkie wasn’t denying that the front office will have a new voice, but he made Colangelo sound more like a resource. Admittedly, Colangelo said this would be the case multiple times as well (and not so much a few other times, but still). Here is how Hinkie described their dynamic:
“I sort of view Jerry almost in that group [with the owners], as someone else that I can bounce ideas off of, use as a resource as many hours as he would give me, that will pick up the phone when I call and say, ‘Have you seen a situation like this?’”
This needs to be mentioned more than once: If you took Harris, Hinkie, and Colangelo at their word on Monday, Hinkie is still ultimately running the show. When asked who makes the final call, Colangelo specifically said Hinkie would.
"Ultimately, someone will make the call and Sam is in the position where he will make the call on the final decision," Colangelo said. "But that's after a lot of collaboration and discussion with us."
There are a lot of reports about Colangelo taking over the team, but many of his statements at Monday’s press conference and also on Tuesday included words like “collaboration” and “help.” What does that really mean?
“My job is to be here to help in all of those areas,” Colangelo said after talking about the team’s strengths and weaknesses. “So I think there is a lot that can be done to be helpful, but it’s in the form of being helpful before major decisions are really made.”
“Largely, what I see is there will be someone new in the mix and someone, let’s be clear, in all scenarios has got to be value added to that discussion” Hinkie said. “At the end of the day, I make my recommendations. At the end of the day, Josh and his partners decide if they agree with that and if that’s what best. I don’t see really see that changing.”
Will the owners agree less now because of Colangelo’s input, though?
Jerry Colangelo is 76 years old and he lives in Arizona. At this stage of his life, there is little reason to think he could or would want to handle the day-to-day operations of running the Sixers. On the other hand, considering his reputation and personality, it’s also difficult to believe he just came aboard to become the face of The Process.
After doing a Sixers Beat Podcast on the subject, I realized that we mostly spoke about Hinkie like he was a goner. This wasn’t my intent. While more than a few sources are reporting the story that way, I think it’s reasonable to wait and see how this Hinkie/Colangelo front office operates for a few months before making any definitive judgments.
Then again, maybe those judgments will be obvious by then.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
