If president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo gets fired over an alleged Twitter scandal, he will be remembered for several important decisions that set the direction of the franchise, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Pompey states that Colangelo’s best move in his two-year tenure has been drafting Ben Simmons with the top pick in 2016. Although it seems like an easy choice now, Pompey recalls a debate over whether Simmons or Brandon Ingram was the better selection.
On the downside, Colangelo will be remembered for a bold move to trade up to No. 1 in last year’s draft. He wound up with Markelle Fultz, who played just 14 games as a rookie, while the Celtics landed a potential star in Jayson Tatum, along with another first-rounder in 2019.
Colangelo also got very little in return when he traded lottery picks Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, Pompey adds. Opposing GMs knew he wanted to unload both young centers and took advantage of his position. Colangelo sent Noel to Dallas for Justin Anderson and Andrew Bogut, who was bought out, plus a pair of second-round picks. Okafor was dealt to the Nets along with Nik Stauskas and two second-rounders for Trevor Booker, who asked to be waived two months later when the Sixers signed Ersan Ilyasova.
There’s more this morning from Philadelphia:
- Colangelo will have a difficult time keeping his job, no matter what happens in the investigation, contends Scott Stinson of The National Post. Even if his wife or another family member was running the Twitter “burner” accounts, the information passed on was too damaging to overlook, Stinson writes.
- LeBron James tops the Sixers’ free agent wish list, but the team will have to make moves to improve its bench if he doesn’t come to town, notes Jessica Camerato of NBC Sports Philadelphia. There could be plenty of turnover this summer with Ilyasova, Marco Belinelli and Amir Johnson all headed for free agency and the team holding an option on Richaun Holmes. Camerato looks at the NBA Finals rosters and identifies six possibilities for the Sixers: Jeff Green, Rodney Hood and Jose Calderon from the Cavaliers and Nick Young, David West and Kevon Looney from the Warrriors.
- Being part of the third annual NBA Africa Game in August will be important for Cameroon-born Joel Embiid, according to an article in More Sport. “I was fortunate to participate in Basketball Without Borders [BWB] Africa first as a camper and then last year as a coach,” he said. “To play in the NBA’s third game in Africa is truly special to me, and I can’t wait to take the floor in front of our fans in Africa.”
The Russians hacked Coangelo’s Twitter account! Start the investigation!
Even if they did, the information supplied was never made available to the public. If fact, several were major HIPPA violations. Time to offer Trent Redden and David Griffin a blank check. They built the 2015-16 Cavaliers, had Lebron’s support, and aren’t currently employed by the NBA.
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Pompey states that Colangelo’s best move in his two-year tenure has been drafting Ben Simmons with the top pick in 2016
Meh!
Why hasn’t Colangelo been fired already. Fire him while the attention is on the finals and move on. He never should’ve been in the GM position to begin with. Move on from this joke already.
And No my wife didn’t hack my account and make my last post.
Ha!
Second, what those twitter accounts say I didn’t think was all that bad
Also, i find it real strange as to how the case was broke.
The whole situation is nonsense.
This is the exact reason organizations like to promote from within and further proves the point that bringing in outside help doesn’t always work as they can be out of touch with what the whole plan was in the first place. Sam Hinkie wouldn’t have got fleeced by Danny Ainge, no way.
#ResurrectHinkie
Don’t fire him yet! The draft is coming soon. He’ll trade Joel and Simmons for draft picks June 21st.
I think they are waiting until after the finals I guess… but there was ZERO debate on Simmons, that was fodder invented by media outlets bc it was a foregone conclusion Before the start of the NCAA season lol.
Giving credit to Bryan Colangelo for drafting Ben Simmons is a total joke. Total joke dude. Did you pay attention to basketball two years ago Arthur?
Fire the clown now! Look Ingram is good but Simmons is great, so no much debate there, right? Bring Back Hinkie Now! Did I already say fire the clown & bring back Hinkie!!!
The Okafor trade can only be criticized for giving up a pick. Okafor didn’t get playing time and was bad when he played. Even when he got a new start in Brooklyn, he averaged 6 ppg and 3 rpg, which is pretty bad.
I have not followed the Sixers closely but I think people are overrating the Hinkie/Colangelo comparison.
Jr had 3 drafts I think. He messed up taking JOkafor in one and trading Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel. It’s not Colangelo messing up by dumping them. That’s what you do with bad inherited players if you can.
I do agree Simmons was the consensus choice, but so was Fultz. Just please man don’t make bad trades to the Celts.