Bryan Colangelo seeks Spurs' 'secret sauce'
Like his predecessor, Bryan Colangelo is big on chemistry and culture. The 76ers' new president of basketball operations said those ingredients are a must for his team.
Like his predecessor, Bryan Colangelo is big on chemistry and culture.
The 76ers' new president of basketball operations said those ingredients are a must for his team.
"You win with talent," Colangelo said. "But you also win with talent plus chemistry plus culture. Those are all the things that are put in place here and that we really look forward to building."
Before he resigned Wednesday, Sam Hinkie, who was also the general manager, routinely talked about building a winning culture and having players who got along. However, the Sixers hadn't established that culture. For the most part, the team passed on adding talent while sacrificing wins.
That won't be the case under Colangelo.
He plans on picking the brain of coach Brett Brown, a former longtime assistant with the San Antonio Spurs. In San Antonio, players buy into the culture and chemistry of the team. Players have been known to turn down more lucrative deals to play for the Spurs.
"I want to know more about that San Antonio . . . perhaps we can call it that secret sauce," Colangelo said. "What creates that environment? I can tell you that, over the years, I understand a lot of what drove that was their thought process, but also the type of people that they had involved."
But Colangelo realizes that having an opportunity to win an NBA title is the reason those players settled for less money.
His Sixers (10-70) are several seasons away from getting championship discounts.
"We're going to start to prove, through some of the decisions that we're making, that we're on the forward track and an upward track," Colangelo said. "That starts to change the selling point of this organization."
Colangelo doesn't have the title of general manager to go with his president label. A league source said the Sixers don't have any immediate plans to name a general manager to work under him. The 50-year-old has the final say on all of the Sixers' basketball decisions.
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