Will Sixers' Bryan Colangelo botch 'The Process'?
THEY'RE TOO close now, right? The Sixers can't possibly mess this up, not with all the talent already on the roster, the picks lined up so gaudily over the next three drafts it's as if Tony Soprano was the general manager preceding Bryan Colangelo.
THEY'RE TOO close now, right? The Sixers can't possibly mess this up, not with all the talent already on the roster, the picks lined up so gaudily over the next three drafts it's as if Tony Soprano was the general manager preceding Bryan Colangelo.
Right?
I mean, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and even the incredibly resilient Dario Saric would all have to be irreparably hobbled in the coming seasons right? And those high picks in this draft, the next one, and the one after that would all have to be the kind of busts that Andrea Bargnani was, right?
Who picked that guy anyway?
Oh, yeah.
I think that's what's got us all a little unnerved about deadline day. Not that Nerlens Noel was dealt and Jahlil "Joe Barry Carroll" Okafor stayed. Not that Ersan Ilyasova was dealt either. But what came back in return.
Or more to the point, didn't.
There are people who will tell you Colangelo knows his stuff, will point to the current Raptors he pretty much built, the Kyle Lowry trade, drafting Steve Nash in the 15th spot of the 1996 first round when he ran his father's team in Phoenix. Others will speak of arrogance and obstinance and that he's been let go twice and was three years removed from the Toronto gig before he was hired last April - a move that precipitated Sam Hinkie's unexpected departure.
All I see is this: Just as we have begun to emerge from the thicket of moves and machinations to see hints of Hinkie's long-promised process, his replacement appears to be sloppily shuffling that deck. Both Noel and Ilyanova were due big raises this summer, money and years that were likely to inhibit adding those last pieces when "The Process" nears maturation. But the lack of apparent value garnered in return, and the specter once again of their future wearing plain clothes and riding the pine, all serve to kill the feel-good that began this year and create doubt of Colangelo's acumen.
Colangelo has also managed, in less than a year on the job, to alienate a large part of the devout, if slightly bizarre culture that has enveloped this franchise since Hinkie and his process arrived four seasons ago. Clearly the once valued stable of high-draft big men will not reap anywhere near the return anticipated. But it's also about distrust, a perception at least that the ticket-paying public has been almost habitually deceived.
Did the news of Embiid's prolonged knee issues trickle out to protect advance ticket sales? That a significant number of Sixers fans believe so is by itself alarming - and hugely disappointing. Colangelo has been on the job for less than a year and he may have already set a record for quickest to alienate a fan base. Didn't we believe a whole lot more in what Ed Wade, Joe Banner, Paul Holmgren, even Billy King were doing one year into their tenure than we do now with Hinkie's successor?
Hinkie wasn't the great communicator either of course. But he didn't purposely mislead us, one reason the NBA commissioner reportedly lobbied for him to be replaced. It's OK to tank in the NBA. It's not OK to say you're doing it.
Hinkie was famous for being unavailable and telling you nothing and making shocking trades that hobbled the present for the sake of a better future. Colangelo, who boasted during his introductory press conference of "A much greater likelihood of winning basketball games based on decisions made going forward," has been accused of reticence and even evasiveness when it comes to information about both Simmons and Embiid - a tactic that, for a team with a "day-to-day" box office, at least implies dishonesty.
There is also that rumored mandate to avoid, at all costs: The word "tank." A little refresher: Last year at about this time, and just a few months after citing "growing consensus that we should reform the draft lottery," NBA commissioner Adam Silver told the podcast Hot Takedown that the league had decided to "park the issue" for the foreseeable future.
What changed? Sixers leadership, that's what.
And yet each time Embiid and Saric played together, each time there was a ripple of news elsewhere involving a team Hinkie had dealt with - The Kings trading DeMarcus Cousins, Jeanie Buss firing her brother and hiring Magic Johnson to run her team - Hinkie and his process gets love for foresight.
We're not used to that kind of fortune around here. I have joked, only half-heartedly, that if this ever leads to a parade, Sam should ride in the lead car.
He won't, but he should.
Where Colangelo sits will have a lot to do with that first-day-on-the job boast. He rallied from that first-round bust in Toronto to build the current Raptors via the draft and the Lowry trade. Even if either Embiid or Simmons (please, Lord, not both) have long-term health issues, there are plenty of picks in the cupboard for him to make his mark on the process, and free-agent signings and trades as well.
As in Toronto, it's been a little bumpy for him here in the early going. The question now, as it always seems to be with this organization, is where does he - and we - go from here?
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