Captain Colangelo
by Theo Williams
Yesterday in a pregame press conference, before Brett Brown and the Sixers were stomped out by a Duncan and Leonard’less Spurs team, Sixers Majority Owner Joshua Harris, and NBA 2KHinkie, introduced Jerry Colangelo as the new Special Advisor to Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations. It seems the NBA Owners have played a large part in delivering Colangelo to Philadelphia, and it wasn’t done out of the kindness of their blessed souls. Basically, it was done because the Owners are getting a little tired of the financial burden that the Sixers are taking on the rest of the league (At least that’s the reason being leaked to the media). Yes, there are some basketball purists out there who hate the whole “Process” that we are currently enduring here in Philadelphia, as a means to win the lottery and stock the team with a ton of young talent, but when you’re an owner, purity be damned, you’re only worried about one thing, and that’s cash flow. You would think that the NBA franchises are flush with cash with their new TV deal worth $2 Billion a year, but the one thing owners like more than money, is MORE money, and above all else, one thing owners absolutely hate, is to lose money.
If you check out the NBA attendance records from the last couple of seasons, however, you’ll notice that several teams are doing worse than the Sixers when it comes to drawing a crowd, at home and on the road. Surprisingly, the Sixers draw more of a crowd on the road than they do at home, ranking closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom, more so an effect of fans coming out to see their home team route a defenseless Division II team. So then how is it that the financial burden is so great that the owners would join forces like the NBA version of Voltron, in order to place a Hall of Famer in the Sixers front office? Revenue Sharing. The problem is this: the Sixers are in Philadelphia, the #4 TV market in the nation. Much like New York, Los Angles and Chicago; Philly is supposed to help financially carry the smaller markets, such as Oklahoma City and Memphis, because of Philly’s ability to draw on its densely populated area for revenue. However, when your team ranks 2nd-to-last in home attendance since the 2013-’14 season, you’re getting near zero in parking sales, near zero in food sales, no beer sales, and for damn sure no merch sales, the Sixers simply aren’t pulling their weight and contributing to the sharing pool as expected (you’ll have to forgive my crude explanation of the CBA). So as a response, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was forced to act.
So here we are. With their powers combined the NBA Owners have sent Captain Planet, who just so happens to be the Chairman of the Board for USA Basketball, and a man who has owned the Suns through several stints of “rebuilding”. However, instead of saving the planet from environmental pollution, this Captain Planet (alias: Jerry Colangelo) will help to run the Sixers franchise and save the NBA from the financial polluting of the Revenue Sharing Pool by the sinister 2KHinkie. (Does anyone else have the Captain Planet theme song stuck in their head now?)The trinity of Josh Harris, 2KHinkie and Captain Colangelo, sat united under the banner that the process is still a go, and that Hinkie is still the one in charge. So if the Sixers are going to continue to “Stop Winnin’ for Ben Simmons”, and Hinkie still has the final say in personnel decisions, then what exactly is Jerry Colangelo doing here? As far as I can see, there are 4 significant roles that Captain Colangelo will play in the evolution of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Personal Relationships: It’s no secret that Hinkie has turned a lot of the league off by his trusted process, in particular the GMs of the NBA. Some reports have it that many GMs simply won’t talk to Hinkie because they don’t trust him, therefore making things difficult for the Sixers to acquire more assets moving down the road. In addition to the GMs around the league, players have also taken notice on how the Sixers have conducted business, treating its players as mere assets, and not as individuals with careers and families to think about. Granted, the NBA is a business, and as with all businesses, difficult decisions must be made, but it’s how you go about making those decisions and executing them that defines a good business. Captain Colengelo can help much of this mistrust within the players and GMs of the league, as he has a great reputation as an owner. With Colangelo, you have a trusted voice within the Sixers organization who may be able to seal the deal on maneuvers with other franchises, that 2KHinkie just wouldn’t be able to close.
Scouting: With 21 draft picks coming up in the next 6 years, scouting is a premium priority going forward. A major part of Hinkie’s process involves getting value out of draft picks; whether that be drafting future cornerstone franchise players in the first round, or finding the proverbial “diamond in the rough” in the second round. Who else would have more access to the most in-depth scouting reports from up and coming talent in future drafts than the Chairman of the Board of Team USA, Captain Colangelo? Decisions must be made regarding a player’s character, intestinal fortitude (sans Gorilla Monsoon), and most of all talent projection, when deciding who will get to wear the Red, White and Blue. Now, I don’t profess to know how much involvement that Colangelo may have in that process, however what I do know is that it takes nothing for him to pull aside an assistant coach for the U18 team or the U19 team and have them put together a real comprehensive scouting report on almost any young talent in the country. This will prove to be absolutely invaluable to Hinkie’s process.
Mentor: Sam Hinkie is not a basketball guy. He’s just not. 2KHinkie (despite his years with the Rockets and his hilarious nickname taken from a popular basketball gaming franchise), is a numbers cruncher. Let’s be honest here, whether you trust the process or not, I think we can all agree that at times, many moves have been made in a very cold and swift manner, without any regard to intangibles such as chemistry, morale, or emotion. You can’t run a basketball franchise that way. Captain Colangelo will help guide Hinkie through the little nuances that come with running an NBA franchise, nuances that numbers, charts, graphs or projections simply cannot account for.
Owner: It is of my belief that there may or may not have been a back door deal for Jerry Colangelo to take some kind of ownership stock in the Sixers, if not now, then some time down the road. His previous experience as an owner are well documented; winning two Arena Bowls with the Rattlers in the AFL, a World Series with the Diamondbacks, and having been to an NBA Finals with the Suns, there is little doubt in NBA circles that he can help turn the Sixers franchise in to a more profitable venture. At the very least Captain Colagelo is in Philadelphia to keep up a robust Revenue Sharing Pool for the rest of the league.
One thing is for sure with the arrival of Captain Jerry Colangelo, this is a sign that things are going to begin picking up soon for the Sixers. I fully expect this team to be active during the trade deadline (rumors have been swirling about a 3-team trade involving Boston, the Lakers and Sixers, with the main pieces being Roy Hibbert and Nerlens Noel), as well as during free agency during the off season (something that will be a separation from the recent past). The next phase of the process is underway. Finally, here comes the fun part, and it’s about time!
Captain Planet, he’s our hero, gonna take pollution down to zero!
Theo Williams is a contributor for wbcb1490.com. You can follow him on twitter at @trufwilliams.
