All week at NBC Sports Philadelphia, we're debating the biggest villains in Philly sports history. Today, we look at the Sixers. You can vote here.
Imagine you get hired for your dream job. You make a somewhat radical but persuasive presentation on your company’s long-term vision. You get buy-in from your bosses and you begin executing your plan — emphasizing that it will take patience in order to succeed.
But then your bosses’ bosses get antsy because of your controversial strategy. They bring in a highly recommended consultant who’s had massive success in your industry. Though maybe not thrilled, you understand and accept the help from a legend in your field.
Then, your bosses consider hiring the consultant’s son to be your boss. All the while, the consultant swears there’s no nepotism. At that point you feel squeezed out. Your vision is crushed, and you’re basically bullied into resigning.
Seems unfair, doesn’t it? Almost villainous?
Yet that’s exactly what happened when the Colangelos came to town and forced Sam Hinkie’s Process to end prematurely. No matter what side of the Hinkie debate you come out on, there’s no debating that Bryan Colangelo’s tenure with the Sixers was disastrous.
There was something unsettling about the NBA forcing the Sixers to add Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations and special adviser to the team’s managing partner. The senior Colangelo — who fleeced the Sixers in the 1992 trade of Charles Barkley — brought a Hall of Fame resume with him, but it didn’t seem like he was there to impart wisdom on Hinkie.
Though Jerry denied any nepotism, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Bryan was brought on not long after Hinkie felt the need to resign. The younger Colangelo boasted a strong resume as well, having been the NBA’s Executive of the Year with the Suns and Raptors.
Not long after being hired by the Sixers, Bryan made easily his best move as GM in drafting Ben Simmons No. 1 overall. To be fair, it was Hinkie’s actions that landed the Sixers the No. 1 pick and Simmons was a no-brainer selection.
Armed with two more first-round picks that were acquired by Hinkie, Colangelo chose international prospects Timothe Luwawu-Cabbarot and Furkan Korkmaz. The next pick after Korkmaz? All-Star forward Pascal Siakam.
Luwawu-Cabbarot has been on four teams in four NBA seasons. While Korkmaz has had a nice bounce-back season, he’s not on the level of Siakam. With Kawhi Leonard leaving in free agency, Siakam has become the offensive focal point of a Raptors team that currently sits second in the Eastern Conference.
During Colangelo’s first full season, we finally got our first look at Hinkie’s best draft pick: Joel Embiid. Embiid missed the first two seasons of his NBA career with a broken navicular bone.
The rookie provided the most hope Sixers fans had in what felt like forever, but the big man was dealing with an achy knee. After a win against Portland, Embiid underwent an MRI that revealed a torn meniscus.
The injury was not immediately revealed to the public. In fact, after missing the next three games, Embiid came back to play a nationally televised contest against the Rockets. Embiid was brilliant that night, but it was announced the following day that he suffered a "a very minor meniscal tear."
Embiid missed the rest of the season. After Hinkie had been extra cautious with the center from Kansas, Embiid was allowed to play on what would ultimately become a season-ending injury.
Colangelo’s mismanagement of the late first round in 2016 was nothing compared to what he would do in 2017.
In Colangelo’s defense, Markelle Fultz was the consensus No. 1 overall pick and seemed to be a perfect fit next to Simmons and Embiid. With the Sixers sitting at No. 3, Colangelo got antsy and made a deal with known swindler Danny Ainge.
Fultz had been in for a workout with the Celtics and it suddenly appeared Ainge had soured on the guard from Washington. Before Fultz worked out for the Sixers, Colangelo had an agreement in place to acquire the No. 1 overall pick from Boston.
We all streamed Fultz’s workout at the Sixers training complex. While those within the Sixers chalked it up to tiredness from a long drive from Maryland, Fultz’s rough workout was a fitting preamble for his time with the team.
After being selected by the Sixers, it seemed like Fultz forgot how to shoot, which led to one of the oddest sagas in Sixers history. The fact that Ainge’s pick, Jayson Tatum, has become an All-Star hasn’t helped.
If all Bryan did was make poor personnel decisions, that would be one thing, but what unfolded in the summer of 2018 cemented his legacy as a Philly sports villain.
It started when The Ringer published an article linking Colangelo to suspicious social media activity. From there, everyone in the Delaware Valley learned what a “burner” account was and the Collargate scandal was born.
Several Twitter accounts linked to Colangelo revealed sensitive team information and said disparaging things about players and head coach Brett Brown. An internal investigation revealed his wife was behind the accounts, but Colangelo resigned in June of 2018.
So, for those keep tracking at home, that’s a hostile takeover, nepotism, several poor personnel decisions, mismanaging the injury of a star and publicly embarrassing the entire organization.
Oh, and don’t forget about the giant collars.
That’s as villainous as it gets.
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