Jerry Colangelo backs son's hiring, says Hinkie ‘not pushed out'

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While there could be a belief that Bryan Colangelo's new post as president of the Sixers was an act of sheer nepotism from his father Jerry Colangelo, the elder made it clear that was not the case. The Sixers simply hired the best man for the job.

"First of all, I was called by Philadelphia ownership, [which] kind of fell out of the sky, would I be willing to be of some help and give advice and counsel," Sixers special adviser Jerry Colangelo said at a sports business panel at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. "I was prepared to do that, but soon it became apparent that there was a requirement to bring in some new people, maybe restructure. Once Bryan's name popped up as one of the leading candidates, it was important for me to step out of the process so that ownership could come to their own conclusions.

"They did settle on Bryan as the best candidate. I'm very happy for him, I'm happy for the organization. I think he's a very qualified guy. Eighteen years experience as a GM. He's a two-time Executive of the Year. He's a guy of character, integrity and he'll give them everything that he has. I'd bet on him, let's put it that way.

You can't argue with the credentials. Bryan Colangelo previously held duties in the front offices for the Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors and was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2005 and 2007.

That's a far cry from Sam Hinkie's background. The former Sixers president and GM, who resigned last week, oversaw one of the worst stretches of basketball in NBA history.

Jerry Colangelo explained that while he had no problems with Hinkie personally, the persistent losing during the massive rebuild forced ownership's hand to consider tweaking the front office.

"Ownership obviously wanted to have a change in terms of that game plan, or at least a detour of some sort because three years of pain was pretty hard. You can't have an open-ended lose, lose, lose until you hit the jackpot with a player or two. Not only do you have to be lucky, the right players have to come along at the right time in order for that really to play out.

"Once the decision was made to bring someone into the organization, the intent was for Sam to stay and share responsibilities, but he chose not to. That was his call. He was not pushed out. Everyone -- myself and ownership -- wanted him to stay."

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