The Nets need a general manager after reassigning Billy King, and they’re reportedly eyeing two-time NBA Executive of the Year Bryan Colangelo for the job.
NetsDaily and ESPN reported the former Raptors and Suns general manager is a leading candidate.
The Nets’ reputation has taken a serious hit with an image of instability and a revolving door of eight coaches in seven years. They spent copious sums of money and traded away reams of draft picks for just one playoff series win during King’s 5 1/2-year tenure.
But landing Colangelo would be a huge step toward presenting the proverbial grownup in the room and being viewed as a well-run organization (Colangelo’s father, Jerry, was just hired by the 76ers as an advisor, for similar effect).
Brooklyn’s billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov said he plans to take his time in hiring a new GM and a coach, but his consigliere Dimitry Razumov will be spearheading the search. The Nets reportedly have approached Tom Thibodeau.
Colangelo won NBA Executive of the Year in 2005 with Phoenix and two years later with Toronto. And hiring the 50-year-old, as opposed to a younger candidate, would imply the team might be reshaped through a strategic plan rather than blown up and rebuilt from scratch. In his previous remodeling job with the Suns, Colangelo — with coach Mike D’Antoni — helped accelerate the up-tempo, 3-point-heavy style so prevalent in the NBA today.
Prokhorov said he began considering a change more than a month ago, and wants to split the coaching and GM jobs. That seems to lessen the odds of John Calipari, a favorite of Nets CEO Brett Yormark, getting the job, even more so than the $120 million asking price reportedly circulated by Calipari’s business agent William Wesley.