Bryan Colangelo

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Bryan Colangelo [kuh-LAN-jah-lo] (born June 1, 1965) also known as BC is the President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. He is the son of Phoenix sports mogul, Jerry Colangelo. He was the 2005 recipient of the NBA Executive of the Year Award.

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[edit] Career with Phoenix

Colangelo began his NBA front-office career with the Phoenix Suns, a franchise owned by his father, Jerry. He was a part of that organization for 15 years, the last 11 as General Manager.

During his tenure in Phoenix, Colangelo made a number of transactions that have received wide praise across the NBA,[citation needed] including the drafting of would-be superstars Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire. Colangelo was roundly criticized for his trade of Jason Kidd to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, but corrected this mistake by trading Marbury and oft-injured Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks for several expiring contracts, including that of Antonio McDyess.[citation needed] The additional salary cap space created by this trade allowed Colangelo to sign Nash back from the Dallas Mavericks in the summer of 2004. Nash would go on to be the 2004-05 and 2005-06 NBA Most Valuable Player, and the Suns would go 62–20 and claim the top playoff seed in the Western Conference in the 2004-05 season. As a result, Colangelo was awarded the 2005 NBA Executive of the Year Award.

In the summer of 2005, Colangelo traded disgruntled shooting guard Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks for a future 1st round pick and Boris Diaw, who then won the 2006 NBA Most Improved Player Award. Colangelo also dealt Quentin Richardson to the New York Knicks. Despite the loss of these two players and the loss of Stoudemire for virtually the entire season (only playing in 3 regular season games), the Suns once again led the Pacific Division, prompting many to speculate that Colangelo could win the NBA Executive of the Year Award for the second straight year.[citation needed]

[edit] Departure to Toronto

In 2004, the Phoenix Suns were sold to a group of investors led by Robert Sarver, although Colangelo stayed on as President and GM. Shortly after the Raptors fired Rob Babcock in January 2006, rumors began swirling that the team was pursuing Colangelo despite the Raptors' claims that they were initiating an "exhaustive" search for a new GM.[citation needed]

On February 27, 2006, Colangelo resigned from his position with the Suns, and on February 28, 2006 the Raptors announced him as their new President and GM. On May 23, 2006, Colangelo and the Raptors were awarded the 1st overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.

On June 8, 2006, Colangelo pulled his first trade since he joined the Raptors by swapping the much-criticized first-rounder Rafael Araújo for Robert Whaley and Kris Humphries with the Utah Jazz. He completed his second trade by sending forward Eric Williams, fan favourite Matt Bonner and a 2009 second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for center Rasho Nesterovič on June 21, 2006. The Raptors also announced that they had waived Robert Whaley.


His most controversial trade[citation needed] as GM of the Raptors occurred when he traded Charlie Villanueva, who was runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, for Milwaukee Bucks point guard T.J. Ford.[1] Some believed that Charlie Villanueva's presence hindered the development of Chris Bosh, who is considered to be the new franchise player of the Toronto Raptors following the departure of Vince Carter. But Colangelo specified that the team was in need of a true point guard, and in order to receive a quality point guard in T.J. Ford, one must also give up a lot in return, hence the trade took place the way it did.

Colangelo picked the 20-year-old Italian Andrea Bargnani with the first overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft which was held in New York City on June 28, 2006. This made Bargnani the first European selected first overall in the history of the NBA Draft. He also signed several free agents that played in Europe, including Jorge Garbajosa, and Anthony Parker.

On July 16, 2006, Brian Colangelo signed Chris Bosh to a contract extension which will be in affect starting from the 2007-08 season, the contract is for three years plus a player option for the last year, and could pay Bosh up to US$65 million over the four-year span.

So far, the Toronto Raptors are in first place in the Atlantic Division and many have credited their success to the players whom Colangelo brought in.

Another transaction made by Colangelo which should be noted is the picking up of Luke Jackson from Idaho of the D-League. He stated that he did it to compensate for the losses of Bargnani and Parker to injury. Colangelo then cleared the 35th overall pick in the 2006 draft PJ tucker who was an undersized power forward.

Another of Colangelo's notable tranactions came at the trade deadline when he sent seldom used G/F Fred Jones to Portland for G/F Juan Dixon, who almost instantly became a focal point in coach Sam Mitchell's offense.


[edit] References

  1. ^ Raptors deal Villanueva to Bucks for Ford. ESPN.com (2006-07-01). Retrieved on March 21, 2007.

[edit] External link

Preceded by
Rob Babcock
General Manager, Toronto Raptors
2006–present
Succeeded by
Incumbent