With every positive comes some negatives.. With talk of Colangelo leaving, this theory is no different.
Here's three arguements from both sides of the fence.
Why it's neccessary to keep Colangelo, regardless of the cost
1. He's a Colangelo. The Phoenix Sun franchise has never operated without a Colangelo involved in some capacity. Truth be told, with all Jerry has done for this team, and this city, to let his son walk without trying is a complete slap in the face to the man who helped carve the path towards Phoenix becoming a Major League Sports Town and who bailed the Suns out of dire straits and made them one of the top 5 franchises in the NBA.
2. Take a look at the current roster. At LEAST half of these players were brought in by the pure talent evaluation of Colangelo. It was BC who insisted on Boris Diaw in the sign-and-trade with Atlanta, and he's become one of the most valuable assets on the Sun roster. It was Colangelo who pushed the envelop on the Sun organization to bring Steve Nash back. It was Colangelo who had a hand in the drafting of Shawn Marion and it was BC who had final say that Amare was too good to pass up. That kind of talent evaluator is awfully hard to find. Also, we all think highly of Mike D'Antoni, and for good reason. He's easily been the best coach this franchise has had since the days of Westphal and the late Cotton, but when hired, his only head coaching gig was a less than memorable one with the Nuggets, where he seemed to have a hard time adapting to coaching in the league. Now, his hiring is looking like a genuis, and it was BC who gave him that second chance.
3. If Colangelo needs to "start immediately" with Toronto, the distraction of his departure at this point in the season could be disasterous. The Suns currently are pushing towards a top seed in the playoffs and are only going to get better when Amare returns. How much of a monkey wrench would the departure of the GM, who left to become the new head guy of one of the NBA's laughing stocks cause?
Also, BC is a proven commodity. Suns fans know exactly what to expect from him on most cases. As for Kerr, we have no idea what to expect. Will he be the next Jerry West or the next Rob Babcock? At this point, it's far too early to predict.
And the other side.
Why it's better to let Colangelo go
1. The Suns are already in good shape, so whomever BC's replacement is, whether that be Steve Kerr or someone else, won't have a whole hell of a lot to do in terms of building the house. Amare, Nash and Marion are already tied down for the long term. Jones has three years left, following this year, on his deal, and I have a feeling there's going to be a push for Diaw and Barbs to be re-signed before anything else happens. So, whoever takes over will merely have to keep the foundation sturdy, not completely re-build.
2. Let's face the music here. The Raptors are a mess. Years of bad personel decisions have stuck the team in the mess they're in now. Should BC want to escape the large shadow of his father and build his own team, more power to him. He's going to have his work cut out for him, that's for damn sure. Rome wasn't built in a day. There's a good reason this team has one playoff apperance in their franchise's decade long history. Bryan, although a good talent evaluator, isn't going to go in, wave his magic wand and make everything better. Bosh and Villinueva (sic) are two good pieces to build around, but other than that (perhaps maybe eventually Graham will be on that level) the cupboards are bare. Also Bosh is a free agent next season, and I can't envision him sticking around if a team throws him a max level deal, with the opportunity to be on a championship squad. So, right off the bat, BC's going to be facing an uphill climb. I don't know how long the deal actually is in terms of years, but it's going to take at LEAST 3 to get that team to a competitive level. Should he chose to leave a routine playoff team that's only going to get better for a complete reclamation project, no bitching or crying is going to stop that, and I hope he does well.
3. $7 million is a whole lot of money to be tied down in one employee. Granted, Sarver's not exactly cheap, but from everything we know of Steve Kerr, he's a proven winner. He also seems to have a good eye for talent, so if the option is Colangelo at $7 million or Kerr at $350 thousand... You get my drift.
I'm thinking about sprucing this up a bit and turning it in to the front page folks for publishing. What do you guys and gals think?
