Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelois an American businessman and sports executive who currently serves as an advisor to the Philadelphia 76ers. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes. In...
ProfessionSports Executive
Date of Birth20 November 1939
individual players role team
We wanted a team not of individual stars, but athleticism, shooters, role players and distributors.
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It's a far cry from where a lot of people thought they were mentally. The bottom line is when you're being hustled by agents and a lot of players making direct calls to me - things have changed. People buy in to wanting to be part of the first national team.
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There was no continuity. There wasn't much in the way of crossover regarding the roster or coaching. If you look at what's been successful worldwide, they have a national team and the players take pride in playing for the national team.
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This is the first standing USA Men's Senior National Team and the 23 players selected will give us everything we need to form a great USA team. We feel we have versatility, shooters, size, quickness, role players and defensive stoppers. In making the player selections we took into consideration the style of play anticipated to be used by the coaching staff.
coaches commitment continuity players sought
Just as we sought to have continuity and commitment from coaches and players ... so was our commitment to having a home.
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In my mind how it's been done in the past was a little bit ludicrous. Guys would receive letters. Agents would get calls. Is your guy interested? That's not where we are. We only want players who want to participate, and I have to look them in the eye to find out where they are.
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I've spent my entire life in the game on different levels, and here was an opportunity on an international stage to represent my country at a time when our basketball program needed an awful lot of work as a result of the World Championships in Indianapolis a few years ago and the Olympics in Athens.
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I've spoken with Shawn some time ago and he certainly indicated he wanted to be a part of this thing. He's the kind of individual and player who personifies what you want to represent you.
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The stability is very important to this league, and the potential over the next decade is huge.
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Things like that happen. A player gets traded and, somewhere down the road, he re-emerges. We've had that happen the other way for us. His game against the Celtics provided a glimpse of the expectations people had of him.
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Bob's an old pro. Bob felt it. He read it. He heard it. So when he got the call to meet me this morning, he was still hoping that maybe, just maybe, there was a slight possibility that it would be something other than the discussion we had, ... He would have liked to continue.
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Everyone's slate is clean, regardless of what everyone has said. The fact is, we need to change the perception of how we're looked at as a country and as a basketball power, if you will, and we need to reclaim what was lost.
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I think he's done a great job of positioning himself in terms of his persona and conduct. In representing his country, he can expand on that.
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I think Kobe Bryant is a player with enough moxie to go along with his talent that he'll adjust to whatever his role is. In fact, that's exactly what he said today.