Can Jerry Colangelo save the Philadelphia 76ers?

Can Jerry Colangelo’s successful sports pedigree rub off on the Philadelphia 76ers?

The Philadelphia 76ers have some talented young players and plenty of draft picks for the future. However, they are terrible — like brutally awful to watch on a nightly basis. While these young players need time to grow, the process is going to have to speed up soon, especially with the young talent they will once again be acquiring in next year’s draft.

On Monday, the 76ers made a big announcement, when the team announced that they were hiring on Jerry Colangelo as an executive. Colangelo instantly brings credibility to a franchise that needs it at the moment, because of the success that he has had inside the NBA and outside of it at the same time.

Colangelo is best known for putting a successful basketball in the desert in the Phoenix Suns. He brought a World Series to an expansion Diamondbacks team that was still brand new to the league. He also restored the dominance of USA Basketball and helped field a team that won back-to-back gold medals in 2008 and 2012.

The man has had success in every venture that he has taken up. Now he takes on the biggest test of his career, and that is whether or not he can save the Philadelphia 76ers organization. The 76ers are bad and that’s not brand new news. What will be news is when Colangelo gets to give his input and put his finger print on the team.

He’s a man that doesn’t put up with losing and that’s got to have many question whether or not he and general manager Sam Hinkie can co-exist, as Hinkie has no problem with pushing off current success for future success. While Hinkie has brought the talent and future assets to the 76ers, he hasn’t proved yet that his plan can work. That’s mainly because with such a young team, it’s going to take time for them to gel and mature.

Eventually if the losing continues and the players aren’t winning, the fans are going to lose their patience. Colangelo is too proud of an executive and has had way too much success in his career to deal with losing. Now that he’s got a say, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him begin helping on working to bring established talent to mix in with the young talent so that they can start winning some games rather than tanking every season.

The Philadelphia 76ers are going to have a vast amount of talent after next year’s draft, thanks to Hinkie’s work. However, once the draft is over and the roster is filled with young talented players, it’s time to start taking the next step and filling out the roster with quality free agents so that the winning part of the plan can begin.

If they can get to that phase, that’s the time where Colangelo will help serve the team best.