1. Colangelo 2. Riley 3. Paxon NBA Awards: Executive of the year Sporting News Link Posted: May 17, 2005 By Stan McNeal Sporting News When passing out credit for the Suns' storybook season, Bryan Colangelo can be easy to overlook. He's just a guy in the front office, the son of the team's CEO, Jerry Colangelo. But overlooking Bryan Colangelo would be about as smart as assigning a plodding center to guard Steve Nash. After all, who do you think targeted Nash as the Suns' No. 1 free-agent priority last summer and led the entourage that flew to Dallas and presented Nash with an offer he could not refuse? Who do you think went after Quentin Richardson when the Suns could have used their resources on a much-needed big man? Who do you think masterminded the trade of Stephon Marbury in 2004, the key move in clearing the salary cap space that allowed the Suns to be a major player in last summer's free-agent market? Who do you think brought Mike D'Antoni back from Italy to be an assistant coach, with more than an inkling of an idea that D'Antoni someday would make quite a head coach? And who do you think promoted D'Antoni last season when Frank Johnson was fired? Who do you think stole Amare Stoudemire with the ninth pick in the 2002 draft? The answer to all of the above is Bryan Colangelo, the 39-year-old president and general manager of the Suns. His colleagues certainly did not overlook Colangelo's construction of the Suns when it came time to vote for the Sporting News' NBA Executive of the Year. Colangelo, the Suns' G.M. for the past 10 years, won the award by receiving 15 of the 41 votes cast by league executives, finishing ahead of Heat president Pat Riley (8.5 votes) and Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson (8). Bryan's selection for the award makes the Colangelos the first father and son to win it; Jerry is a four-time recipient. "I'm very appreciative to be recognized by my peers like this," Bryan Colangelo says. "And to set a record with (my father) is very special." Very special, indeed. Just like Bryan Colangelo's role in the success of the Suns.
we didnt make a great improvement in our win total from last year. thats what they go by. what they fail to realize is the skill involved in CD's moves. the suns had cap space and used it. big F'in deal.
We will see if he is still GM of the year when in 2-3 yrs. nash is completely broken down and they still owe hime 30 million.
Dawson doesn't deserve any love. He helped reshape a team that made a 1st round exit last year to a much better team that made a 1st round exit this year. And you want love for that? Compared to the Suns, Bulls, and Heat??? Two of those teams shocked the league, and the other one is a favorite to win the championship. I don't think CD has done that for Houston, and while he deserves props and recognition, he's been out-done by too many GM's.
They don't even consider the postseason in these awards. It's about the regular season. As for how I feel about it, I think they took a rather short sighted approach. What if next year Nash declines? Then they've got all that youth and speed and nobody to drive the damn boat. Plus, they've gotta pay Nash big bucks over a long term deal. It was a very risky move. It's paid off this season, but there's no telling if it'll pay off in the long run. The moves CD made improved our team both for this season and the long term.
And why didn't we have the cap space again? And who was responsible for all those hideous long term contracts? CD did a good job getting McGrady but all his previous bad moves severly limited our options. He did the best he could given the circumstances - but he was also responsible for putting us in a bad spot.
well we're not trying to get him "Executive of the Decade" love here. you've gotta admit, he did a masterful job cleaning up his own mistakes.
It's a travesty about CD not getting more recognition.All he's done is set this franchise up for years of success.Without Howard and Sura's injuries,a tough matchup in the first round,and a mountain of questionable calls,we would still be playing.And to think it's really next year when our window opens.CD has maneuvered the Rockets into position to make some major moves in the offseason and then the sky's the limit.
I think he did a great job facilitating a trade that TMac basically demanded after Weisbrod completely fu**ed up. Once the die was cast, it wasn't if McGrady was going to be traded but where to and by all accounts, Houston was his preferred choice. CD was very good at getting the deal done (just like getting Yao Ming here) but not actually masterminding trades/drafting well/or signing great free agents. If Mike James was such a great steal, we shouldve just signed him in the offseason rather than wasting $$ on the likes of Charlie Ward. If we really wanted Antonio Daniels, we shouldve signed him a few years ago rather than Eric Piatkowski or Adrian Griffin. Bottom line: CD probably deserves a B+ but that's not executive of the year.
