In hopes of helping the U.S. return to the top of Olympic basketball, Phoenix Suns chairman and CEO Jerry Colangelo is expected to be announced today as the managing director of USA Basketball men’s senior national team, according to a source.
Colangelo’s duties will include selecting players and coaches for the team as well as making decisions on training. The position will not take Colangelo away from his current duties.
USA Basketball executive director Jim Tooley declined comment on Colangelo but did say, “We have an announcement which will be a major step toward aiding our men’s senior program.”
Previously, USA Basketball senior teams have been selected by committees with 10 to 25 members. USA Basketball’s senior team dominated the world with NBA stars winning gold medals in Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000. But in recent years the U.S. has struggled, going without a medal in the 2002 world championships and earning a bronze in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
USA Basketball had trouble attracting the NBA’s top players for the Athens Games and the world championships. The hope is Colangelo’s reputation and standing will convince NBA players to participate.
Colangelo, the face of the Suns franchise since its inaugural season in 1968, recently sold the franchise for an NBA-record $401 million. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He brought major-league baseball to Phoenix in 1998 and serves as chairman and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also played a key role in convincing the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets to move to Phoenix. Neither Colangelo nor a Suns spokesperson could be reached for comment.
“Jerry Colangelo has been involved in every aspect of our business and is universally accepted as the principal basketball expert among our board of governors,” NBA commissioner David Stern said in a Colangelo biography on the Suns’ website.
