Bryan Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns president and general manager who was named National Basketball Association executive of the year, resigned Tuesday to assume those same roles with the Toronto Raptors.
- FROM FEB. 27, 2006: Colangelo poised to be Raptors GM
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The Raptors have hired respected NBA general manager Bryan Colangelo. (Getty Images)
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Colangelo, 40, led the Suns last season to a league-high 62 wins.
He succeeds Rob Babcock, who was fired by the Raptors on Jan. 26.
Details of Colangelo's contract with the Raptors haven't been released but reports said the team was offering a multi-year deal worth $3 million US per season, with more control than he had with the Suns.
In Phoenix he was earning around $1 million, among the lowest salaries for NBA GMs.
Colangelo spent 17 years with the Suns, the last 11 as general manager. In the 2004 off-season, he lured Canadian guard Steve Nash away from Dallas, and Nash went on to earn MVP honours last season.
The Raptors have had their eyes on Colangelo ever since letting Babcock go. The club wanted a proven NBA executive who can immediately mould the team into a winner.
Talks heated up in the past week and reports from several league sources and media outlets said the Suns' top decision maker was just a step or two away from leaving that job and assuming the same position with the Raptors.
Colangelo takes over a young Raptors club that struggled mightily at the beginning of the season and won just one of its first 16 games.
The team has hovered near the .500 mark since then and has a solid core of youthful NBA players including all-star Chris Bosh, rookie Charlie Villanueva, fellow rookies Joey Graham and Jose Calderon, veteran Morris Peterson and Mike James.
with files from the Canadian Press
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