Sixers news on a Friday afternoon:

Woj says the Sixers will begin meeting with the candidates next week. 

I think every beat reporter had Rosas at or near the top of their “who replaces Bryan Colangelo” list after B.C. resigned in June. Rosas is Daryl Morey’s #2 in Houston and has interviewed for other GM gigs in recent years, along with a brief stint running things down in Dallas.

This is what we wrote about Rosas back then:

Morey is well-respected around the league, so it’s only natural that one of the guys who works closely with him would be a popular name. Rosas was a candidate for the Hornets gig that went to Mitch Kupchak. He also apparently removed himself from consideration for the Pistons’ GM job. 

Rosas could have taken a better gig at this point in his career, so it seems like he’s calculated in making the right decision moving forward. The Sixers’ job is attractive, much more than Detroit or Charlotte, yes? When you look at how Morey has assembled that Houston team, and the fact that a Chris Paul injury probably made the difference in a title vs. a game 7 conference finals loss, you’d have to say that there’s a pedigree and a “winning culture” that Rosas is attached to.

The Sixers reportedly were interested in Morey himself as one of their top candidates to replace Colangelo, which did not come to fruition.

Zanik is another name that popped up frequently in stories and on social media.

He was the Assistant General Manager out in Utah from 2013 to 2016 and then left the Jazz to become Milwaukee’s Assistant GM in 2017. After John Hammond left for Orlando, Zanik was promoted to interim GM, but the Bucks ended up giving the job to 34 year old Jon Horst instead, so Zanik peaced out and returned to the Utah to reclaim the Assistant GM gig.

Zanik has worked alongside Dennis Lindsey for the entirety of his two Utah stints, the General Manager who oversaw the acquisitions of Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles and traded for Ricky Rubio. Lindsey has an up and down draft history and has snagged the likes of Donovan Mitchell, Dante Exum, Shabazz Muhammad, and Rodney Hood and also did the Kendall Marshall trade and waive deal with the Sixers.

Larry Harris is a lesser known guy but has the most decision making experience. He’s the Warriors’ Director of Player Personnel working under GM Bob Myers and Assistant GM Kirk Lacob. He obviously comes from a winning culture and has spent a good chunk of years out in Oakland.

Here’s his bio:

Larry Harris is currently in his eighth season with the Golden State Warriors, and his first as director of player personnel. In this role, Harris serves as one of the organization’s key talent evaluators of players at both the professional and collegiate levels, assisting with the team’s year-round preparation for the NBA draft, free agency and trades.

Harris, 52, served as a basketball consultant/scout for the Warriors for the last six seasons prior to being promoted to his current role this past offseason. He originally joined the Warriors in 2008 as an assistant coach under Don Nelson before moving to the front office after one season on the bench.

Prior to joining the Warriors, Harris spent 19 years with the Milwaukee Bucks, including stints as director of player personnel, director of scouting, assistant general manager and general manager. Harris’ five-year tenure as general manager (2003-07) included a pair of postseason berths as well as the selection of Andrew Bogut with the first overall pick of the 2005 NBA Draft.

In addition to Bogut, Harris also drafted Joe Alexander, Luc Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova, Ramon Sessions, and Yi Jianlian. His second round picks were better than his first round picks. Alexander was a stud at WV and bombed out in the NBA, so swing and a miss there.

Here’s a sampling of some stuff Harris did in Milwaukee:

Exciting stuff.

Earlier this week, the Sixers announced promotions for Marc Eversley, Ned Cohen, Alex Rucker, and Elton Brand, paired with Josh Harris quotes in an ESPN story that made it sound like they weren’t in any kind of hurry to hire a general manager to replace Colangelo.

This feels like a step in the right direction, but I wonder why it took them until Labor Day weekend to reach this point.