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The Sixers Promoted Jameer Nelson to Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Jameer Nelson didn’t get the Sixers’ President of Basketball Operations job he was reportedly in the running for, but it looks like he still landed himself a pretty big promotion:
As a fully biased Saint Joe’s guy, I’d like to be on the record by saying: This rules. This is very good news. I was a little worried after the Sixers hired Mike Gansey as President of Basketball Operations that Jameer would leave or get hired somewhere else, and I’m pumped to see that didn’t happen. And to be clear: my excitement about this is in no way based on how good he is as a front office guy. I have no idea if he’s good. In fact, I have no idea how to tell if anyone in a front office besides the actual GM is good. How do you measure who’s promising in a front office? What separates on-the-rise front office guys from ones with no buzz? Isn’t the job just like, making phone calls? Writing players’ names on a whiteboard? Putting payroll numbers into the calculator app? How do you distinguish yourself as being the best at sending emails?
I get it if it’s a lower-level front office guy from the Spurs, for example. Their team success tells the story; we can assume everyone in that organization is good at their job because the team is good. But the Sixers have been middling and disappointing for the full six years Jameer has been there. So what’s he done to make himself into an on-the-rise front office guy?
But when I zoom out a bit, I realize the answer to these questions is quite simple: It does not matter and I do not care. I love Jameer. Everyone loves Jameer. I’m not even going to let this disrespect bother me:
Or the disrespect of using this unflattering photo:
Nothing can bring me down… This is news worth celebrating. When Jameer Nelson gets a win, Hawk Hill gets a win, and, in turn, I get a win. I will celebrate by watching a bunch of 2004 SJU content while I’m supposed to be doing work:
Congrats, Jameer. I’m excited to spend the rest of the day in Saint Joe’s basketball group texts brainstorming how this could help the Hawks. There’s gotta be an angle there. We will figure this out…
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com