Atlantic Notes: Colangelo, Holland, Rambis

New Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo indicated that he is unlikely to make dramatic changes to the team’s front office personnel this summer, Derek Bodner of Philadelphia magazine relays. “It’s important to point out that I didn’t come in here with the notion that I was just going to torch the place and start anew,” Colangelo told Bodner. “There’s a lot of smart people here, even to the point where it’s fully in line with some of the thinking that I’ve already been migrating towards over the last several years. The team that’s here now, for all intents and purposes, more or less will be the same.” The executive did provide himself a little wiggle room on his statement, adding that the team is still “evaluating what’s here, and discussing the roles and responsibilities,” Bodner notes.

The executive also noted that navigating the free agency waters this offseason would be tricky given that the team’s roster is still unsettled, Bodner relays. “As much as I want to say ‘Let’s go complement those players,’ I think we’re still looking for that cornerstone piece to start with,” Colangelo said. “That’s not to say that some of the young guys on the current roster can’t ultimately become that, and it’s not doubting that, it’s just saying, as we speak today, nobody has stepped into that role of star player. We’re looking for our first star. This year there’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unknowns. We have to let some of it play out. This might not be the year that a big splash is made in free agency, but key pieces, or glue pieces, what I’ll call team building pieces, will be added to try to put a balanced roster on the court for coach [Brett] Brown.

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Celtics used $25K of their room exception to sign John Holland to his two-year deal, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insider relays (via Twitter). Utilizing that sliver of the exception allowed Boston to pay Holland $25K for the remainder of this season instead of the $9,266 he would have earned if he had simply signed a minimum-salary arrangement.
  • If Kurt Rambis is named coach of the Knicks, a major reshuffling of his coaching staff is likely, with assistant coaches Brian Keefe, Joshua Longstaff and David Bliss all candidates to join Scott Brooks and the Wizards, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. All three previously worked under Brooks when he was coach of the Thunder and were brought to New York by former coach Derek Fisher, Berman notes. The Post scribe also adds that Rambis has been said to carry an arrogance about him that could turn off younger players, especially since his career coaching record of 65-164 doesn’t warrant such bravado.
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