Raptors President Bryan Colangelo yesterday resigned "less than a month after being stripped of his basketball decision-making powers" by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment President & CEO Tim Leiweke, according to Doug Smith of the TORONTO STAR. For Colangelo the "sideways corporate move just wasn’t worth it." Colangelo in a release said that he "will remain as a 'consultant' to MLSE." Sources indicated that he is "destined for a job at the NBA head office" in N.Y. Smith notes "what kind of opportunity would await Colangelo at the league office is unclear" (TORONTO STAR, 6/27). CBSSPORTS.com's Ken Berger cites a source as saying that Colangelo was "at odds with" Leiweke. Colangelo in his statement mentioned MLSE Chair Larry Tanenbaum and MLSE BOD member Dale Lastman as well as MLSE ownership "but did not mention Leiweke by name" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/26). The NATIONAL POST's Eric Koreen writes the "experiment -- with Colangelo nominally in charge of the business operations" and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri "in charge of the basketball operations -- was doomed to die young, and might have been a charade all along." While Leiweke said that he "did not want to get rid of someone with Colangelo’s experience in basketball, it was pretty clear that the former general manager had little power left in the organization" (NATIONAL POST, 6/27).
