For the second time in his career, Bryan Colangelo, President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors, was named The Sporting News? NBA Executive of the Year. Colangelo also received the honor in 2004-05 when he guided the Phoenix Suns to the third-greatest turnaround in NBA history.
After 15 years with the Suns, Colangelo, 41, joined the Raptors on Feb. 28, 2006, and began building the roster around star forward Chris Bosh. With the top pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Colangelo selected Andrea Bargnani. Under Colangelo?s first full season at the helm, Toronto won its first Atlantic Division title, earned home court advantage in the Playoffs for the first time in team history and won a franchise record-tying 47 wins ? a 20-win improvement over the 2005-06 season.
For his outstanding work with the Raptors, his fellow executives gave him 20 of the 45 votes cast. Finishing second in the voting was Rockets General Manager Carroll Dawson who received 9 votes. Seven other executives received votes for the award. Colangelo?s father, Jerry, won the award four times.