TORONTO (AP)—The Toronto Raptors have hired Ed Stefanski as executive vice
president of basketball operations.

Stefanski was hired Wednesday. He will report to Raptors president and
general manager Bryan Colangelo. Stefanski was fired last week as general
manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. He had mixed results in four seasons, signing
Elton Brand(notes) and Andre Iguodala(notes) to $80 million contracts and firing coach Eddie
Jordan after one 27-win season. Stefanski hired Doug Collins, who led the Sixers
to the playoffs last season, but it was too late to save his job.

Before he joined the 76ers, Stefanksi spent nine seasons with the Nets. He
was promoted to general manager of the club in the summer of 2004 following a
one-year stint as the team’s senior vice president of basketball operations and
four seasons as the team’s director of scouting.

With the NBA lockout going on, news is pretty slow outside of the labor dispute. But the Philadelphia 76ers are one of the few teams making news in other ways. The team has already made headlines by finally announcing their official sale. They have also parted ways with general manager Ed Stefanski. Now the 76ers are letting go of two scouts. The team has parted ways with Chris Ford and John Nash. Both have had long and stellar careers in the NBA. However, as a 76ers fan I’m not opposed to the team making changes like this.

The moves aren’t as surprising as they might seem to some people. Given the long lockout, NBA teams are likely to part ways with several employees and scouts are definitely on the chopping block. But even without a lockout, the 76ers need to make changes in several areas. They are pretty set at general manager and head coach with Rod Thorn and Doug Collins. But the team needs to continue the overhaul in the front office. That means bringing in new scouts is a step in the right direction.

Both Nash and Ford have had great careers in the NBA. Nash has been a general manager with four different NBA teams, including the 76ers in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, Ford has been a coach with several franchises and once filled in for the 76ers on an interim basis. Both guys have been in the game for decades and both have strong connections to the 76ers and to Philadelphia. Both are worthy people and both should have no problem finding work with other franchises. But there are times when teams to need to make a change and this is a perfect example of that.

I expect the 76ers will continue to make changes similar to the ones they have already made. There was progress made on the court during the 2010-11 season but this franchise still has a long way to go. This is a new era for the team and it is important to start things off with fresh faces. The goal is to build a winning franchise. For that to happen, there needs to be moves like this. It’s not an indictment of the careers of the two scouts. It’s just a simple change that needed to happen.

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Looks like Kevin Pritchard is out of the picture, and Hornets GM Jeff Bower is the other remaining candidate. Yahoo! reports that the Raps are close to hiring Stefanski: “Philadelphia 76ers executive Ed Stefanski is engaged in advanced talks with the Toronto Raptors to take over as general manager, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Stefanski would move into the franchise’s No. 2 basketball executive job under president Bryan Colangelo. Stefanski, who is in the final year of his deal in Philadelphia and has the GM title, knows he probably won’t be retained after his contract expires, sources said. Stefanski lost his spot as the Sixers’ top decision maker a year ago to Rod Thorn, and now the franchise is waiting for the NBA to approve the team’s sale to a New York investment group.”