NBA Reportedly Limited Jerry Colangelo's USA Basketball Access

While Jerry Colangelo gave up his position of chairman of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers to become a special adviser after the team hired his son, Bryan, to be its president of basketball operations, the NBA is reportedly still limiting his influence with USA Basketball, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Wojnarowski noted there were concerns from executives across the NBA that Colangelo could use his access to USA Basketball’s best players in an effort to boost Philadelphia’s chances of landing them as free agents:

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Because rival teams protested about the potential for conflicts and player tampering after Jerry Colangelo partnered his duties as chairman of the Philadelphia 76ers and managing director of USA Basketball, the NBA restricted Colangelo’s reach in an apparent attempt to limit his access and influence over star players, league sources told The Vertical.

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Wojnarowski cited league sources who said the guidelines apply, despite Colangelo’s new role with the 76ers, as long as he has a working arrangement with the team.

Wojnarowski provided more details:

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Within weeks of Colangelo’s hiring as 76ers chairman of basketball operations in December, the league office informed the NBA Board of Governors of new limitations on Colangelo’s ability to communicate directly to players outside of USA Basketball activities and how much formal impact he can have in the final voting process for national team and Olympic rosters, league sources said.

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Wojnarowski detailed the specific guidelines, pointing out Colangelo cannot vote for the final rosters for the national team even though he can still help select the Olympic player pool. He also has to let general managers across the league know when he makes contact with any of their players or the players’ agents.

The limitations come during a golden age of competition for USA Basketball with Colangelo near the forefront.

According to USA Basketball’s official website, Colangelo first became involved with USA Basketball in 2005, when he was named the managing director of the men’s senior national team program. He was also re-elected as the chairman of the program’s board of directors in 2012 for the time period of 2013 to 2016.

According to the website, USA Basketball had not won a major international competition since 2000 when Colangelo became involved in 2005. However, he proceeded to hire Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski as the national team's head coach and pursue some of the best players in the league, including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, to become members of the team.

USA Basketball is an incredible 52-1 in six official FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions since Colangelo took over, and it has added gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in London and 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Here is a look at USA Basketball’s finishes in competitions and exhibitions since Colangelo took over, per the team’s website:

Team	Position	Record	Finish
2014 USA World Cup Team	Managing Director	9-0	Gold Medal
2014 USA National Team	Managing Director	4-0	N/A
2012 U.S. Olympic Team	Managing Director	8-0	Gold Medal
2012 USA National Team	Managing Director	5-0	N/A
2010 USA World Championship Team	Managing Director	9-0	Gold Medal
2010 USA National Team	Managing Director	4-0	N/A
2008 U.S. Olympic Team	Managing Director	8-0	Gold Medal
2008 USA Senior National Team	Managing Director	5-0	N/A
2007 USA Olympic Qualifying Team	Managing Director	10-0	Gold Medal
2006 USA World Championship Team	Managing Director	8-1	Bronze Medal
2006 USA Senior National Team	Managing Director	5-0	N/A
Totals	Managing Director	75-1	Five Gold Medals and one Bronze Medal

The next major international competition for USA Basketball will come at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. While Colangelo will have the new limitations, he is still involved with the team and helped put many of the players who will likely participate in place.

The team named 30 finalists for the Olympics in January, which included James, reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, among many other NBA stars.

The fact that many of the best players in the league are on that list is a testament to what Colangelo helped build ever since USA finished with the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics.