<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The deal that landed Anthony Parker with the Raptors featured longtime contacts, coincidences, international connections and a whole lot of creativity. This wasn't your typical basketball transaction and Parker isn't your typical player. This is why the Raptors paid as much as they did for Bryan Colangelo and are getting every dollar's worth. It all began with Marco Crespi, the director of international scouting for the Phoenix Suns. For the better part of two years, every time Crespi, an European basketball lifer, spoke to Colangelo he bugged him about Parker. "He kept saying 'You've got to sign this guy,' " Colangelo said. "When I went to the Final Four in Prague last year, I was in my new position with the Raptors and Maurizio (Gherardini) was there, but he was not working here yet. Anthony was unbelievable in the first game against Barcelona. He just dominated that game. "Now if you fast forward a little, Maurizio is now working with us, we're looking at the available pool of free agents and Parker isn't one of the players available. He had another year to go on his contact (in Israel), but we had heard through some back channels that he had an interest in coming back to the NBA." But how to get it done was the question. Gherardini happens to be in tight with Maccabi Tel Aviv manager Shimon Mizrahi. He made some calls. Colangelo had a connection to Tal Brody, who played college ball with his father, and Illinois and was significantly involved with the Maccabi team. He made some calls. Rather than take an end run at Parker, Colangelo decided to be straight up . "I think they appreciated we dealt with them directly," he said. They also appreciated the relationship that had been built between Raptors ownership and the storied Israeli team. All that had to be accomplished was to negotiate a buyout. </div> Source: Toronto Sun
Nice article find Chutney, it seems Colangelo has good connections and I'm happy this Marco Crespi (the director of international scouting for the Suns) didn't manage to get Anthony Parker on the Suns. That would just add another versatile player to their roster.
He'll never be the star that he was in the EuroLeague but he's a smart glue guy. And you win with these kinda guys. SOLID signing.
