Suns’ transition to Sarver in final stage

A sort of going-away luncheon is set for the Suns today. Only it’s a little like saying goodbye to the franchise itself. The Suns are honoring Jerry Colangelo, who is set to close out his ownership group’s $401 million sale to a group headed by Robert Sarver when Sarver posts the final payment on Friday.

And that will make Sarver the sole operator of the team.

Colangelo and his longtime assistant Ruth Dryjanski — the team’s first two employees when the franchise was born in 1968 — will be moving out of the Suns’ offices.

Though both Sarver and Colangelo said there is no deadline, Colangelo said he doesn’t want to linger and expects to finish moving in the next week or two. They will move to an office complex at the Biltmore in central Phoenix.

Colangelo will continue to serve as the managing director of USA Basketball, the group that picks the men’s Olympic team. As for the Suns, he’ll continue to hold what he has called the “ceremonial” title of Suns chairman for the next five years.

During this time, he will be a paid consultant for the club. But how much consulting he actually will do has been a subject of conjecture; Colangelo had expressed some skepticism that his services would be used.

But Sarver said Colangelo’s services indeed will be called on though, “It won’t be on a day-to-day basis.

“He wants to continue to be involved,” said Sarver, who pointed out, “We have a significant contract for five years.”

Sarver indicated Colangelo’s ability in talent evaluation, his relationships with players and their agents and his knowledge of the club’s business side will be called upon.

Sarver will replace Colangelo as the team’s governor, the person who represents the Suns at league meetings. Colangelo will be an alternate governor. That means he can represent the team when Sarver does not.

“I’ll be happy to participate when the request comes,” Colangelo said.

Colangelo indicated he has no regrets about his decision to sell the team, though, emotionally, the move has been “more difficult than I had anticipated.”

“The decision to sell I felt at the time was in the best interests of my family. I feel just as strongly about that now.”

He made the decision to sell just months before he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“I didn’t know about the prostate cancer at the time,” he said. “But it was kind of prophetic.”

Such familiar longtime Suns executives as Tom Ambrose and Harvey Shank will remain.

Dick Van Arsdale, the “original Sun” who was picked by Colangelo in the 1968 expansion draft and is now a club vice president, also will stay on, Sarver said.

“The only one who left is Bryan,” Sarver said.

The reference is to Bryan Colangelo, who left last year to run the Toronto Raptors after he and Sarver failed to reach an agreement for him to remain in charge of basketball operations.

He was replaced at first by coach Mike D’Antoni, then by Steve Kerr, the former NBA player and broadcaster who has served as Sarver’s primary basketball adviser.

“It’s a great organization,” Sarver said of the relative stability during the ownership transition. “We’re in really good shape.”

As for Colangelo, “Emotionally, I’ll never be severed” from the club he’s been involved with for nearly 40 years.

That said, “Life is a journey. You keep moving forward.”