In perhaps the most bizarre story yet in a drama-filled NBA season, Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo has denied using several Twitter burner accounts to defend his reputation and to criticize Sixers players.
A compelling report from Ben Detrick of The Ringer connects five anonymous Twitter accounts to one another, suggesting that the accounts are strikingly similar in terms of content, tone, follows, and likes. As Detrick details, these accounts seemingly shared inside information on the 76ers and tipped team strategy — they also criticized current and former Sixers players and defended Colangelo’s track record with the franchise.
After Detrick sent an inquiry to the Sixers asking about two of the five accounts, Colangelo issued a statement claiming ownership of one of the accounts, which had never posted a tweet, denying knowledge of the other. Simultaneously, the three other accounts – which Detrick didn’t mention in his inquiry to the Sixers – went dark, switching from public to private.
The Ringer’s story is worth reading in full for many more details on the circumstantial evidence linking the accounts to Colangelo, as well as for the details on the tweets in question, which go after Joel Embiid, Markelle Fultz, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel, along with former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and current Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who replaced Colangelo in Toronto. Tweets from those anonymous accounts also repeatedly referred to an Okafor trade falling through after he failed a physical, and telegraphed the Sixers’ trade for 2017’s No. 1 pick several weeks before it happened.
While it’s impossible to say at this point that Colangelo is or isn’t behind the five accounts identified by The Ringer, it doesn’t look great for the Sixers’ president, considering the tweets “launched personal beefs, jealousies, [and] frustrations that he’s shared inside and outside [the] 76ers,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Still, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that many executives around the league seem to believe Colangelo’s denials, since it’s hard to imagine a high-level executive would risk his job “in such a reckless manner” — it just doesn’t add up, Woj observes. According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (via Twitter), the prevailing sentiment around the NBA – and within the Sixers organization – so far is confusion.
The controversy hasn’t gone unnoticed by Embiid, who was the subject of several negative tweets by the accounts in question. In one tweet tonight, Embiid pretended to accidentally post from his own account rather than from a burner profile, writing: “Joel told me that @samhinkie IS BETTER AND SMARTER THAN YOU @AlVic40117560 #BurnerAccount.” @AlVic40117560, one of the five accounts cited in The Ringer’s story, published a number of tweets criticizing Embiid, many of which the Sixers center “liked” tonight.
However, Embiid was more diplomatic in a statement to Wojnarowski, telling ESPN’s top reporter that he trusts Colangelo’s denials for now.
“I talked to him and he said that he didn’t say that,” Embiid said. “He called me just to deny the story. Gotta believe him until proven otherwise. If true though, that would be really bad.”
Hinkie did the whole dirty job and received the criticism for Phillies shameless tanking. Then BC took over and had such a smooth path to glory, but Hinkie’s ghost was haunting him. He had to do sth big immediately so to chase the ghost away. Danny the Boy was around at the time seeking for desperate virgins and the rest is history.
Please let this be real rofl
Oh dear lord let this get Colangelo fired. #TTP #ResurrectHinkie
Hinkie back to Philly right now please!!! Get rid of the useless Colangelo
Makes the timing of the Brown extension seem like cover for this coming out. Hmmm…
Twitter sure seems to be getting a lot of people in hot water these days.
Fire this clown! He has no business running this franchise
Trust The Process
NBA forced the Colangelos on the Sixers, remember that
It sounds like someone in the office is leaking stuff via the accounts. No reason for Colangelo to do it, but someone below him
might.
Agreed that it makes little sense for Colangelo to be this much of a moron, but this would otherwise have to be a frame job by someone in or very close to someone in 76ers organization.
On the other hand perhaps this is all part of a plot by Vladimir Putin to erode trust in pro basketball institutions as part of an overall attack on western democracy, and presidents of every stripe within it.
Cambridge Analytica is at it again!
Upcoming deals are often leaked so that the dealmaker can get a preview of the reaction.
This story is not that hard to believe.