Bryan Colangelo – Philly’s Burning Man?

The 76ers world got flipped on its head last night and it wasn’t because Ben Simmons is dating now dating Kendall Jenner. It’s because Ben Detrick at The Ringer wrote an amazing piece of investigative journalism off an anonymous tipster that linked Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo to several twitter burner accounts that had been critical of current/former players, released personal health information of players, and leaked information to the media.

This is the last thing the Sixers need in what might be the most important off-season for the team in more than a decade. Colangelo’s credibility, and the team in general’s, credibility has been seriously damaged. How are agents, players, other GM’s supposed to work with Colangelo and not worry about discussions, dealings, or private matters ending up on twitter?

I don’t see a way out for Colangelo. If he did operate these twitter handles he’s completely finished here. If it is someone close to Bryan Colangelo who did the tweets, then he has shown an inability to keep certain matters close to his vest and shared them with friends or family members with loose fingers. That shows bad judgement.

There were tweets saying that no one wanted Okafor, that Okafor failed physicals, that Nerlens Noel is a “selfish punk”, that Embiid is playing like a toddler, and disclosing the Sixers hand in the 2017 draft and the trade they were willing to do. All of this is either Bryan Colangelo or someone he vented to and shouldn’t have. There’s just too much accurate information in The Ringer article.

Perhaps it’s another employee in the 76ers organization and Bryan had no idea the tweets were happening, but why would that other Philadelphia employee follow so many similar people on twitter, as the site BC had admitted was his, with connections to Philadelphia AND Toronto, where Colangelo last worked? I guess there’s a possibility that Bryan brought someone with him from Toronto that knew all the same people. Again, poor judgement on Bryan Colangelo’s part if that’s true.

What is certain is that the Sixers owe it to the fans to disclose the name of the owner of these twitter accounts if they aren’t Colangelo burner accounts. If it is Bryan or someone in his inner circle, that circle can no longer be trusted and it would probably be best if the team parted ways with BC and his collars.

If Bryan Colangelo had these burner accounts, maybe he learned it from his dad. I could envision Jerry Colangelo doing a similar thing via anonymous phone calls. It might look something like this:

What is most important should Bryan Colangelo step down or be fired is that the Sixers block all incoming calls from Billy King’s agent or King himself.