Bryan Colangelo, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ general manager, has been linked to a number of Twitter profiles which criticise staff and players of the 76ers organization, per The Ringer’s Ben Detrick. As many as five separate accounts linked to Colangelo have been critical of 76ers players. The accounts have also criticized Philadelphia’s former GM, Sam Hinkie, and discussed sensitive team information. Revealed on May 29, these accounts all share shockingly similar following/follower bases, opinions, actions, language use, and even some contact details. If Colangelo turns out to be behind these accounts, this will mean chaos for an organization that had just recently found its footing.
Bryan Colangelo Potentially Using Multiple Twitter Accounts to Criticize His Team
There are five accounts which are reportedly linked to Colangelo. The first of these is ‘@phila1234567’, which doesn’t tweet but follows numerous 76ers media members, employees, and NBA agents. The other four that have been active as recently as last week. These are ‘Eric Jr’ (@AlVic40117560), ‘Honest Abe’ (@Honesta34197118), ‘Enoughunknownsources’ (@Enoughknownso1), and ‘Still Balling’ (@s_bonhams). Out of these, the first account has been confirmed to belong to Colangelo, but he denied being behind the others. According to Detrick, he was informed by a source who said that they worked in artificial intelligence, stating that “They all have a pattern of likes, follows, and tweets which are EXTRAORDINARILY similar.”
It has recently come to light that the accounts are all linked to numbers ending in ’91’, which is the same as Colangelo’s wife’s number. If his wife is behind these accounts, this could spell trouble for Colangelo, his wife, and the organization.
The Issue
While at its face, Colangelo having Twitter accounts is not an issue, the problem draws from what the accounts revealed. They ranged from criticisms of players Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz, to Colangelo’s predecessor, Sam Hinkie. The accounts also seem to support Colangelo unequivocally. Worryingly, the accounts also appear to reveal sensitive information pertaining to the 76ers organization. There were multiple comments suggesting that Jahlil Okafor was not successfully traded in 2017 due to failing a physical. The accounts also seemed to suggest that the mysterious Markelle Fultz shooting problem stemmed from an issue with his trainer, who supposedly was involved with his mother. Furthermore, the accounts seemed to be highly vocal in regards to a dislike of Nerlens Noel.
The Response
As can be expected, there was a fairly wide-ranging response to the article and allegations of Ben Detrick. Possibly the most notable was that of Embiid, renowned social media veteran. With a barrage of tweets, Embiid posted a photo of himself from several years ago, replied to one of the accounts by tagging Hinkie, and even engaged in trade talks with C.J. McCollum. However, he did end the night with the following tweet, indicating that his previous tweets were not serious:
Fun night on Twitter lmao.. All jokes asides I don’t believe the story. That would just be insane
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018
Other responses were further investigation into these claims, which resulted in the revelation that at least three of the accounts are linked to a phone number which ends in the same two digits as Colangelo’s wife’s number. Bryan Colangelo did release a statement, saying that he was behind the ‘@phila1234567’ account, but he denied ownership of the others.
What’s Next?
It will be interesting to see where the 76ers go from here. Obviously, the accounts are not proven to be run by Colangelo, but there seems to be mounting evidence. If it is proven that he is the owner of these accounts, then the 76ers will be faced with a difficult decision. They either must go through the process of firing Colangelo and hiring a new general manager, or they’ll stay with Colangelo and face throwing the team into turmoil.
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