Why Bryan Colangelo might have made fake Twitter accounts

With the recent report regarding Bryan Colangelo’s alleged burner accounts, what exactly could push the Philadelphia 76ers’ GM to do such a thing?

The quote below is from this article by Michael Rosenberg evaluating what Philadelphia 76ers GM Bryan Colangelo was likely thinking when he allegedly decided to make anonymous accounts on Twitter.

"“It is April 2016. You have just been hired to replace Sam Hinkie as the 76ers head of basketball operations. You built the NBA’s most beloved and influential non-champion of this generation, the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns, but everybody credits coach Mike D’Antoni. You stole star Kyle Lowry for the Raptors, but then you got fired and people fawn over your successor, Masai Ujiri.This annoys you.Now you are taking over a team that went 10-72, and you can already tell: No matter how much you win, people will give Hinkie and his Process the credit. If you lose, they will blame you. To the stats community, Hinkie is a martyr, you’re the bad guy, and that’s that.You know that pleading your case publicly will make you look small. But you can’t help it: You’re annoyed. Almost every NBA executive has some kind of Twitter account, either public or private, to follow the conversation in the league. You have one, too: @phila1234567. On a whim—it only takes a minute—you create another account, and you respond to somebody’s tweet.Gosh, that feels good.”"

As someone that wrote, “What I can’t accept is choosing his replacement based on who he is related to instead of his ideas for moving the team forward or resume,” in response to the Philadelphia 76ers hiring Bryan Colangelo to replace Sam Hinkie, I’m one of those people that gives Hinkie more credit than Colangelo.

In fact, if I had to give a percentage on who did the most to build the 2017-18 Sixers between Hinkie and Bryan, I would give Hinkie 70 percent and Bryan 30 percent. Bryan’s best decision was drafting Ben Simmons with the top pick of the 2016 draft, and the Sixers only got the opportunity to draft him due to the intentionaly bad team Hinkie created. Bryan just made the easy decision to select the best player in the draft.

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It’s easy for people to view Bryan as the most privileged man in the NBA — someone that was born rich and had a father that gave him high-position jobs in the NBA that most people had to work years to earn or will never have the chance to occupy.

As humans we are often driven by our egos and Bryan’s ego has been assaulted by accusations of nepotism his entire career and he has been carrying a chip on his shoulder that is the size of Wells Fargo Center. Twitter has given him the opportunity to finally let loose and he didn’t care if he was eventually found out and his career and reputation was ruined.

Nevertheless, Colangelo is denying he is responsible for those tweets and many league executives seem to believe this: It is hard to fathom a GM risking his job in such a reckless manner. Many are giving him the benefit of doubt on that level alone. It just doesn’t add up. https://t.co/BDn3n0os2a
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018

The above tweet by Adrian Wojnarowski mentions that many NBA general managers refuse to believe someone in Bryan’s position would do what he did shouldn’t change the opinion of anyone that believes that @phila1234567, @AlVic40117560 (Eric jr), @Honesta34197118 (HonestAbe), @Enoughunkownsol (Enoughunkownsources), and @s_bonhams (Still Balling) are all Bryan Colangelo, because people destroy themselves and people around them to satisfy a toxic combination of ego and anger all the time.

Whether it be serious issues like politics or less-serious issues like Bryan having multiple burner accounts, it’s not that hard to envision him going this far to defend his self worth.

"“On February 12, while Okafor was home in Philadelphia as the team traveled, a writer for the blog The Sixers Sense named Brian Jacobs posted a highlight from then-Pistons guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Eric jr replied, seemingly off topic, ‘I must be nuts, I cannot sleep because I worry Jah will not pass physical exams and sent back.’ The next day, Jacobs posted a prospective trade that would ship Okafor to the Pelicans for E’Twaun Moore and a pick. Eric jr responded again. ‘I feel it in my bones, deal was done and Jah did not pass physical,’ the account wrote. ‘Let’s wait & see, only possibility at this point.’When Okafor rejoined the Sixers in Boston on February 15, Colangelo was criticized for creating an embarrassing situation for the second-year center. From that point onward, Eric jr (and other accounts) consistently claimed, dozens of times, that a deadline deal involving Okafor was derailed by a failed physical. A source tangential to the prospective trade told me that he wasn’t sure why the transaction never went through, but necessary paperwork had been drawn up and ‘the expectation was that the trade would be completed.’Most of the tweets were directed toward basketball journalists and often tried to goad them into investigating the otherwise unreported allegation. ‘Ask Jah If he passed other team physical?’ Eric jr tweeted at Keith Pompey, a Sixers beat writer for Philly.com. ‘I bet the farm it’s what’s happened.’ The account made a similar suggestion to Jacobs. ‘Ask Jah If this is the truth? … You are a pretty established writer/blogger. Ask team for interview.’”"

The above quote comes from The Ringer article by Ben Detrick that started this controversy and is a clear view into Bryan’s mindset.

Hinkie would’ve likely traded Jahlil Okafor during the 2016 draft when it was still realistic to get a lottery pick in return for the center. Knowing that Hinkie had a reputation for winning trades, Bryan was determined to trade Okafor for something that would force Hinkie’s supporters to admit he is worthy of his job.

After falling to traded Okafor and Nerlens Noel, who was still part of the team at the time, Bryan later said, “I will not make a bad deal for this organization,” according to this tweet by Derek Bodner. At some point Bryan came to the conclusion that he was going to make a bad deal, and that thought was killing him inside, so like an alcoholic that drinks to make himself feel better, Bryan went on Twitter to blame Okafor for his failure to make a good trade.

"“Depending on the language of Colangeo’s contract, Harris could also consider firing Colangelo “for cause”—a classification of employment termination that enables the employer to not pay out the remainder of the employee’s contract. Such a clause can usually be invoked when the employee has acted wrongfully in terms of the law or ethics.”"

The above quote is from Michael McCann’s article detailing possible legal issues stemming from Bryan’s Twitter accounts, which might be the biggest reason for the Sixers’ independent investigation and Bryan’s claim that had no involvement with the tweets. It’s possible for the Sixers to fire Bryan without paying him the remainder of his contract if they can prove that he leaked information unknown to the public, like Okafor failing a physical.

Next: Does the Colangelo report damage the Sixers?

There is no doubt in my mind that Bryan Colangelo is guilty of creating burner accounts to display his true feelings and sooth his hurt ego, it’s just a shame that the Sixers had to become a laughing stock as part of his quest for unrealized respect.

Editor’s note: Colangelo has denied the original report and there is a chance that Colangelo isn’t directly involved with the accounts. Innocent until proven guilty, per se.