2. Burnergate
The Sixers organization cannot compare to any other in the sports world when it comes to, for a lack of a better term, weirdness.
Ever since Sam Hinkie was forced out of his job in 2016, mostly on the insistence of the Commissioner’s Office, it’s safe to say that the hierarchy of the organization has been running on thin ice.
And rightfully so, of course.
It got even thinner when less than a week after Hinkie’s ousting and a few months after Jerry Colangelo became involved with the organization, it was announced Jerry’s son Bryan was to be named the new President of Basketball Operations.
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Now if that’s not nepotism I don’t know what is.
Let me be clear, Bryan Colangelo is not inept when it comes to running an organization. He is a former Executive of the Year who not only helped build those great Phoenix Suns teams of the mid-2000s, but also was instrumental in helping the Toronto Raptors get back to playoff relevance. And everything he did during his time with the Sixers wasn’t entirely bad.
Yet there was still reason to be skeptical throughout his tenure. Obviously the whole hiring process as described above is a major reason for it. Plus, a lot of what was already in place is directly attributed to Sam Hinkie, so some could make the argument Bryan’s only real job was to not mess it up. Some of the moves he made didn’t help him garner much confidence as well (the Okafor trade, the Noel trade, and (up to this point) the decision to trade up from No. 3 to No. 1 to draft Markelle Fultz).
Then this past May, Ben Detrick of The Ringer drops a bombshell report that detailed alleged ill-mannered Twitter activity on behalf of Colangelo. The accounts attributed to him included tweets containing confidential team information, direct criticisms of various players and personnel, and even an unfortunate rebuttal in regard to collar sizes.
Even though it was later revealed that Colangelo’s wife was the one running the accounts, this whole situation was the nail in the coffin for the Bryan Colangelo era. And honestly, I think we’re all better as a result.