The Philadelphia 76ers are the talk of the NBA after entering the playoffs after a long drought, but the biggest and most damaging news about the team currently came from an exposé involving Bryan Colangelo, president of basketball operations. Colangelo is under investigation by the Sixers organization after Ben Detrick of The Ringer wrote an article alleging that the executive is using anonymous Twitter accounts, also known as burner accounts, to reveal private information on the team and to criticize players and executives.
According to Detrick, Colangelo was using the accounts @phila1234567 (has no name but Colangelo admitted this belongs to him), Eric jr (@AlVic40117560), HonestAbe (@Honesta34197118), Enoughunkownsources (@Enoughunkownso1), and Still Balling (@s_bonhams) which were revealed to him by an anonymous source. Upon further investigation by Detrick, he published his own findings in a report.
Many of these “mean” tweets are particularly directed at Sixers players Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, coach Brett Brown, former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie, and Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who replaced Colangelo for the job years ago.
Since there are a number of these tweets, we’ve summarized the 10 which are most devastating, both to Colangelo if he’s found guilty, and to the players, executives, and others they were directed towards.
10. Criticizing Joel Embiid for dancing while injured
As Eric jr, Colangelo was irate about Embiid going shirtless while dancing onstage at a Meek Mill concert. It’s not that there was anything wrong with dancing, but Embiid did so while nursing a knee injury.
“Too bad that Embiid danced like a fool and the whole disaster happened, next time he will think twice before mocking his team,” Eric jr wrote on Twitter.
He also said in another post, “If I were mngt I would step on a ladder and kick his b#**.”
9. Nerlens Noel is a selfish punk
Noel was traded by the Sixers to the Dallas Mavericks, but his time in Philadelphia was seen very negatively by the burner accounts. Eric jr tweeted that Noel is selfish while saying Jahlil Okafor is a class act. That tweet may have been proven true when Noel was suspended without pay for five games by the league for drug use earlier this year.
8. Masai Ujiri should be blamed for Toronto Raptors’ misfortunes
One of the favorite targets of the burner accounts, Ujiri is blamed for the Raptors’ misfortunes as Colangelo suggests Dwane Casey will take the fall for his mistakes. That’s exactly what happened soon after the Raptors fell to the Cavaliers via a four-game sweep in the second round. Some think that it was Ujiri’s fault, but others believe he did the best he could with what he had.
It’s just very unusual that the accounts always protect and defend Colangelo yet are always overly critical of Ujiri, who took his job. Hmmm…
7. Embiid is jealous of Ben Simmons
The Sixers have two great, young leaders with Embiid and Ben Simmons. However, the burner accounts paint Embiid as jealous of Simmons, who may be taking over leadership of the team ahead of the big man. It’s hard to tell that from their play on the court since the two work well together.
6. Embiid is too distracted by models, social media
Though Embiid was praised by Sixers Nation, Still Balling sided with Simmons as the better played. The 7-footer was described as too distracted by models and social media.
Simmons does seem more focused, but Embiid is a social media monster who just loves the attention. Could he be better if he had fewer distractions? Perhaps, but the idea here is that Embiid isn’t exactly giving his full attention to being a better basketball player.
5. Masai Ujiri is untouchable
Still Balling suggests that Ujiri’s position is so secure that he is untouchable and has mastered self-promotion. The account user definitely wants Ujiri to be fired rather than be considered as someone who should be admired. The accountability within the organization is being questioned to the point that Still Balling believes other general managers would have been fired for doing the same things that Ujiri has done as an exec.
4. Trade Embiid for Kristaps Porzingis
It’s hard to tell what the issue is about Embiid, as he is mostly singled out as the one who is more expendable between him and Simmons. In this tweet by Honest Abe, he prefers the New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis over Embiid. And, if it was within his power, Embiid would be gone immediately in exchange for Porzingis.
What’s worse; if this is indeed Colangelo, he doesn’t think that Embiid is as smart as Porzingis.
Ouch.
3. Sam Hinkie is a pathological maniac
Days after Hinkie, the Sixers’ former GM and President of Basketball Operations, resigned from his post, Colangelo was hired to replace him. It appears that the burner accounts weren’t only protective of Colangelo, but they belittle Hinkie’s strategy for bringing the Sixers back into contention through “The Process.”
In this exchange, Enoughunkownsources says that Hinkie is a pathological maniac. Hinkie is revered by Sixers fans while many of Colangelo’s moves, such as trading for the top pick of the 2018 draft to select Markelle Fultz rather than take Jayson Tatum, are looked on with disdain.
2. Markelle Fultz’ trainer dating his mom
In the midst of Fultz’ shoulder injury drama that sidelined him for much of the season, Still Balling engaged a fan who defended the young point guard’s training . Fultz changed his shot to lessen the pain when shooting upon the trainer’s recommendation, but Still Balling says that it was deeper than that—the trainer was dating his mom.
Not everyone knows something like this without inside information, and Still Balling seems to be well connected.
1. Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are hypocrites
The couple are well-loved especially in the city of Miami where Wade plays for the Heat. Wade is especially respected around the league as one of the class acts of the NBA. But, Eric jr says that Wade and Union aren’t as classy as they appear to be.
Here is Detrick’s take on this story:
“In two responses to a February 2017 tweet from actress Gabrielle Union, who pointed out that Tom Brady didn’t visit the White House when Barack Obama was president, Eric jr went on the attack. ‘I sat NEXT to you and [Dwyane Wade] at Beijing Olympics and saw you both being rude nasty to little kid fan,’ the account said. ‘Had to eat yr pizza. … You showed no respect to this little kid, who are you to stand on high grounds? Never looked at DW the same after that.’ During the 2008 Olympics, Jerry Colangelo, then the managing director of the U.S. men’s national basketball team, was in Beijing.”
Wade has to be incensed at this suggestion, as it involves his wife.
If these burner accounts are linked in any way to Colangelo, expect him to be fired immediately, as this is no way a front office executive should behave.
In a statement from Colangelo, he denies owning and using these accounts.
“Like many of my colleagues in sports, I have used social media as a means to keep up with the news. While I have never posted anything whatsoever on social media, I have used the @Phila1234567 Twitter account referenced in this story to monitor our industry and other current events. This story line is disturbing to me on many levels, as I am not familiar with any of the other accounts that have been brought to my attention, nor do I know who is behind them or what their motives may be in using them.”
Expect to hear more about this in the coming days.
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