76ers executive used several burner accounts on Twitter to spread gossip about his own players

[pwaldo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...p-players.html

There is strong suspicion that a top executive with an NBA team created five anonymous social media accounts which he then used to disparage his players, coaches, predecessors, colleagues, and media members.

Bryan Colangelo, the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, is the man believed to have been behind secret Twitter handles that he used as a tool to bash some of his own star players on the team.

The assertion was made in a lengthy investigative report by the news site The Ringer.

The site said it received a tip from a source who claimed that Colangelo was using five Twitter accounts anonymously to hit out at two of the Sixers' prized stars - Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor - as well as Nerlens Noel, the former Sixer who now plays for Dallas.

It was alleged that Colangelo also used the Twitter handles to offer criticism of his predecessor, the former Philadelphia general manager Sam Hinkie, as well as Raptors executive Masai Ujiri, who replaced him in Toronto in 2013.

'The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter,' the Sixers said Wednesday in a statement. 'We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.'

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Colangelo has been reaching out to those mentioned in the tweets, claiming he is not responsible for any of them.

Colangelo, it was alleged, also used the Twitter handles to reveal sensitive information and gossip about players in the hopes that local reporters covering the Sixers would absolve him of blame for the team's troubles.

The Ringer said it was given five Twitter handles by the source, who conducted their own open-source data analysis.

This analysis revealed that the five accounts had eerie similarities that was difficult to chalk up to coincidence.

The accounts followed other Twitter accounts that were virtually identical.

They also shared similar linguistic patterns, phrasing, language, and media images that were posted.

'They all have a pattern of likes, follows, and tweets which are EXTRAORDINARILY similar,' a source told The Ringer.

All of those accounts followed other accounts linked to 76ers players, beat reporters that cover the team, beat writers who cover the Toronto Raptors, Canadian high school basketball, and University of Chicago basketball.

Before arriving in Philadelphia in 2016, Colangelo was the top executive for the Raptors.

He was succeeded in Toronto by Ujiri.

[scottkoz20]

I don’t get the upside in doing this, if true. Seems petty


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[pwaldo]

I don’t get the upside in doing this, if true. Seems petty

Is there any upside to famous people using Twitter? Also with him and Durant being busted doing this stuff it seems like this is a more common thing than anybody would have liked to have thought.

[creasecollector]

Such an odd thing to do, especially for a President of Basketball ops.


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[camsue]

Seems very petty

[pwaldo]

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2018/06/...part-ways.html

The Sixers and president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo have agreed to part ways, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links). According to Wojnarowski, the club will hold a news conference this afternoon with team ownership to discuss the move. The Sixers have issued a press release officially confirming the decision.