The Ringer reported on Tuesday that Bryan Colangelo, the leader of the Philadelphia 76ers, a franchise known for responsible tweeting, appears to have used multiple burner accounts to defend his record and criticize Joel Embiid, Markelle Fultz, Sam Hinkie, Masai Ujiri, and others. There is substantial circumstantial evidence supporting this report, though Colangelo has denied ownership of the accounts involved in Twitter slander (acknowledging only a silent account).
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We have that and more in Wednesday’s NBA newsletter.
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Luckily for Colangelo, there’s no precedent for Twitter ending prominent careers, right? ... Right?
The Ringer’s Ben Detrick got a tip from someone who claims to have noticed that the accounts in question were tweeting non-public information about, among other topics, Jahlil Okafor’s health status, and allegedly used machine learning to connect the burners. The most egregious burner — with a display name of Eric jr — also appears to have a weird interest in University of Chicago basketball. Colangelo’s son plays for UofC.
Of course, of course, Joel Embiid dipped into the madness, tweeting at one of the alleged burners and making a few jokes before ending the night claiming he doesn’t believe the story after talking to Colangelo. Unless there’s some evidence it’s not Colangelo, though — which would likely mean someone else fessing up — this might be the end of his time in Philly. I suppose it’s good news for Brett Brown, then, that he inked a three-year extension earlier on Tuesday.
If there’s a lesson in all of this, and it is simple: never tweet.
A Word on Suspension of Disbelief
Several prominent NBA writers have claimed that while this all looks bad, they can’t imagine Colangelo — a basketball statesman if there ever was one — risking it all to do this.
Y’all need to hang out with more insecure middle-aged professionals. This is totally believable.
Online behavior has always been the badlands of couth and professionalism. With a global bullhorn at your fingertips, bad decisions are real, real easy to make. We’ve seen it ruin careers time after time. That it would happen to an NBA general manager isn’t that surprising given the very online culture of the league. I mean, the league’s second best player got caught up in a burner scandal this year! You couldn’t have possibly thought Kevin Durant was the only rich dude spending free time secretly defending himself online? If a Durant could do it, why not a Colangelo?
What upside was there for Colangelo? None! But people don’t tweet crazy because there’s upside. They tweet crazy because of a brew of poor impulse control and the dopamine hits from engagement. Even NBA GMs and NBA superstars are human. This is totally believable.
That doesn’t make it any less crazy. But you can’t dismiss because you consider it beneath the office. Like the great Rachel Nichols said, have you looked around lately?
Links Galore
All the stars were aligned for the Rockets, until they weren’t. Here’s to hoping that Houston is able to run it back.
In which Lakers fans acknowledge that LeBron James has had a better career than Kobe Bryant. I, too, am surprised the timestamp on that post isn’t June 2012, but what are you going to do?
Spencer Hall on how Houston missing 27 straight threes goes beyond bad luck. Tim Cato on the Rockets’ identity and reliance on threes. (Gonna miss you, Tim.) Me on complacency and the Warriors chasing Kevin Durant. Zito Madu on the Rockets needing Chris Paul to save them from themselves.
Ty Lue reflects on an admittedly bizarre season. Never forget that he is coaching a team in the Finals despite having soup thrown at him this year.
Put the safety on those Twitter fingers out there, folks. And be excellent to each other.
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