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May 30, 2018 3:23 PM   Subscribe

Bryan Colangelo, the president of the Philly 76ers, may have been running numerous anonymous Twitter accounts in which he ridiculed his own players and other NBA figures (including his predecessor, the lightning rod Sam Hinkie) and hillariously acted as his own biggest fan. If true, this would be a very, very bad look. The team is conducting an investigation.
posted by wibari (23 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
This was a nice bit of chess: "On Tuesday, May 22, I emailed the Sixers and shared the names of two of the accounts, phila1234567 and Eric jr (I did not disclose our suspicions about the other three accounts.....That afternoon, within hours of the call, all three of the accounts I hadn’t discussed with the team switched from public to private, effectively taking them offline—including one (HonestAbe) that hadn’t been active since December. "

Well played.
posted by Brockles at 3:34 PM on May 30, 2018 [9 favorites]


I was reading this earlier today, and the most damning part seems to be the points at which he disclosed failed physicals by his players. Most of these activities seem to be unprofessional and would certainly undermine trust on the part of your own players, but those specific disclosures seem like they would be most actionable in terms of being a fireable offense.
posted by Existential Dread at 3:41 PM on May 30, 2018 [8 favorites]


Twitter is really the most efficient means of self-destruction ever invented.
posted by thelonius at 3:44 PM on May 30, 2018 [34 favorites]


I forget where I saw this, but someone else on the Internet pointed out that it's hilarious that Colangelo was brought in specifically to be a calm, controversy-free hand at the tiller, only to have done something way more personally embarrassing and scandalous than anything Hinkie could have dreamed of.

Also, if he was really live-tweeting UChicago basketball games, it is 100% Colangelo or someone related to him. 99% of the students at UChicago don't care enough about the basketball team to watch a game, let alone live-tweet it. Just doing that probably narrows down the list of possible suspects to, like, 10 people worldwide.
posted by Copronymus at 4:01 PM on May 30, 2018 [8 favorites]


*paging Scott Adams*
posted by Fizz at 4:02 PM on May 30, 2018 [20 favorites]


Construction Concern makes an excellent point — well said!
posted by Construction Concern at 4:03 PM on May 30, 2018 [18 favorites]


The Meredith Gambit is never a good idea.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:06 PM on May 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


I just listened to the beginning of Zach Lowe's podcast and it basically two dudes whispering "what in the wooorld" over and over. My reaction also.
posted by selfnoise at 4:08 PM on May 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


I was reading this earlier today, and the most damning part seems to be the points at which he disclosed failed physicals by his players.

I was following this on Twitter and some people suggested that this could also be a HIPPA violation. Can any Mefites in the health care field weigh in on that?

It's all just so weird. An extra bit of gossip is that the preeminent NBA reporter/insider Adrian Wojnarowski followed a couple of these accounts, and he doesn't follow that many people so it's possible that Woj knew about this all along but kept a lid on it.
posted by mcmile at 4:14 PM on May 30, 2018


This kind of thing will explode as the internet saavy generations get more power. Trump and @realslimcolangelo doing very stupid things online are only the beginning.

phila1234567? Not only is that a terrible handle, that's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage.
posted by Query at 4:31 PM on May 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's either Colangelo or it's the most evil genius plan EVER (Hinkie?) and despite the pure joy I find in the first scenario I'm kind of rooting for the drama of the second.
posted by acidic at 4:33 PM on May 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


So the suspects are:

1. Bryan Colangelo - who has the inside knowledge, the weird connections, and has admitted to owning the one account of the 5 that was not actively tweeting.

2. One of Colangelo's very close staff members or a personal assistant. Maybe even someone he brought to the Sixers from the Raptors. Which would also explain the insider knowledge and the accounts following some very Bryan Colangelo-centric but otherwise totally unrelated accounts.

3. Mattia Colangelo - Bryan's son, plays at UChicago and at before that at UCC in Toronto, explaining those follows/connections. This is my top suspect - he's sharing gossip he picked up from his dad/sniping at dad's perceived enemies and doing it via anonymous accounts.

4. Jerry Colangelo - Former owner of the Suns, head of USA basketball, and head of the basketball hall of fame. Jerry is also involved with the Sixers and would have much of the same insider knowledge as Bryan AND be able to get the rest at Sunday dinner like Mattia. Also he's like 80 years old so maybe he kept forgetting his password and making new fake accounts.
posted by thecjm at 5:47 PM on May 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Or.....it might be Bryan's wife!
posted by thecjm at 6:04 PM on May 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


And we're back to "what in the wooorrrrlllddd".
posted by protocoach at 6:41 PM on May 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


3. Mattia Colangelo ... my top suspect

lowe said on his pod that some of the tweets were sent during mattia's college games, so it couldnt have been him at least for that subset of em. unless he was getting some tweetin done during a gatorade break, which... well, ok maybe it was him?
posted by wibari at 7:03 PM on May 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Guys, there’s no need to worry. We just need to trust the investigative process.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:04 PM on May 30, 2018 [5 favorites]


Re: a possible HIPAA violation - it's unlikely. HIPAA applies to health care providers, health insurers, and the middlemen between providers and insurers, but generally not to employers. Depending on how the medical program for the team is structured (Are providers employed by the team? Is the medical group that serves the team a separate legal entity?), the team could maybe be considered a provider. The most likely scenario is that the players sign a release of information from the medical provider to the team's leadership. What the leadership does with it at that point is not a HIPAA matter. Sports organizations are not covered entities under the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
posted by jeoc at 7:11 PM on May 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


lowe said on his pod that some of the tweets were sent during mattia's college games, so it couldnt have been him at least for that subset of em.

My thinking at the time was I looked up Mattia and he plays 6 min a game - plenty of time to send off snarky tweets!
posted by thecjm at 7:45 PM on May 30, 2018


I think, for me, the most shocking thing about this is...UChicago has a basketball team?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:49 PM on May 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


My favorite theory right now is that Hinkie is the one who figured it out and sent the tip into the Ringer in the first place. Probably not true, but I want to believe.
posted by zachlipton at 10:41 PM on May 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


So this is astroturfing. My former boss did this on message boards. I was advised by AskMe when I left that company to keep my mouth shut.
posted by Brocktoon at 3:37 PM on May 31, 2018


Sam Hinkie sends his regards.
posted by Redgrendel2001 at 7:32 PM on June 2, 2018


It was his wife. And, in my best Jon Lovitz, "Whom he threw under the bus".
posted by Gorgik at 1:16 PM on June 7, 2018


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