Even after Bryan Colangelo resigned Thursday as the 76ers’ president of basketball operations amid statements from him, the team and the law firm it hired to conduct an investigation into the possibility that he was connected to several anonymous Twitter accounts, questions remained. They included: Was his wife really the only one who operated the accounts? Did he really not divulge any sensitive information to her about the team? And who tipped off The Ringer, which broke the story?
What seemed clear, though, was Colangelo’s remarkable willingness to paint his wife in a negative light while protesting his innocence. That didn’t go over particularly well with Internet observers, if the many variations on the phrase “threw his wife under the bus” were any indication.
The negative reaction emerged after Colangelo posted his statement, following one by 76ers managing partner Josh Harris in which he said, “It has become clear Bryan’s relationship with our team and his ability to lead the 76ers moving forward has been compromised.” Harris added that head coach Brett Brown would oversee basketball operations, including preparing for the draft, until the team could hire a new general manager.
Philadelphia also released a statement of findings from law firm Paul, Weiss, which said, “As a result of our investigation, we do not believe that Mr. Colangelo established the Twitter accounts or posted content on those accounts. The evidence supports the conclusion that Ms. Barbara Bottini, Mr. Colangelo’s wife, established the Twitter accounts and posted content on those accounts. When interviewed, Ms. Bottini admitted establishing and operating the accounts. Forensic evidence corroborates her admissions.”
“Our investigation revealed substantial evidence that Mr. Colangelo was the source of sensitive, non-public, club-related information contained in certain posts to the Twitter accounts,” the statement continued. “We believe that Mr. Colangelo was careless and in some instances reckless in failing to properly safeguard sensitive, non-public, club-related information in communications with individuals outside the 76ers organization.”
Then it was time for Colangelo himself to weigh in, and, well, did he ever. “While I am grateful that the independent investigation conducted by the 76ers has confirmed that I had no knowledge of or involvement in the Twitter activity conducted by my wife, I vigorously dispute the allegation that my conduct was in any way reckless,” he began. “At no point did I ever purposefully or directly share any sensitive, non-public, club-related information with her.”
At that point, the 53-year-old executive, who took over from the fired Sam Hinkie in April 2016, dropped the hammer. Or, in the metaphor many preferred to use, provided his wife with a particularly undesirable view of a Greyhound.
“Her actions were a seriously misguided effort to publicly defend and support me, and while I recognize how inappropriate these actions were, she acted independently and without my knowledge or consent,” Colangelo said of Bottini. “Further, the content she shared was filled with inaccuracies and conjecture which in no way represent my own views or opinions. While this was obviously a mistake, we are a family and we will work through this together.”
In sum, the consensus was that Colangelo wasn’t showing Bottini a whole lot of gratitude for all the times she fiercely stuck up for him, which was a major focus of the Twitter accounts’ activities. As recounted by The Ringer last week, there were numerous pro-Colangelo tweets, often taking issue with the widespread perception among Sixers fans that the team was better off under Hinkie, such as, “BC has done nothing but clean up hinkie’s mess,” and, “[Colangelo] is too classy to even engage. Worked with him: he is a class act.”
If the accounts had left it there and Bottini’s involvement come to light, it would have been an embarrassment — as was the case when the wife of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted to having used an anonymous Twitter account to defend her husband against critics — but likely not much more. (Well, except for the tweets addressing Colangelo’s fondness for dress shirts with aggressively large collars, including the immortal, “That is a normal collar. Move on, find a new slant.” That’ll generate chuckles for years to come.)
Unfortunately for the couple, the accounts also took shots at not only Hinkie, but 76ers players such as Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, as well as Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who succeeded Colangelo in Toronto. Even more problematic were the revelations of the aforementioned “sensitive, non-public, club-related information,” which likely included a reference to video footage of a “mentor” for Fultz having him perform unusual drills that may have contributed to his baffling shooting woes.
Ultimately, the result was that Colangelo does not have a job right now. Whether he continues to have a marriage remains to be seen.
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