BOSTON – Bryan Colangelo has a birthday coming up.
He’ll be 53 years old on Friday.
After the social media turmoil he’s currently embroiled in, I’m pretty sure seeing this whole burner account fiasco go away would be the best gift like, ever.
- MORE BLAKELY - Five Celtics offseason storylines
If you’ve been in an NBA cocoon for the last 24 hours, you probably missed the report by the Ringer about Colangelo having as many as five burner accounts on Twitter which praised him incessantly, called out players such as Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, in addition to taking some not-so-veiled shots at his predecessor, Sam Hinkie.
The Sixers have now opened an investigation into the burner account fiasco, which is never a good thing for someone like Colangelo.
“An outline media outlet filed a story linking multiple social media accounts to 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo,” read a statement by the Sixers. “The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter. We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.”
Boston Celtics
Even if the investigation turns out to be favorable to Colangelo, keeping him around becomes complicated on a few different levels.
Colangelo owned up to having one of the accounts, which in itself is a bad look.
It’s not the fact that he has an additional account(s), but the manner in which he has reportedly used it.
If the allegations in the Ringer piece turn out to be true, there’s no logical path going forward for the Sixers other than firing Colangelo immediately.
It’s one thing to take shots at the media and even fellow league executives.
But when you pull out the flamethrower on players while hiding behind the anonymity that can at times be part of Twitter, you might as well start packing for your next job because at that point it becomes a matter of when, not if, you are going to be fired.
And while there is no definitive smoking gun per se, the circumstantial evidence is pretty damning right now.
To Colangelo’s credit, he has reportedly reached out to some players like Embiid and has told them the story is not true.
Players are going to respond and say they believe him, but belief at this point doesn’t matter.
The better question is, do you trust him?
Because belief is a fleeting emotion; trust has staying power.
And that being so problematic now may be enough for Sixers brass to cut their ties with Colangelo.
The Sixers must also give some thought to how this whole incident will impact their chances of convincing LeBron James to make Philly the latest city where he works his miracles.
Convincing James to play in Philadelphia would indeed be a long shot.
Doing that with the Colangelo cloud hovering above?
There’s no way James would even consider - let alone come to - Philadelphia with Burnergate going on.
Players on the roster will have trust issues. Players they want to be on the roster? They, too, will have trust issues.
And with that, the franchise known for its “Trust the Process” mantra, now finds it taking on a new meaning that’s not good for anyone, especially birthday-boy-to-be Bryan Colangelo.