Will the 76ers fire Bryan Colangelo? Should they?
By Micah Wimmer
New reporting indicates that the Philadelphia 76ers may be ready to fire Bryan Colangelo. Is this the best decision for the team?
When news broke Tuesday night that 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo was allegedly operating five Twitter accounts in secret — accounts that disclosed privileged information, slandered 76ers players, both past and present, and made personal vendettas public — it predictably sent major waves throughout the NBA community. Memes were made and laughs were had as fans dug through these accounts in search of further evidence to bolster the Ringer’s original claim that Colangelo was operating these burner accounts.
In the passing days, it has become largely agreed upon that these accounts were not operated by Colangelo, but by his wife, Barbara Bottini. Yet in spite of his lack of immediate culpability, it does not appear likely that he will be able to save his job as the 76ers are strongly considering dismissing Colangeo per an ESPN report. Team ownership does not appear to care to parse exactly how responsible Colangelo himself is for the accounts if it is indeed proven that someone close to him was given information which they then posted publicly.
It is not a decision that appears likely to be made immediately, though, as the team’s internal investigation has not yet concluded, but it is a decision that the 76ers would be wise to make quickly, especially with the start of free agency just one month away. Additionally, this is a free agency period that is expected to be pivotal for the future of the 76ers franchise as they hope to lure a star player to join their young core.
What do these burner accounts have to do with the Sixers’ success in free agency, though? Well, if players do not feel the front office is trustworthy and reliable — a belief that would appear to be well-founded in light of recent revelations — then that could immediately eliminate the team from consideration by many notable players. Not only do these tweets reveal a lack of confidentiality in the front office, they also seem to reveal Colangelo as a petty man whose grievances are known to those around him, and feel compelled to defend him, as many of the tweets were devoted to undercutting the work of his predecessor as team president, Sam Hinkie, and the man who succeeded him as president of the Raptors, Masai Ujiri. Furthermore, to know that, not only is the head of their front office disparaging them privately, but that those complaints and demeaning remarks may be made public is sure to discourage the best free agents from joining the Sixers if Colangelo remains in place.
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While no immediate decision has been made, or appears to be imminent, it would be wise for the Sixers to cut ties with Colangelo quickly. There has been a breach of trust between him and the team, and subsequently, with the team and the league at large that must be remedied quickly and either firing him, or encouraging him to resign himself, appears to be the fastest and easiest path to attempt to restore that trust and continue to forge the bright future that the Sixers’ successes last season point towards.