from the weird world of sports
Did a 76ers executive create a fake Twitter account to trash his players?
In lieu of a private burn book, the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers may have created at least five fake Twitter accounts in order to publicly talk smack about some of his players while referring to himself as a "class act."
The team is now investigating whether Bryan Colangelo, who joined the 76ers in 2016, is behind the accounts, and if so, why he felt the need to go down this path. On Tuesday, The Ringer reported that it received an anonymous tip in February about Colangelo and fake accounts, which the site began to monitor. The accounts targeted Philadelphia players Joel Embidd and Markelle Fultz, former players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, former general manager Sam Hinkie, and Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri.
One of the accounts accused Embidd of "playing like a toddler having tantrums" and "acting like a tool," while another praised Colangelo multiple times for being a "class act." After The Ringer asked the team about two of the accounts, the other three were quickly made private. A person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that at least 20 accounts pretending to be Colangelo have been shuttered by the team this season, and they are trying to determine who is behind the accounts followed by The Ringer. Colangelo said he did use one of those accounts to keep tabs on the NBA and current events, but didn't know anything about the others.