Nick Piccone
Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news this afternoon – and who else? The Sixers and Bryan Colangelo have “agreed to part ways,” according to the reporter. Many confirmations from other media outlets have followed.
Philadelphia and Bryan Colangelo have agreed to part ways, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 7, 2018
The Sixers then confirmed it shortly after, releasing this statement:
The law firm hired to investigate Colangelo, Paul Weiss, also released a statement:
Below is the text if you are unable to view the image:
New York, June 7, 2018 – Paul, Wiess, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP was engaged by the ownership of the Philadelphia 76ers to conduct an investigation of issues arising from the publication of an article on May 29 identifying certain anonymous Twitter accounts that posted information concerning the club, its personnel and related topics. The article reported that the Twitter accounts may be connected in some way to Bryan Colangelo, the club’s President of Basketball Operations.
We commenced our investigation on May 30 and it substantially concluded on June 5. With the assistance of expert forensic consultants, we collective extensive electronic evidence consisting of multiple electronic devices (iPhones, iPads and other computer devices from multiple sources); conducted an extensive review of the contents of those devices, including text messages and other data; accessed numerous email accounts and reviewed the contents of those accounts; examined the account history of certain of the Twitter accounts; conducted witness interviews and undertook additional investigative tasks.
The investigation was led by Brad S. Karp, the Chairman of Paul, Weiss, Lorin L. Reisner, a Paul, Weiss senior partner and former Chief of Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Richard C. Tarlowe, a Paul, Weiss partner and former Chief of the Cybercrime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The account names of the Twitter accounts under investigation are: Eric jr, Still Ballins, Enoughunkownsources, and HonestAbe.
We investigated the following issues, among others: (1) who was responsible for establishing the Twitter accounts or posting messages on those accounts; (2) whether Mr. Colangelo was aware of the Twitter accounts before May 22, when there was a press inquiry concerning one of the subject accounts; and (3) whether Mr. Colangelo was the source of any sensitive, non-public information concerning the 76ers or its personnel communicated on the Twitter accounts.
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.
We cannot conclude that Mr. Colangelo was aware of the Twitter accounts prior to the May 22 press inquiry. Mr. Colangelo denies any such awareness and we have not observed any forensic evidence establishing that he had knowledge of the Twitter accounts prior to that date. We note, however, that our investigation was limited and impeded by certain actions taken by Ms. Bottini, including her decision to delete the contents of her iPhone by executing a factory reset of the device prior to surrendering it for forensic review.
Brett Brown will reportedly now be in charge of basketball operations on an interim basis.
According to PhillyVoice’s Kyle Neubeck, the reason there was nine days in between the revelation and the decision was Jerry Colangelo, who “threatened to damage team relationships in the event Bryan was fired.”
Sources tell PhillyVoice: Part of delay in Sixers process was due to pressure from Jerry Colangelo, who threatened to damage team relationships in the event Bryan was fired. https://t.co/0dWUPPtgBz
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) June 7, 2018
What a good guy Jerry is.
And what a strange beginning to the team’s most important offseason in recent memory. Maybe ever? One has to believe Colangelo being out bodes well for big name free agents LeBron to come to town, as many players have said they’d be wary of coming to Philly if Colangelo was still at the helm. That in and of itself had to be enough for Sixers ownership to pull the plug on the guy.
UPDATE: And here’s a statement from Colangelo.
You can follow Nick Piccone on Twitter (@nickpiccone) and Instagram (@picconenick), and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to The Straight Shooters Podcast (@ShootersRadio) on iTunes here and listen every Friday afternoon at 2:00 P.M. on Wildfire Radio. Click here to read his pro wrestling articles on PhillyVoice.
Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.