NBA Twitter detectives may be Bryan Colangelo’s downfall. But could they also save him?
The Ringer published an eye-opening report Tuesday night linking the Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations to multiple “burner” Twitter accounts that regularly criticized current and former members of the organization and occasionally leaked classified information.
While there’s a wealth of (convincing) circumstantial evidence, we don’t have definitive proof Colangelo operated any of these accounts outside @phila1234567, a dormant account which the Sixers confirmed belonged to Colangelo.
That prompted Twitter to do some digging. One user tried to determine the identity of Colangelo’s burner accounts by pretending to reset their passwords, which prompts Twitter to display portions of the phone number and email linked to that account.
https://twitter.com/OhWowHmm/status/1001667463174656000
https://twitter.com/OhWowHmm/status/1001672894668255233
As this user points out, three of Colangelo’s alleged burner accounts use a phone number ending in “91.”
But the account confirmed to be Colangelo’s, @phila1234567, uses a different phone number ending in “75.”
https://twitter.com/OhWowHmm/status/1001673498673270784
Tom Moore, a columnist who covers the Sixers for the Bucks County Courier Times, confirmed Tuesday night that “75” number matches the number he has for Colangelo in his phone.
The number I have is consistent with acknowledged account https://t.co/ZCC4av5UJE
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) May 30, 2018
I am saying the number ending in 75 matches what I have. https://t.co/U6YEBKtU3g
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) May 30, 2018
Why is any of this important?
Well, assuming Colangelo’s phone number actually ends in “75,” it would make sense that it’s linked to his confirmed account. The email address, “bp*********@g****.***,” also could, in theory, read “bpcolangelo@gmail.com.”
But the other four accounts — Eric jr, HonestAbe, Enoughunkownsources and Still Balling — appear to be linked to different phone numbers and/or email addresses. While Colangelo obviously could have multiple phone numbers, this leaves open the possibility that someone else other than Colangelo was operating these accounts.
Got all that?
As The Ringer describes in great detail, there’s plenty of other evidence working against Colangelo, and we could find out soon enough if these Twitter accounts are actually his. But Moore’s confirmation of Colangelo’s phone number is a small yet important detail worth noting.
