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Kevin F. Love:
After some impressive research by Twitter users @Legsanity and @DidTheSixersWin, a new suspect has arisen in the case of the Colangelo Burner Account situation.
The suspect: Barbara Bottini, Bryan Colangelo’s wife.
Like most everything we know in this fiasco, the evidence brought against her is circumstantial. (Yesterday, I was sure Colangelo personally tweeted from the accounts. Now, I’m not so sure he actually typed the tweets and hit send.) So it’s important to remember that theories are exactly that — theories. Without any confirmation via the organization, most of what we’re hearing at this point is unofficial or unproven.
But the Twitter accounts mentioned above bring some very interesting information to light regarding Barbara Bottini, if it’s in fact legitimate.
Legs first starts rolling here:
Bryan Colangelo's wife is Italian, which could explain the weird linguistics of Eric jr, etc. i can't find much about her online so i'm not sure if she's of Italian decent or is actually from Italy.
— Burner Colangelo (@legsanity) May 30, 2018
In Seven Seconds or Less book pretty sure I read that she was Italian, like from the country. They met in Milan, were very close with D'Antoni who was playing there at the time
— Hesi Pull-Up Jimbo (@_JimmyMcCormick) May 30, 2018
also, "Bryan Colangelo's wife Barbara Bottini is a big part of the reason Mike D'Antoni works for the Suns--told her husband to keep an eye on Mike" https://t.co/whz8tTI0hF
— Burner Colangelo (@legsanity) May 30, 2018
Now, this is where things really start getting interesting:
Bryan's wife, Barbara Bottini, was given an award by their son's high school, due to her service to the school (which includes helping with the Arts boosters, which connects to the Bonhams name in another account) . who nominated her? two people Eric jr followed. pic.twitter.com/3u4Xoh1qz2
— Burner Colangelo (@legsanity) May 30, 2018
Then, @DidTheSixersWin jumped in with a response to comments made by Rich Hofmann:
Here's a few more of the live tweets. Following the timestamps admittedly feels like an inexact science to me, but from these, it would seem pretty difficult for Bryan Colangelo to be tweeting from the Eric Jr account at the same time as his media availability. pic.twitter.com/HNtemoED0K
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) May 31, 2018
More evidence that “Eric Jr” is not BColangelo and instead likely someone close to him...
— Did the Sixers win? (@DidTheSixersWin) May 31, 2018
...like his wife. https://t.co/UMM4BZvLh9
Ben Detrick, who broke the story about the accounts in question, then retweeted this @DidTheSixersWin tweet:
— Did the Sixers win? (@DidTheSixersWin) May 31, 2018
Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini has a phone number ending in 91, almost certainly linking her to 3 of the burner accounts.
WOW. pic.twitter.com/PQpe5GccEh
Soon after Detrick retweeted @DidTheSixersWin, Detrick tweeted:
plot twist
— Ben Detrick (@bdetrick) May 31, 2018
The silence from the organization and Colangelo is deafening. With that said, obviously the team has not confirmed any of this. Colangelo, himself, has not confirmed any of this. So, most of what we think we know is not actually fact. At the same time, the ideas laid out above certainly warrant consideration.
What. is. going. on?
Sean Kennedy:
This evidence wouldn’t hold up in a court of law, but it appears to be enough for the court of public opinion. Bryan Colangelo admitted to operating the @Phila1234567 account, and there were substantial connections between that account and the others laid out in Detrick’s piece. Those accounts now have a lot of digital fingers pointing back toward his wife, Barbara.
The possibility of the accounts being run by his wife doesn’t dismiss Colangelo from being culpable in this mess. Whether or not he knew about these other accounts, the fact remains that he relayed sensitive team information to some outside party, either his wife, another close confidante, or the Twitter public at-large. Such reckless handling of said information is grounds for his dismissal. It seems impossible that any players could trust the integrity of the Sixers front office going forward if Colangelo is still around.
We all know the stereotypical wedding vows (for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, etc.). Going forward, we may see some new ones spring up among happy couples (in Twitter threads and Moments, I’ll defend both your business acumen and collar height, until death do us part).