76ers writer Keith Pompey reacts to the Bryan Colangelo scandal

Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo found himself in hot water for alledgedly operating five Twitter accounts used to scrutinize NBA players and the decisions of his coaching staff.

The Ringer reported that Colangelo used the Twitter accounts to criticize players including Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor. The Sixers are now investigating whether the accounts were operated by Colangelo, who is maintaining his innocence.

Philadelphia Inquirer 76ers beat reporter Keith Pompey, one of the reporters that was reported to be targeted by disparaging tweets from Colangelo’s accounts, joined 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station Doug & Wolf to discuss the curious case.

“When you think of Bryan, I don’t think that he would do this. I don’t think he would stoop to something like this. But, unfortunately there is a lot of information there that is stuff that we knew of,” Pompey said.

Pompey had trouble believing that Colangelo could be behind such actions but didn’t say it was impossible for him to be the culprit.

“What I’m trying to say that if it wasn’t Bryan, it had to be someone close to Bryan or someone within the organization that had a lot of information. Because you’re reading this stuff and you’re like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of insider information,” Pompey said.

The 52-year-old Colangelo has many connections to the Valley. The son of former Suns and D-backs owner Jerry Colangelo was the general manager of the Suns from 1995-2006. The younger Colangelo won NBA Executive of the Year in 2005 before leaving to become president and GM of the Toronto Raptors in 2006.

Colangelo was hired by the Sixers in 2016, after former general manager Sam Hinkie stepped down.

The 76ers won 52 games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2012 this past season before losing to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Asked if Colangelo’s future with Philadelphia will remain intact, Pompey didn’t see a clear answer.

“He could but I think it’s tough. We always say in America that we are innocent until proven guilty. But by the court of public opinion, you’re always guilty even sometimes after you’re proven innocent,” said Pompey. “I think that it may be tough for him with guys looking at him out of the corner of their eyes saying if you didn’t do then who did?'”