Takeaways, Unanswered Questions from Bryan Colangelo Burner Saga in Philadelphia

It took nearly a week for the Philadelphia 76ers to come to the obvious conclusion that they could not move forward with Bryan Colangelo in charge. 

On Thursday, the team announced that it had accepted the resignation of Colangelo, its president of basketball operations. An investigation conducted by the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP concluded that Colangelo, per a statement sent to reporters (including B/R), "was the source of sensitive, non-public, club-related information" that had been posted to Twitter via anonymous accounts. The information was originally brought to light by an explosive report from The Ringer (or, to quote the Sixers, an "online media outlet").

The law firm added that it could not conclude that Colangelo had been aware of the Twitter accounts and that evidence suggested Colangelo's wife, Barbara Bottini, was the person behind the posts. "When interviewed, Ms. Bottini admitted establishing and operating the accounts," the statement added.

Colangelo, for his part, seemingly elected to go down with the ship. Or, rather, to jump off and leave his wife on deck.

"I vigorously dispute the allegation that my conduct was in any way reckless," he said. "At no point did I ever purposefully or directly share any sensitive, non-public, club-related information with (my wife). Her actions were a seriously misguided effort to publicly defend and support me, and while I recognize how inappropriate these actions were, she acted independently and without my knowledge or consent. ... While this was obviously a mistake, we are a family and we will work through this together."

In the interim, the Sixers said head coach Brett Brown will serve as head of basketball operations.

Still, there are more questions that need to be answered. For one, who was the source? Also, why did three of the burner accounts suddenly switch to private after The Ringer notified the Sixers that it was working on this story? Also, who was the source? 

There are other remaining mysteries, too. The law firm's statement noted that Bottini had surrendered an iPhone to investigators. But, as pointed out by a clever Twitter user, one of the more active burner accounts believed to be connected to Colangelo posted, at least at times, with an Android phone: 

Those, though, are questions for another day. 

For the Sixers, the focus needs to shift to their pivotal offseason. The future is finally bright. They have young stars. They're likely to have enough space to chase a max player, and there are multiple max-level guys available to woo, including the best player in the world. The draft is only two weeks away. Free agency will begin just after that.

And, of course, they now need to hire a new GM. 

The Sixers know what lies ahead, and they also know optics matter. They recognized that they could not afford to bring Colangelo back, to have him serve as the lead voice in free-agency meetings with stars like LeBron James potentially available. 

"What drove the decision about Bryan was...our belief that his ability to be effective going forward had been impaired," Sixers co-managing partner Josh Harris told reporters during a Thursday afternoon press conference streamed on NBA.com. 

"It certainly was an incredibly unfortunate situation that did confuse people," Brown added. "It confused our players."

Harris said the Sixers will look at both internal and external candidates to become the next general manager. And given how desirable a job this now is, he should have the opportunity to choose from a number of strong candidates.

David Griffin is an obvious name, given his resume and relationship with LeBron. That he's friendly with nearly every national NBA writer will only boost his case in the press. Another potential candidate is Boston Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren, who nearly took the job in 2013 before withdrawing from consideration. The Sixers could also promote vice president of player personnel Marc Eversley, who interviewed for the Charlotte Hornets job that eventually went to Mitch Kupchak.

In the immediate future, the Sixers will rely on Brown and his reputation to guide them through these choppy waters. He was the one calling Sixers players over the last week. He'll serve as the frontman in free-agency meetings. Harris went out of his way to mention how impressed he was last summer watching Brown convince JJ Redick to sign with the Sixers, though Brown acknowledged that, in the wake of this (ridiculous) scandal, he could encounter some new obstacles this summer.

"Are we going to have to put out fires along the way? You can assume that there will be teams that are competitive that will try to take their shots," Brown said. "But I feel comfortable that we're armed with the information and facts that we need to not let it be damaging."

More importantly, he'll enter these meetings with two assets that no other team possesses.

"I feel most strongly when we go into a place with some of my coaches and you start bringing Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in with me that that will be sufficient," Brown said.

Brown could be right. Talent wins in the NBA, both on the court and in conference rooms during the summer. We see this every year. If you're a Sixers fan, that is no doubt part of what was so infuriating about this scandal—that the team had pushed past the difficult part of a rebuild, that it had found young stars, only to see a silly scandal threaten the whole...Process.

Here's the thing, though: In today's league, players are not bound to their teams, no matter what their contracts say. Acquiring stars is great, but you have to work to keep them happy, too. 

So far, there's no indication that this scandal could undermine the Sixers' relationship with Simmons or Embiid, or that it will damage their chances with free agents this summer. But that doesn't mean Harris can afford to misfire again.

Whoever the team hires next will be expected to transform the Sixers from playoff team into championship contender. Fail again, and it's unlikely Harris finds his star players—and the rest of the NBA world—as forgiving. 

Yaron Weitzman covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow Yaron on Twitter @YaronWeitzman, listen to his Knicks-themed podcast here and sign up for his newsletter here.