Sixers press conference: What Brett Brown and Josh Harris said about Bryan Colangelo

Sixers co-managing partner Josh Harris and head coach Brett Brown held a press conference about the team's parting ways with president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo.

>> READ MORE: Who will take over as Sixers GM? A list of potential candidates

Here are a few highlights:

Sixers co-managing partner Josh Harris took the podium and said Bryan Colangelo resigned — refuting Colangelo's independent statement that he and the team "mutually agreed to part ways."

Harris said he has "tremendous confidence in Brett Brown," the Sixers head coach who is taking over as interim president of basketball operations. Brown led the Sixers revival from 10 wins two years ago to more than 50 this past season.

"We needed to have someone that ultimately spoke for the basketball organization and we felt like Brett was the right candidate for that," Harris said. "I want to underscore that we have an incredibly talented group in the front office."

Brown recently hired a new top assistant, Monty Williams. Brown's contract was extended by three years just hours before news of the Twitter controversy broke.

Did Bryan's father, Jerry — who was brought on to advise the team in 2015 — have any input on the investigation?

"Jerry was not involved with the process in any way," Harris said. "I am aware of the press report it's just not true."

Harris is referencing a report that Jerry was trying to interfere with the decision to keep his son on board.

"Jerry was respectful of the process we had to go through."

Some of the comments made by the anonymous accounts that were likely run by Colangelo's wife, Barbara Bottini, were critical of handful of current players, including Joel Embiid. Embiid responded on social media the night the news broke.

"We understand Joel's immediate reaction," Brown said. "I had a chance to speak to most of our players, it certainly was an incredibly unfortunate situation."

Harris said team ownership will be looking at internal and external candidates for the now-open general manager/president of basketball operations position.

"It's not about making the choice quickly, it's about making the right choice," he said.

Harris think the Sixers have a "unique opportunity to be a championship caliber team for years to come." They said they're looking for the person who can "best position the franchise" for future success.

He said the Sixers "have the best fans in the world" and that he and team leadership need to "deliver the team [those fans] expect."

>>READ MORE: Colangelo's downfall was stunning, but the Sixers had no choice

Brown had some kind words to say about Colangelo: "He really — I mean really — did a great job of putting key people in key positions."

Harris said he didn't find out about the controversy until an hour before The Ringer's story was set to publish.

In the story, author Ben Detrick said he contacted the Sixers a week before the story published to inform them about two of the five Twitter accounts in question.

By helicopter, apparently.