Random Sixers news today via Yaron Weitzman over at Bleacher Report:

Right, so this is interesting because Keith Pompey reported last year that Heller was significantly involved in player-personnel decisions during the time in which Brett Brown was serving as interim GM after the Bryan Colangelo burner-gate disaster.

Wrote Keith at the time, in a story titled, Will Sixers’ GM Elton Brand get leeway from ownership to be a leader?, after the jump:

Head coach Brett Brown was named the interim general manager after Bryan Colangelo resigned as president of basketball operations/general manager in June.

But sources have said that limited partner David Heller, a businessman and former Goldman Sachs executive, was running the show in Colangelo’s absence, and that he, more than Brown, was the acting general manager at least through the NBA draft process if not the whole offseason. Sources have said that co-managing owner Josh Harris listens entirely to Heller.

The team denies those claims and says that, while Heller was involved in the draft process, he isn’t as powerful or as involved as sources made him out to be.

Once Colangelo resigned, Brown was named interim general manager. However, sources said that Heller was the “biggest voice in the room” at organizational meetings. His entire focus was, and still is, on finding a third star to go with Simmons and Embiid.

“Heller comes in two weeks before the [June 21] draft, and he knows everything because he’s been on the internet and been on Twitter,” the source said. “Those owners think they know basketball and what’s going on.”

Interesting stuff, yeah?


For what it’s worth, Heller is a Crystal Palace FC investor alongside Josh Harris and David Blitzer. Harris and Blitzer put Palace up for sale back in March, three months ago, and Heller lists himself as an investor/advisory board member regarding Palace. Harris and Blitzer own 18% shares alongside chairman Steve Parish.

The most recent Palace story I can find comes from British tabloid The Sun, which reported about two weeks ago that a mystery Chinese businessman was interested in buying the club:

Palace’s owners rejected a 2017 offer from the Shanghai Naisi Investment Management Centre as it was below their £220million valuation.

The current Chinese interest is believed to be from a new source and this time major Palace shareholders Josh Harris and David Blitzer are looking to sell.

The American financiers have appointed US investment bank PJT Partners as advisers to help them cash in.

But his initial offer is thought to be below the £200m mark and it is understood there is at least one other group with a genuine interest in buying Palace.

Blitzer and Harris pumped £100m into the Eagles after buying a 36 per cent stake in December 2015.

All of this financial talk reminds me, I need to pay the mortgage.