Off Season Interviews: Peltz

[The Athletic]

19-10 and a 6th seed for you. Pretty damn good. What are your thoughts on how last year went for your Sixers?

Peltz:  Last year was a fun year. I was pretty happy with how the season went in terms of how my team performed. We were set up incredibly well schedule wise to make a conference finals run until Sabonis got covid during the team ski trip right before the playoffs. Trae also hurt his ankle that week. Just pretty painful and bittersweet timing for my 2 stars who were pretty healthy otherwise all season.


You’ve seemed pretty down on your team in general… Citing Gallo’s health and the arrival of Dejountae as the main reasons why. But end of the day you have Sabo, Trae, and Giddey. It just takes average depth with that to at least make some noise. I guess my question is what is the vibe for you this year? I don’t have a read.

Peltz: I don’t have a read either. I think we have a roadmap to being a top 5 seed if things break our way, but I can also see things going downhill if things don’t go our way. We will remain flexible and I won’t force a title push if it doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards this year. Like any team, health will be key, and the loss of Gallo does sting with how much we’re paying him.

What would you put the O/U at for your win total this year?

Peltz: I think our over under for wins is 17.5 this year.

You took Giddey in the lotto last year and have to be pleased with the results. His game translates here perfectly and he has a safe and large role moving forward. How does this franchise view him moving forward? Locked into the future of this team or moveable?

Peltz: You’re right. I am pleased with that selection. I love watching Josh Giddey more than any other player on my team and on his contract he’ll be nearly impossible to pry away from me to be honest with you. I honestly think 30+ is a pretty reasonable expectation this season. He showed some stud potential at the end of last season that made me get a little bit excited.

I feel like you have a ton of top end guys and then some good bench guys but not much in between. If you were to explore moving one of your top end guys for depth, who would be more likely to move and why? Trae or Sabo?

Peltz: Honestly that’s a good question. I think Sabonis is probably more likely to move due to tension he created in the locker room during the team ski trip but I don’t have imminent plans of moving either and we’re going to give him a chance to win back the locker room. Our analytics department loves Sabonis too.

Who are your ideal 4 teams you’d beat in a title run?

Peltz: This is a hell of a question. Round 1 I’d like to go up against Chuck. We have a couple grand on the line on who will win a playoff series first and I think it would be fun if it came down to us playing each other head to head. All love to Chuck though, he’s a wonderful person. I’m pretty excited for him to get his own apartment soon. It’s a friendly rivalry and we talk all the time about how much we respect each other. The remaining teams aren’t so friendly. In Round 2, I’d like to compete with Irwin. He’s never been very respectful and nothing would make me happier than sending him packing his bags back to Cabo. Round 3 would be Sarge. I’d love to see one of our long term cornerstones, Patrick Beverley, who is overpaid at $1.3 million and scores only 24 fantasy points per game, go off against Sarge’s Magic. As for the west, I’d like to play Tyler’s Trail Blazers in the finals. He’s got a superiority complex and has never forgiven me for declining to trade him Josh Giddey on draft night even though that pick ended up getting him Darius Garland whom he turned into Nikola Jokic. But let’s cry him a river.