Daryl Morey's unimpressive first year with the Sixers

[FireMorey]

I think the Sixers and their fans should be happy they hired Daryl Morey to be president of basketball operations and I think he's a very good and accomplished executive. However, just because you think someone is good at their job, doesn't mean they shouldn't be criticized when they make mistakes.

If one's to analyze his work in his first year as prez of basketball ops, it was very underwhelming and unimpressive, and I think you can make a very strong case it was flat out bad, considering the expectations hiring a guy like that is accompanied with.

I think in the offseason he did a solid job. Not great, I don't throw that word around lightly and typically only use it when executives make trades to acquire superstar franchise-changing players, or get rid of older players for a massive haul of assets. But he did a solid job. He found a taker for Horford. Granted, OKC had an "open for business" sign in their window, so it's not like it took crazy maneuvering to pull that off, but he did, so give him credit. Swapping Richardson for Curry was a solid move too. Not franchise-changing, but solid. Signing Dwight Howard was a meh move at best.

However, once the season began, that is where the positives ended. Morey could GM for another 20 years and he would never make another mistake as terrible as he did by backing out of the James Harden sweepstakes and allowing him to go to a division rival. Honestly, it was one of the worst decisions in Philly sports history, and this is something I've taken time to think about, no hyperbole usage whatsoever here. Think about it. When, in your lifetimes, has a top 5 player ever had the Sixers as their #1 preferred destination? It's never happened in my lifetime. James Harden, one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and a perfect compliment to Joel Embiid who was having an MVP season, wanted to become a Sixer. And Daryl Morey punked out because he didn't want to match the Nets' draft pick compensation.

Now, there are some fans who tell themselves that "The Nets were never trading him to the Sixers!" to make themselves feel better about missing out on Harden. That claim is baseless and unsubstantiated. There were two sources, neither of them Shams or Woj, who said Fertitta didn't want to trade him to the Sixers. Not that he refused to. Significant difference. Those were Kyle Neubeck, and some random dude Jason Dumas out in California. There are plenty of teams who don't want to trade with other teams, but they do anyway. I'm sure the Cowboys didn't want to trade with the Eagles and give them DeVonta Smith on draft night, but they did because the price justified the trade. Fertitta didn't get rich by being dumb. He's not going to hurt his own franchise out of spite. And don't forget, Ben Simmons was informed the day of the trade that he should expect to be traded. So for the "Houston was never trading him to Philly" to add up, that would mean that through the entire negotiating process, the Rockets told Morey that they're willing to trade him to Philly, otherwise he wouldn't have even wasted his time. So you're telling me they tell him through the entire process they'll trade him to Philly and then at the last minute laugh at him and tell him "Haha! We're not trading him to Philly even though you have the best offer! Later, loser!" and hang up the phone? Please. No one operates like that. Harden isn't a Sixer because the Sixers didn't give the best offer. The Nets offered a massive haul of draft picks, which is very attractive. If the Sixers matched the draft compensation with Simmons, Harden would've been a Sixer.

This is an offensive league now. You win in the NBA with guards and wings who can score and create their own shot. The Sixers had a chance to get one of the best EVER, and blew it. And who knows how long the league will think so highly of Ben Simmons. Eventually, teams and GMs are going to lose confidence they can extract more out of him offensively. You can't just hold on to them being able to trade him for a superstar guard whenever they want, it's not realistic. And the Harden sweepstakes was only between two teams: the Sixers and Nets. If they pursue a guy like Lillard or Beal a lot more teams are going to be involved.

Daryl Morey is still a good executive. Of course he is. But when you hire big fish, you hire them to go big fish hunting. You don't hire a guy like Daryl Morey to play swap the role player. You win in the NBA with superstars and he was brought here to find a way to land them. And in his first opportunity, he failed. Only adding George Hill in-season when you're the #1 seed simply isn't good enough.

It's a shame, because I really don't see their road to a championship in the next couple seasons. If the Nets ever get healthy, the Sixers have no chance against them, now that you allowed them to get Harden. They likely won't be the favorites to acquire any superstar player on the trade block with Ben Simmons and picks being the best they can offer. They have no cap room, and their draft picks are going to be at the bottom of the first round.

I think Sixers fans should feel a lot better about being in Morey's hands than Colangelo's or Brand's, but in his first year I think he was very unimpressive, especially given his pedigree.

[zimpy27]

Green going down was a big loss for the series IMO. He's very underrated player in many aspects but some of the main ones are his team defense, offense movement and leadership.

I think Rivers was probably a bad coaching choice. His adjustments are too stiff for the modern NBA.

[Foshan]

Green going down was a big loss for the series IMO. He's very underrated player in many aspects but some of the main ones are his team defense, offense movement and leadership.

I think Rivers was probably a bad coaching choice. His adjustments are too stiff for the modern NBA.

It's funny, River's adjustments were too stiff... but still better than Browns. /cry

[Sixerscan]

The issue with trading all your assets for Harden was that he was out of shape and getting to an age where injuries and drop offs in play happen. Then he got injured.

I don’t think Morey had a great year or anything but at the very least he didn’t do any long term harm. Gotta make some moves at some point though.

[FireMorey]

The issue with trading all your assets for Harden was that he was out of shape and getting to an age where injuries and drop offs in play happen. Then he got injured.

I don’t think Morey had a great year or anything but at the very least he didn’t do any long term harm. Gotta make some moves at some point though.

I agree it's a risk, but there may not be a "perfect time" to give up all your assets. There may not be for example a 26 year old superstar who becomes available at the perfect time where you go "this guy is really young and healthy, and is already elite and has room to grow still, no brainer gamble."

Embiid's elite years remaining are on borrowed time. It may be 4 elite years, it may be 2. No one knows. But I think it was worth the gamble in a season where there were no super teams to contend with and also, say you trade for Harden and you don't win during the 2 seasons you have with him. Well... you already waited 40 years for a championship at that point. If giving up all your assets puts you back 5 years, then what's another 5 years wait? At least you went for it.

I have a feeling he's going to panic trade Ben Simmons for 25 cents on the dollar compared to what his value was 5 months ago, and that's going to be that. Their last remaining trade chip gone and still no superstar perimeter guy to pair with Embiid, and you're still nowhere close to a healthy Nets teams and maybe still not even the Bucks.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I don't think Morey did a bad job in his first year. Options were very slim and he was able to optimize them as best as he could in my opinion. The Harden trade didn't go through because at the time Simmons was playing well, we were winning, and Tyrese Maxey was proving to be a great draft day selection already. Then came the Lowry miss. Again, we didn't want to part with Maxey for Lowry. Toronto was trying to gouge us and it was seen and read through by Morey. He was smart not to take that deal. The Harden deal is more of a hindsight at this point.

Now...Before the season started, he was able to move Al Horford and Josh Richardson who were both terrible fits. Danny Green and Seth Curry were both very good returns when you look at the production of Horford/Richardson vrs the production of Green/Curry. We won both of those deals, we got a little more balanced, and we opened things up for Embiid to have one of his best seasons to date. The "idea" worked and he made it work in quite a pinch. He essentially cleaned up a good chunk of the crap Elton Brand messed up in one short squeeze of an offseason.

This brings me to this offseason. I will judge Morey the GM based off of what he comes up with this summer. Does he have the balls to cut ties with Ben Simmons? Can we acquire the right kind of player to pair with Embiid? His options are once again very limited, but not all together stuck in a corner. We can acquire a superstar player. We can trade Simmons and get a lotto pick in return. We can make a mini youth movement while freeing up some space and we can possibly even trade Tobias Harris if he desires to do so.

In conclusion, I'll wait to reserve my call on Morey the GM.

[Foshan]

I agree it wasn't as bad as we are going to complain about for the next couple weeks.

Next move: Fire Brand, Hire Hinkie.

Do it.

[Hussien Fatal]

Rivers is no better than Brett brown

[SixthStreet]

The Curry trade was absolute theft. He leveraged Richardson's expiring and a 2nd for a guy with two years left at $8m who 20 teams around the league would trade for. Richardson's value tanked so bad that he's going to opt into his PO while being spoon-feed shots by Doncic!

[DCasey91]

He got rid of Horford’s contract and the Richardson/Curry deal was one of the best this year lol highway robbery.

Wtf are you talking about? Morey has walked into a big turd Frankenstein Factory and now there’s only three dungheaps (Doc, Harris & Ben) left.

I’m high on the Harris for Wall + Pick swap. People say it’s a crap move nah it’s genius. Watch for a Morey special

He didn’t back out of the Harden deal, that’s just a giant lie and false. The Rockets owner is an idiot and tried to leverage the market and ended up with a worse return. Heck Cavs made out like bandits lol

Masai tried to leverage the market with Lowry and three buyers said no. Morey ain’t no funny GM he knows whatsup.

Harris and Ben is gone.

If you can’t see that well I don’t know what to tell you.

[elchengue20]

The Curry trade was great.

The Maxey pick was very good.

Dwight signing was decent. Hill trade was meh.

Doc hiring was bad.

Harden trade asking price was just too much, Houston dindnt want to deal with him plus Harden wanted to play in Brooklyn. Also Harden has been hurt anyway.

Trading for Lowry was debatable, in hindsight it was worth it because the tittle race is very wide open because of injuries. But at the moment i didnt want to do it, so i wont blame him.

Overall he had a decent to good season.

[DCasey91]

Doc came before Morey ffs.

[davesilver]

I thought he did very well with what he was given. Incredibly difficult off-season given the circumstances. I would not sell low on Ben.

[cool93]

Some of you seem to forget that Morey didn't hire Rivers.

And he did a very good job. Horford and Curry trades were great, Maxey pick was very good. Not trading Ben before seeing him in new system was understandable. This summer would be crucial.

[stormi]

I don't think anyone seriously believed this was a championship year, even when the hype train started back up as soon as the season began. Hinkie said as much, and giggled at the notion of this being some immediate fix on that podcast he joined when the season commenced. Daryl had a pretty conservative year, but I think he truly just wanted to gauge where this team was at, and ride it out unless a deal he couldn't refuse came along.

He mentioned he did a lot of statistical research and located when Embiid and Ben thrived most together so he went out and tried to replicate that 2018 team. He drafted very well, and let course take its path. An opportunity for Harden arose and he showed that he wasn't averse at the slightest to blowing this entire thing up to pair Jo with a the more ideal backcourt phenom partnership.

He knows and feels what we all do now. It could be completely unwarranted, but I have total faith in him for some reason, and I trust his call to make the right deals and to pass on the wrong ones. It's going to be a very aggressive and interesting summer again in Philadelphia.

[Murray_17]

The Curry trade was great.

The Maxey pick was very good.

Dwight signing was decent. Hill trade was meh.

Doc hiring was bad.

Harden trade asking price was just too much, Houston dindnt want to deal with him plus Harden wanted to play in Brooklyn. Also Harden has been hurt anyway.

Trading for Lowry was debatable, in hindsight it was worth it because the tittle race is very wide open because of injuries. But at the moment i didnt want to do it, so i wont blame him.

Overall he had a decent to good season.

Doc was hired before Morey came.

Outside of the Hill trade he made what he could. He inehrited a mess

[DCasey91]

If anyone is advocating for the Lowry deal just doesn’t know about the value side of things in a trade or in a market.

It’s how you end with Harris and Horford lol

Morey plays value ball anyway rightly or wrongly (Westbrook - Capela). Whatever happens he isn’t going to do a deal unless he feels like he has the leverage.

That’s how trades and deals philosophically are done in the best practice.

Add abit of John Nash game theory and ggs.

Ben and Harris still have some false perceived value use it to your adv.

Buy low/sell high. Buy when no one wants, sell when everybody does.

Grab Wall no wants him. That’s perfect his contract can work to ones own advantage.

[the_process]

This season always seemed like a wait and see. They went back to the 2018 build and tried it again, because “Ben and Jo have a 70% win percentage together” or whatever the exact number is. It was to be expected that they were a second round out team at that point.

Then they ran out to the best record in the East, and had a shot at Harden, but couldn’t close. Whether that’s Morey’s fault or not is open to speculation. Putting Bradley in the Hill trade was a low key massive mistake. And couldn’t get any buyout guys. Still, at the end of the year they had a 1 seed, an easy path to the ECF’s, and a puncher’s chance at a ring.

During the playoffs, Simmons refused to play offense other than to hunt assists and Embiid got hurt. And still they should have beaten Atlanta and faced Milwaukee. Instead, 2nd round out for the third time in four years.

Gotta trust in Morey… but it feels like he will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get this team any further. This roster feels like it is capped at this level, especially now that Ben did his best to tank his value.

[Hussien Fatal]

Not mad at Morey he didn’t hire doc. He failed to get Lowry and to trade Ben Simmons. Doc and Ben are the main reasons the sixers lost. Ben Simmons completely destroyed the team by being out there. Doc with his 4 and 5 man bench unit hurt us terribly as well too. This is on Doc and Ben.

[Sixerscan]

The issue with trading all your assets for Harden was that he was out of shape and getting to an age where injuries and drop offs in play happen. Then he got injured.

I don’t think Morey had a great year or anything but at the very least he didn’t do any long term harm. Gotta make some moves at some point though.

I agree it's a risk, but there may not be a "perfect time" to give up all your assets. There may not be for example a 26 year old superstar who becomes available at the perfect time where you go "this guy is really young and healthy, and is already elite and has room to grow still, no brainer gamble."

Embiid's elite years remaining are on borrowed time. It may be 4 elite years, it may be 2. No one knows. But I think it was worth the gamble in a season where there were no super teams to contend with and also, say you trade for Harden and you don't win during the 2 seasons you have with him. Well... you already waited 40 years for a championship at that point. If giving up all your assets puts you back 5 years, then what's another 5 years wait? At least you went for it.

I have a feeling he's going to panic trade Ben Simmons for 25 cents on the dollar compared to what his value was 5 months ago, and that's going to be that. Their last remaining trade chip gone and still no superstar perimeter guy to pair with Embiid, and you're still nowhere close to a healthy Nets teams and maybe still not even the Bucks.

Idk if there’s ever a perfect time but I’m not gonna get on a guy for not trading Simmons, Maxey, Thybulle and three firsts or whatever for a guy that just averaged 10 ppg in a playoff series and is a year from demanding a $55 million a year extension through when he’s 37.

If he pulls an Ainge and never really goes for it then that’s fair but I’m gonna give him at least 365 days on the job before getting impatient with him.