eyeatoma wrote:FireMorey wrote:When I read that Yaron Weitzman piece about Simmons and all the crazy stuff that was in there. How he didn't respond well to criticism. How he didn't train with the guy the Sixers wanted him to train with and would only work with his guy. That piece made Simmons look pretty bad.
And when Morey comes into the organization and learns about all this(if he didn't already know before being hired) his first thought should have been "I have a radioactive player on my roster whose value could go through the floor at any moment, I need to get rid of this guy immediately while he still has value." I mean, c'mon.
Ben Simmons is the top person to blame here. The guy is overrated, he's soft, he's a loser, and all that. But when you bring in a guy with Morey's pedigree, it's his job to foresee all this stuff. The Ben Simmons situation is far and away the most important and biggest thing he inherited coming to Philadelphia, and fast forward and the situation is an utter disaster. It should have never gotten to this point.
You have an egomaniac player who has yet to admit he needs to improve and is so narcissistic he'd burn all bridges around him to stay in his own denial.
And you have stubborn GM who thought he was the smartest guy in the room, and he could put out arrogant little tweets about how amazing Ben Simmons is trying to front like he'd be perfectly fine keeping him, thinking he'll be able to get what he wants for him.
And the end result is one of the ugliest situations in recent Philly sports memory.
I generally agree with you on these things, but you have absolutely zero evidence that Morey botched the Harden trade. If Houston wouldn't trade with him, it's not his fault. I really don't think Morey was willing to let Ben's agent tell him he was getting traded, just to have him come back to the team.
Wait until the trade happens to skewer Morey.
I have no proof of it, but all the people who've reported on the subject I respect have all essentially said the same thing.
Woj, Shams, Bodner, Neubeck, Rockets beat writer whose name I forget. They all essentially said that the Rockets wanted Ben, the same picks that the Nets gave, and Maxey as the package. And Morey wasn't willing to part with the same picks and/or Maxey.
And people have said well if I'm Morey I couldn't give that up either. And ok, that's fine. But you have to realize that's the biggest reason they're in the situation they are in right now. That Harden situation was in all likelihood their last chance to pair Embiid with a superstar realistically. I think Morey overplayed his hand and thought superstars would pry free and would be chomping at the bit to play with Embiid. Since the summer, all reports have indicated that. How many insiders have reported Morey wants Lillard desperately. Combine that with the fact that they haven't traded Simmons yet, it's obvious Morey is waiting for that trade to come along.
I got news for him. Even if Lillard does do an about face and asks to be traded. Simmons' value as a centerpiece in a deal probably isn't even enough to get it done now anyway. There are so many teams out there who could put one player on the table and it would be over for the Sixers. If Boston trades Brown, if the Warriors trade all the young guys they just drafted. If Minny trades Edwards, if the Kings trade Fox or Haliburton.
The entire league is watching Simmons look like a spoiled selfish brat and his value declines by the day. Yet Morey somehow thought playing hard to get was the smart play here.
And if you wanna throw the Harden stuff out because there's no proof, fine. But I'll ask: what's more likely? The Sixers simply got outbid... like a normal bidding war. Or Fertitta concocted a plot to screw over Morey, string him along for weeks pretending like he'd trade him to the Sixers and then screw him at the 11th hour?
And even taking the Harden stuff out... again, Simmons should've been traded last offseason. The day Morey walked in the door and got the lowdown on Simmons, I'd have been on the phone with every team. Probably could've gotten Fox and a pick then too.
