Daryl Morey’s Era in Philadelphia Ends with Disappointment And Bad Team Building Philosophy

Following not too much deliberation, the Philadelphia 76ers have relieved the president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, of his duties, ending his six-year tenure with Philadelphia. Morey most notably previously worked as the general manager of the Houston Rockets before arriving in Philadelphia.

Throughout his six years with the team, there have been many high and many, many low moments with the 76ers. Multiple Game 7 disasters, failure of seasons, and yet somehow they found themselves in the playoffs in five of six seasons, and even recently pulled off a 3-1 series comeback against their bitter rivals, the Boston Celtics.

However, they also recently were swept in the playoffs against another rival, the New York Knicks, ending what was hoped to be a progressive right step in the direction of a season into another disappointing year for Philadelphia.

The struggles for the 76ers were point-blank on display in both series this year. They weren’t as deep as other teams, as their bench provided little to no support, and it affected their starters to the point where they were dogtired by the end of the series.

It makes this series look way worse on Morey’s part, as back in February, Joel Embiid begged the team to spend at the deadline to help improve this team and compete. Instead, the 76ers sold, most notably their arguable best bench piece in Jared McCain, and saw their rotations crumble as a result.

Now you may say, “Well, why were hopes high when a move like that says the team isn’t good?” Morey literally came out during a presser after the deadline, where he ducked the tax again and said, “I know you have to squint a little, but we feel like this team can still [win the championship].”

Not to mention following last year’s disaster of a season, where the team went 24–58, finished bottom five in the entire league, and had Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George all miss extended periods of time. Morey spoke at his end-of-year presser, talking about what went wrong.

“I have to do a better job of putting a supporting cast around [the three stars],” Morey said.

He said that they had to be a “younger, more dynamic group” and that one of his biggest regrets was prioritizing proven playoff performers and not focusing on younger talent. Well, that was a lie, because he traded his best young talent in McCain for the No. 22 draft pick this summer and three second-rounders.

It just seems like Morey’s team-building strategy changed at the drop of a hat, and because of that, he’d often do moves that seemed not only dumb but made you think what the point of that was. There was just no consistency throughout his entire time in charge.

Now, to preface my take with Morey, I do have to mention that I’m not placing the entire blame for the 76ers’ disappointments on him and his team building. I still truly believe the real problem with Philadelphia lies within the house with an owner who wants the bare minimum done, but still maximizing profits over success.

Josh Harris’ ownership philosophy is to do just enough to give hope to fans, but not spend enough so that they don’t have to win and spend more of his money. Each year, the 76ers make it their mission to duck the luxury tax to avoid Harris having to pay extra for the 76ers’ moves, which results in playoff lineups that don’t have the talent to win a championship.

This makes me and a lot of other 76ers fans have the same opinion that almost no general manager, president, or whatever title you want to give someone can work and build a winner under Harris. The odds of accomplishing that feat are next to impossible.

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While Morey did some good in finding guys like Maxey and (while trading him) McCain in the late teens, early twenties of the draft. Knowing to take VJ Edgecombe last year, finding solid one-year guys that turned into multi-year deal players like Dominick Barlow, and even getting a guy like James Harden for Ben Simmons, who nearly ruined his entire trade value.

However, you can’t forget the fact that he essentially wasted the final years of Embiid’s pure prime seasons trying to give him a “big three” instead of building help around him that fit his style of play, but could also succeed on their own.

Morey’s mindset was that the 76ers were always an Embiid injury away from winning a championship, and while Embiid is a great player, that was unfortunately never the case. There’s only so much one person can do on a basketball court, after all, it is a team game.

Players have carried teams to championships in the past, like Stephen Curry in Golden State, LeBron James in Cleveland, and Michael Jordan in Chicago, to name a few. Embiid can be that type of player; however, his health has been a factor every season he’s been a pro, and it’s almost impossible for him to will the 76ers through four postseason series towards a championship.

It’s almost a given that Embiid will suffer some type of injury during a season, so asking him to carry a team to the Finals is a terrible way to build your team. Morey was persistent in making that happen, and in the end, it cost him his job.

Instead of building a team like the Celtics, or Thunder, or the Knicks, where the 12, 13, or even the 14th man on the bench can contribute if needed, and not force their starters to do all the work, Morey built a team where all the work needed to come from six to eight players.

Trading and looking for stars never worked out, as players like Harden eventually wanted out and didn’t like the way things went. Paul George, while he played pretty well during the last month and a half, is making way too much money for a soon-to-be 36-year-old player.

While I respect Morey for taking big swings to pair Embiid with fellow stars, the real way towards winning with a guy like that is building it as one that can survive and thrive with and without him. Obviously, that’s easier said than done, but look at a team like the Cletics. The end of the year may have been bad, but without Jayson Tatum, Boston looked like the same old group all year long, and when the playoffs came around, it brought back the 25/5/5 from Tatum to amp up for a Finals run. As I said, it didn’t work out, but great GM’s like Brad Stevens know how to build teams that thrive in today’s NBA properly.

In the end, Morey was never going to be that for Philadelphia, and it was time for him and the 76ers to go their separate ways. As of now, I don’t know how much is going to change with Harris still owning the team, but you just hope that he and intern president Bob Myers bring in someone who knows how to build depth, protect its stars, find young talent, and make it so an instance like the series against the Knicks never happens again.

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