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Daryl Morey’s tenure as Sixers’ president of basketball operations has come to an end. He will be remembered in Philadelphia as another key figure who couldn’t get over the hump that is the second round of the playoffs.
He leaves the Sixers in a very similar situation to how he found them. The Joel Embiid and Paul George contracts are team-building anchors just like those of Tobias Harris and Al Horford. Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are the enticing prospects in spite of that, like Embiid and Ben Simmons were at the time.
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Throughout the hits and misses of his tenure — of which there were many — one thing became clearer as Morey had more time in the big seat for Philly. This was not the innovative, forward-thinker the fanbase thought the team had hired in the fall of 2020.
Back when he was running the Houston Rockets, the term coined for adopting the most optimized shot diet was literally called “Moreyball.” Fast forward to his final years running the Sixers, he is complaining about teams taking too many threes as his team finished 21st in three-point attempts and fielded multiple starting lineups where the starting forwards wouldn’t attempt one.
Morey’s track record at drafting in Philadelphia was surprisingly better than many expected, but the lack of creativity showed in many of his free-agent acquisitions and trades. The latter ended up being far more important for a team looking for the final pieces to push them over the top into true title contention.
The best trades he made for the Sixers also resembled his best move for the Rockets: trading James Harden. Both acquiring and shipping off Harden were net positives for the Sixers, but Morey’s process came with a cost.
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Sitting on Simmons as long as he did until Harden became available got them an All-Star while giving the Nets what was becoming one of the worst contracts in the league. Waiting as long as they did sunk their chances of competing in a fairly open Eastern Conference that season. As they were trying to figure out the Embiid-Harden pairing on the fly, the 2021-2022 Sixers’ season ended in six games to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/felt-league-had-passed-daryl-140940210.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-14 14:09:00
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