Daryl Morey is being ‘taken to task’ by a number of virtual NBA fans. He’s been accused of ‘market manipulation of big men’ like Joel Embiid.
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We all know that Morey is possibly the forefather of the analytics revolution in the NBA. Morey’s input helped transform teams abandon iso play for long, contested 2-pointers. The Rockets replaced those inefficient shots with layups and 3-pointers, which are a lot more efficient on paper.
Morey’s Rockets teams began bucking the trend from the 2013-14 season, which was the first time they led the league in 3-point attempts. This started an 8-season streak where the Rockets led the league in attempts. Many of those shot attempts featured James Harden playing iso ball and burying a step-back 3-pointer.
Not only did Morey usher in that fad, he also adapted to the early-2010s brand of small ball. Last year’s Pocket Rockets were a great team when they were rolling.
Daryl Morey is hilariously accused of market manipulation by NBA fans
A Twitter user posted the following message on an update yesterday: “Morey helped make small ball a craze and now he’s benefitting bc he has Embiid. This is the real short squeeze. This is market manipulation. Daryl Morey should be investigated.”
This tweet has ‘leveled up’, so to speak. It’s caught traction both on Twitter and on Reddit now. People are laughing their hats off at the idea of Morey intentionally doing this:
Morey helped make small ball a craze and now he’s benefitting bc he has Embiid. This is the real short squeeze. This is market manipulation. @dmorey should be investigated.
— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) January 30, 2021
One could argue that the Sixers are just another iteration of small ball. Their center Joel Embiid has all the attributes of a small ball center. He can facilitate, shoot from range and guard smaller players on switches efficiently. You can say indirectly that the Sixers are playing a ‘big ball’ brand of small ball.