After landing Paul George in the offseason, the 76ers were touted to be the strongest challengers alongside the Knicks to usurp the Celtics from their throne as the Eastern Conference champions. But so far, they have looked far from a team worthy of competing for the title as they are 1-6 and sit at the bottom of the standings. While it’s important to factor in that George has played only two games and Joel Embiid has played none, Stephen A. Smith and Chris Russo believe the way the 76ers operate won’t yield a title and Daryl Morey deserves blame for it.
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While discussing Embiid’s three-game suspension for shoving a reporter who questioned his commitment to the team on ESPN’s First Take, Russo claimed that Philadelphia’s front office was also at fault for the situation.
He pointed out that their failure to disclose that Embiid’s injury led to him sitting out of their first few games of the season prompted speculation that he was healthy but wasn’t playing.
The analyst claimed their decision to be secretive about his health, which led to an investigation and a $100,000 fine from the league, put their superstar in the critics’ crosshairs. He blamed general manager Morey for the whole ordeal and claimed he’s a wildly overrated executive. Russo said,
“The idea that he [Morey] is some huge general manager, Steve, is absolutely a joke. They never win! They’re 1 and 5, they’re a mess. [Morey] never won in Houston, he is so overrated, it’s unbelievable.“
Smith backed his co-host’s take and claimed that Morey’s best trait is his ability to spin the narrative and make himself look good, even if the situation suggested otherwise. He added,
“One of the things that led to Tilman Fertitta wanting Daryl Morey out of Houston is that they would literally lose a playoff game, or a series, and Daryl Morey would walk up to him with the analytics and say, ‘See, we actually won.’ Are you kidding me? He’s respected because of his analytics and obviously knows the game of basketball, but he hasn’t won a championship yet.“
Morey has managed to build splendid rosters during his tenure with the Rockets and the 76ers, but none of his teams have tasted the level of success they were built to.
A look back at Daryl Morey’s biggest moves
Despite swearing by analytics and preferring to defer to stat models and numbers to shape his teams’ basketball philosophy, Morey has always chased big names in the trade market and free agency and even ruthlessly parted ways with superstars for the betterment of the team.
In 2017, he architected a blockbuster deal to acquire Chris Paul from the Clippers and paired him with James Harden to help bring a championship to Houston. They lost to the Warriors in back-to-back years in the playoffs, but pushed them to the limit, suggesting they were close to breaking through and achieving their goal.
But despite their success, Morey broke up the pair and traded Paul to the Thunder to acquire Russell Westbrook, reportedly due to Harden’s insistence. Houston went backward after the trade and was eliminated in five games in the second round of the 2020 playoffs by the Lakers.
In 2020, the general manager left the team and joined the 76ers as president of basketball operations. In one of his first moves, he hired Doc Rivers to be the team’s new head coach and after cruising through the regular season, they ran into issues in the playoffs as guard Ben Simmons’ shooting woes followed by Embiid and the head coach’s comments about him Philadelphia made him want to leave the team.
The situation dragged on for months before Morey finally traded the former Rookie of the Year to the Nets to acquire James Harden. Two failed playoff runs later, Morey fell out with the veteran over a contract dispute, with the former MVP calling him a liar during an event in China.
“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of”
James Harden sounds off on his thoughts about Daryl Morey
(via @TomerAzarly)pic.twitter.com/WemwhlkhFJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 14, 2023
Morey traded him to the Clippers for virtually nothing and the 76ers endured a tough season, which ended in the first round of the playoffs. This offseason, he has constructed another incredible roster.
He landed Paul George and brought in Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Reggie Jackson. He also handed out contract extensions to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Kyle Lowry.
Yet again, Morey had a roster that could compete for a championship. But once more, his team is looking like they’ll fall short of expectations, which begs the question of whether he is an overrated executive.
