Philly Front Office

After 6 years, Daryl Morey is no longer the top decision maker for the Sixers. Are we happy about that? While most people were overjoyed when the news hit, I can’t say it moved the needle for me either way. Was he a great GM (or whatever the hell title he had)? Not really. Was he terrible though? I can’t say that either. In the end, I think he’s just a scapegoat for ownership. Here’s why…

What’s Next for the Sixers?

Most knee jerk reactions to Morey are based on two transactions, the trade of Jared McCain and the signing of Paul George. Before we go into those, for context, we must acknowledge one very important FACT. Despite being the top decision maker, Daryl had a boss, Josh Harris. Though not spelled out anywhere, Harris gave Daryl a key mandate: he would like to win, but without spending anything EXTRA. Yes, he was allowed to exceed the salary cap, but not the luxury tax and certainly not the 1st Apron.

People think Morey was hired because he was some kind of genius or front office revolutionary. That’s not true. He was hired because he was willing to work with one arm tied behind his back. In Houston, he was told that he had to compete and would not be allowed to ever fully rebuild. He did this pretty damn well despite never even going to an NBA Finals. From James Harden to Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Russel Westbrook, Morey tried everything he could to get over the hump in Houston. When he came to Philadelphia, the trick was different. Get there, fix the budget, but don’t go nuts. Daryl could work with this.

There was a very serious problem with the Sixers when Morey arrived. Does everyone remember the circumstances? It was just after the Bubble playoffs and we HATED the team. Jimmy Butler just brought the Miami Heat to the Finals and we had to live with choosing Tobias Harris and Al Horford (and really Ben Simmons) over him. I don’t think I have ever been more down on one of our Philly-Four than at that moment. Things were hopeless…until they weren’t.

#SellTheTeam?

We didn’t know it at the time, but his very first move was his best one and maybe the best single move of the last 20 years of the Sixers. With the 21st pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, he selected Tyrese Maxey (also Paul Reed and Isaiah Joe). Later that night, he started dismantling the toxicly bad vibes that was the 2019-20 team. The first move was to trade Josh Richardson to Dallas for Seth Curry, then a few weeks later, Al Horford and an eventual 1st round pick were sent to OKC for Danny Green. In about 3 weeks, Morey changed everything for the better.

It worked too. The season was immediately a ton of fun and the team won. It was shocking the turn around. Morey had saved us. Granted, he spent four 2nd round picks on acquiring George Hill at the trade deadline, but things were good. Come playoff time, we looked dominant. Then it all fell apart against Atlanta in the 2nd round. Ben Simmons completely fell apart, Embiid looked shook, and we inexplicably lost to the Hawks in one of the most demoralizing upsets of my life.

Morey didn’t panic. He had a damaged star in Ben Simmons who was just 1 year into a max 5-year $178m contract. The minute Morey got to Philly, there were rumors that he was trying to move Simmons to Houston for Harden. They apparently wanted Maxey too, but Morey said no. He was traded to Brooklyn instead. After a tantalizing but ultimately disappointing tenure with the Nets and Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Harden did his TRADE ME thing with an aim at reuniting with his best executive Morey. It worked. After Simmons had pulled a Harden of his home by deciding to not play for the Sixers that season, Morey was still able to convince the Nets to take him and 1sts in both 2022 and 2027 for Harden. For the most part, that worked too. Embiid was hurt in the playoffs and we fell to Butler and the Heat in the 2nd round. A full year with Harden next year would be the thing though.

February 10, 2022: The Sixers’ Ben Simmons Era Ends with James Harden

Morey traded the #23 pick in that draft to the Grizzlies for De’Anthony Melton. Solid trade for a 3 and D starter (who couldn’t dribble for his life, but I’ll always love him). Interestingly, James Harden declined his $47m player option that season in order to sign a 1-and-1 contract for $68m.¹ The idea was to give the Sixers enough money to bring in his boys PJ Tucker and Danuel House. The team looked loaded. The regular season went great until the trade deadline when instead of adding to the team, they only sent out Matisse Thybulle for Jalen Daniels and 2nd Round picks. The worst part of this was that the same transaction landed a foundational piece, Josh Hart, for the Knicks.

Come playoff time, Embiid again found himself injured, but Harden led the team to an unexpected 2nd Round, Game 1 win over the Celtics. Embiid returned and thanks to another Harden classic, the Sixers found themselves up 3 games to 2 and playing at home. A late lead in Game 6 evaporated thanks to a Harden disappearing act and the entire team failed to show in Game 7. This is when all hell broke loose with Harden.

Whether it was informally promised or just expected for his good deed the previous offseason, James Harden assumed Morey would give him a max contract that summer. He didn’t. A summer of bad publicity eventually ended with Harden being shipped to the Clippers for Nic Batum, salary, and a 2028 Clippers unprotected 1st and a 2029 pick swap. Despite months of pundits claiming Harden had no value, Morey ended up doing pretty well. When you consider he managed two good years out of Harden for a completely dead Ben Simmons on a max contract and a net neutral pick return, that’s pretty good.

First Look at the 2026-27 Sixers

The next season was only buttressed by a gun shy Buddy Hield at the trade deadline and the Sixers fell to Josh Hart and the Knicks in the playoffs. The big story though was a serious knee injury sustained by Joel Embiid right after one of the most dominant performances of his career: 70 points against Victor Wembanyama. He would return, but would not be the same.

It is hard to imagine things going more wrong across the board than in 2024-25. Joel Embiid was given a 3-year max extension two years before hitting free agency and despite his injury. His knee would not recover and he would miss most of the season. His career was solidly in jeopardy at this point. The big bet though was shedding enough salary to fit a max contract in under the salary cap. This meant 34-year-old Paul George with a bad injury history of his own signing for 4/$212m. Maxey was given a max contract as well. Embiid was completely ineffective, Paul George had an assortment of odd injuries, and Maxey was hurt causing the team to nosedive. Obviously, a team like this would try to pick up some draft assets at the deadline, right? Nope, you are forgetting the mandate. Instead, they swapped offseason acquisition Caleb Martin for Quentin Grimes to lose Martin’s contract. When his medicals were shit, the Sixers through in a 2nd round pick to ensure the deal went through. KJ Martin had been signed to a balloon contract that offseason to facilitate salary matching in a future trade. When the team stunk, instead of just eating his contract, Morey had to send two more 2nd round picks to get rid of him. The Sixers just barely ducked the tax.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Sixers Avoid Luxury Tax! Team to Hang Banner

That brings us to this past season. We were excited that the one bright spot of the previous year, draft pick Jared McCain was going to be healthy and join the rest of a fully healthy squad that now had VJ Edgecombe and a shockingly productive Grimes. Grimes had been looking for a new contract but the Sixers kept him on a $9m qualifying offer instead. The thing with the QO is that the player becomes essentially untradeable. They could have signed Grimes to a higher single season contract with the idea of using his contract for salary filler later, but they opted to keep it cheap. Because of this, the team had nothing to trade at the trade deadline. Well, almost nothing. Faced with a $3m tax overage, the Sixers traded McCain’s $4m salary for the 22nd pick in the draft. They ducked the tax again and were seriously undermanned in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Sixers Avoid Luxury Tax! Team to Hang Banner…AGAIN

Do you see a pattern here? Routinely, Morey seemed to be forced to make bad, team-hurting moves in order to save money. They were designed to hurt the least, but hurt they still did. I’m not fully defending him though. There was one move of all of these that showed why he had to go. He drafted well and made creative trades despite being cap handicapped, but convincing ownership that Paul George was the best way to spend $50m+ in cap room is indefensible. Was he the best player available that summer? Yes. Does that mean that using vanishing cap space on the man was the right idea? Absolutely not. Even at best, his contract was bad immediately. Morey still believed in the 3 star model that had been essentially debunked over the last few years. Teams like the Nuggets, Knicks, and Celtics were designed around two max contract deals then several high quality role players. The Sixers went with 3 stars and basically ZERO high quality role players. Worse yet, they are now imprisoned in this model for years to come.

While McCain was a terrible move, you see that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Embiid’s extension could go either way. On one hand, you naturally keep your star happy and maxed out. On the other, there were clearly red flags. Was this on Morey or ownership? No idea. George though, that was all Morey. While he used to be the smartest guy in the room, he is now a relic of a time in basketball planning that no longer works. The team needs new ideas. Of course, those new ideas will be saddled with the same mandate of cheapness from ownership so we still may find ourselves with the same problems. Unfortunately, no, Harris will not be selling the team.

Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images

Transaction Log: Wikipedia

1. This would be $33m the first season, then a player option the next season for $35m ↩︎