Philadelphia 76ers should monitor the Houston Rockets moving forward

The Philadelphia 76ers could benefit in several ways if the Houston Rockets decides the change the direction of their franchise.

Before the NBA season was paused due to the coronavirus outbreak (per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN), the Houston Rockets were arguably in a make it or break it a year. Despite being in another conference, the outcome of the Rockets’ season could have a major impact on the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason.

Like the Rockets, the Sixers have a lot riding on their performance this postseason. They have more than enough talent to compete for a title, but they have underachieved. Roster construction, injuries, and poor rotations have all led to the club not being a top team in the Eastern Conference.

With them not performing at a high level, the Sixers could be in line for some changes this offseason if things don’t improve during the playoffs. Head coach Brett Brown’s lack of postseason success and general manager (GM) Elton Brand‘s poor track record in his short tenure, could potentially mean that both men might be out of the job this offseason.

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This is where keeping an eye on the Rockets is important for an organizational standpoint. The Rockets have failed several times in recent history to make the NBA finals despite having a legit shot at it.

The Rockets were purchased by Tilman Fertitta back in 2017 and with a relatively new owner, there could be a change coming in the future due to the lack of a deep playoff run. Both Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey might be on the hot seat.

Christopher Kline of The Sixer Sense recently wrote about how the Sixers need to keep tabs on D’Antoni, so I won’t go into detail. However, the main things to know is that D’Antoni was unable to reach a contract extension with Houston and hasn’t been able to deliver in the postseason, so he could be on his way out.

Morey isn’t likely to be let go, but it’s no completely out of the realm of the possibility. His tweets regard issues in China weren’t received well. Fertitta rebuked Morey’s statement and the owner even liked Instagram comments about firing his GM. While the Rockets owner put out any fires about firing his GM, it’s not impossible to imagine that he’s let go after his 13 years of service if the Rockets don’t make a deep playoff run.

It should also be noted that Philly was interested in Daryl More and tried to get him to join the franchise before hiring Brand (subscription needed to read link).

Both Morey and D’Antoni would be major upgrades over Brand and Brown. However, expect there be some major changes if one or both are hired by the Sixers.

If hired by the 76ers, D’Antoni would certainly try to maximize point guard Ben Simmons on offense while minimizing Joel Embiid. D’Antoni hasn’t been a fan of low-post big men, ask Dwight Howard. D’Antoni shouldn’t be hired unless the team is willing to trade Embiid.

Morey is more of a question mark if hire by Philly. Morey is an analytics guy, which means the pairing of Simmons and Embiid probably wouldn’t fit in his train of thought. He’d probably trade one, more likely Embiid, and get a star perimeter player to pair with whoever he didn’t trade. This opinion is based on how things went down when Howard was a member of the Rockets.

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Both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Rockets could potentially part ways with key personal this offseason if the playoffs don’t go their way. If that were the case, then the Sixers could decide to pursue Morey and/or D’Antoni if either were to become available.

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