How will Daryl Morey shake things up with the Philadelphia 76ers?
Daryl Morey’s tenure with the Houston Rockets concluded 13 years after he first became the general manager of the franchise. In this time, he mustered up the iconic trade for James Harden, who has since become one of the greatest players to have ever put on the Rockets jersey, having made the playoffs for eight straight years — including two western conference finals appearances.
The next step in Morey’s career is as the President of Basketball Operations of the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, what should we as Sixer fans expect with him in charge? How will he lead the team and, most importantly, what changes is he going to make to the roster?
There have been numerous rumors of a potential James Harden trade, however this seems highly unlikely due to his extremely high trade value. Plus, which GM would be alright with trading away one of the greatest scorers of all time.
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Morey is known for constructing teams around the strengths of the team’s main players, a perfect example can be seen through the way the Houston Rockets have played over the last five years. The Rockets have progressively increased the amount of three attempted per game, this was done in order to complement Harden’s unique ability to score. Although this has not led to a championship, the team has come awfully close on multiple occasions.
Likewise, Morey and D’Antoni fully committed to playing small ball with the Rockets midway through last season. Again, this did not lead to a championship, but this showed the character of Morey. He is willing to make the changes to the roster in an attempt to win big now. This is a very important factor for Sixer fans, as they have been patiently trusting the Process for years.
One of the main strengths of the Sixers, is in Joel Embiid‘s post-up game. He is the most efficient post scorer in the entire NBA, scoring 1.1 points per possession (tops in the NBA) and shooting a productive 52.4 percent. However, he only takes 5.4 post-ups per game. This has a very high tendency to increase, likewise with a decrease in the amount of 3s Embiid is taking.
Morey may commit to playing bully ball with Embiid as the centerpiece, surrounded by shooters and Ben Simmons, who is also extremely good in the fastbreak and kickouts to open shooters. Ben led the league in assists to 3-point shooters even though he was surrounded by bad shooters. So, trading for reliable 3-point shooters could be a high priority for the team if they unload Al Horford’s or Tobias Harris’ contracts.
I am hugely against the idea of trading Ben Simmons, given his high potential and his unique defensive capabilities. Being only 24 years old and already being one of the best defenders in the league, we were all exposed to a potential team without Simmons in the playoffs. Getting torched by the Celtics perimeter players was not pleasant to watch, and trading Ben Simmons would only make the Sixers more susceptible to such occasions.
However, trading Simmons for players who could space the floor for Joel Embiid could also be a possibility for Morey and Doc Rivers. Although both parties have said on numerous occasions that both Ben and Embiid can play together on a championship-caliber team, we have to be open to the possibility of them getting split up. As heart breaking as it is to seeing either one of them walk, it may be the only option in bringing a championship to the Sixers.