Daryl Morey mismanaged the Sixers’ center depth chart this year

This site has written about the issue surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers‘ depth behind Joel Embiid at length since the trade deadline. To be honest, the subject has gotten to the point where some could consider it to be an over-analyzed subject.

This is going to be the last time I plan on writing on this subject unless something horrendous happens in the playoffs or head coach Doc Rivers changes course, which seems unlikely. That being written, as much blame Doc Rivers should get for not playing the best option for the backup center role, the blame isn’t on him alone.

Daryl Morey deserves a small percentage of the blame regarding the Sixers’ depth at center.

It’s not only Rivers, but team president of basketball operations Daryl Morey who should shoulder a small percentage of the blame. After making the trade that landed the team James Harden and Paul Millsap it shouldn’t have taken Morey long to figure out that Millsap is about as useful as Mike Scott was in his last season with Philly.

There was time that Morey could have waived Millsap and brought in a player who could have made a bigger impact for the Sixers. Then there was the signing of DeAndre Jordan which was clearly a move to help Morey’s relationship with Rivers who has a history with the veteran big man. However, it wasn’t the best move in terms of team improvement.

Adding one past his prime center is understandable. He would bring leadership to the locker room which is fine for the 15th man on a roster. However, having two who the coach will play over the young and quite frankly better big men in Paul Reed and Charles Bassye. is an issue Morey could have avoided.

The only excuse that Morey can make is he couldn’t because of the salary cap situation which is understandable but in that case, he shouldn’t have signed Jordan. Either way, it’s not the best roster balancing that Morey has shown he can do in the past.

To be clear, Morey has done a good job with this roster overall since joining the Sixers and should receive a lot of praise. However, this is one situation he could have handled better.