Philadelphia 76ers: Daryl Morey’s small mistakes cannot repeat: Harden trade done too late to add more depth
The James Harden trade thankfully happened, just a year later than it was originally going to happen. That doesn’t matter since Morey got his man and got him to pair with Joel Embiid. We know all that already right. The blockbuster move put a little dent in Morey’s reputation of getting useful role players and maximizing them.
One thing that was not highlighted enough was Morey’s strategy of waiting until the last minute on trading for Harden. That move occurred so late on the deadline day that Morey and the Sixers could not acquire one or two more role players to help the Sixers chances. As we remember the Sixers needed depth in the postseason and going back to the summer before this season the team improved but clearly not enough.
Morey signed Danny Green, Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang, Andre Drummond, and Jaden Springer. To be fair, Green and Korkmaz resigned. Yet, Danny Green was the only productive player in the playoffs for the club.
James Harden and Daryl Morey are close enough and have worked together enough to find out the best way to make it work. They have been repeatedly trying since the Houston days and now the duo is with the 76ers. With the lack of wing depth, the Sixers need to target athletic, two-way players to connect the team on both offense and defense.