The Philadelphia 76ers have undoubtedly been the most perplexing team in all of basketball this season. Recapitulating the multitudes of glib factors for their downfall is too exhausting; hence, suffice to say that this disappointment of a campaign cannot simply be tossed up to a singular issue coming from the squad.
But to give you one tidbit that has seen a pretty noticeable dip from last season, let us focus on the 76ers’ subpar offense in the present campaign. Two seasons ago, the team posted the third-highest offensive rating in the league — a lofty footing they maintained until last season, when Joel Embiid’s injury discombobulated the team on that end. Still, they managed to turn in an above-average offensive ouput in 2023-24.
This season, the 76ers find themselves loitering near the bottom, ranking 21st on offense. And part and parcel behind their decline on that end, aside from the proverbial injury bug, is their continued lack of acuity as a three-point shooting team. But this time, we know who is partly responsible for that.
Daryl Morey’s bizarre statement shows he is behind the 76ers struggling in this area
Daryl Morey, one of the most prominent figureheads behind the NBA’s three-point shooting revolution dating back to his early days with the Houston Rockets, is seemingly making a grand departure from his previous disposition with the game.
In a recent Sloan panel appearance, Morey dished out a rather contradictory statement about the sharp uptick in three-point shots in the NBA in recent years.
"I don't think it's the fault of the teams or the analysts out there because their job is just to win, but to me the bottom line is [the three-pointer] was added many years ago and it's [worth] 50 percent more than other shots. That's simply too much. It essentially breaks the game."
If you told me three years ago that someone like Morey would be the progenitor of that statement, I would not have believed you one bit.
The three-point shot is here to stay — and more. Ergo, Morey suddenly pivoting off such an instrumental facet of his innovative roster-building over the years only explains why the 76ers have been underwhelming in that department in the past couple of years.
This season, the 76ers have the fifth-lowest accuracy rate on threes while also ranking 20th in three-pointers made and 17th in threes attempted per outing. Last season, Philly was 18th, 22nd, and 19th on the same areas respectively.
Morey adopting such a stance with the three-point shot could very well be the reason why the front office has not made it an emphasis to add legitimate snipers to the roster — a very shocking change of air for the longtime executive.
Daryl Morey has to accept that this revolution will only get more rampant with each passing season. The sooner he returns to what has worked for him in the not-so-distant past, the better for the Philadelphia 76ers.