The Philadelphia 76ers have made the biggest splash in the offseason with news that they’re about to hire Daryl Morey to run their front office.
It turns out the Philadelphia 76ers were right to wait on revamping their front office after their disappointing display in the NBA bubble and playoffs. While they quickly fired head coach Brett Brown just a day after getting swept by the Boston Celtics, the organization appeared ready to stand pat with Elton Brand as their general manager going into the 2020 offseason.
Then Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets abruptly parted ways and whispers began. There were rumors that maybe Morey might want to go East, but ostensibly his departure was to explore opportunities outside of basketball, at least for a while before possibly returning to the NBA down the road.
Well, Morey did take a little time off, and that period of time was less than two weeks. On October 15th it was announced that he would be on his way out, and on October 28th ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced the big news that Morey would be taking over the reins of the Philadelphia 76ers front office.
Morey was able to keep the Rockets near the top of the NBA for most of his time in Houston, if not at the very top. His Rockets ran into juggernauts in the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers time and time again and virtually never lost to worse teams in the NBA playoffs, but were just never quite able to get over the hump against some of the greatest teams in league history.
In order to stay competitive, Daryl Morey was able to maximize every last resource at his disposal, and he turned over every stone to do so. He leveraged draft picks (most of them), he flipped Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook, he revolutionized a super-small ball strategy, and while these moves weren’t enough to win a championship, they were bold and they were brilliant.
The situation in Houston no longer became tenable, certainly thanks in no small part to a meddlesome and short-sighted owner in the form of Tilman Fertitta. After a season from hell that started when he tweeted support for Hong Kong protestors against Chinese oppression, Daryl Morey was able to leave with his head held high, knowing he had exhausted every opportunity to win in Houston.
Now, he has the chance to take this disappointing Sixers squad and remake it in his own image, and he has the chance to remake his own image as well. The Sixers are one of the biggest teams in the NBA, a stark departure from Houston where nobody over 6’7″ even played regular minutes in the rotation after the trade deadline in February.
It’s a whole new lease on life for both Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers, and it’s going to be exciting to see just what he does with it in the coming offseason, especially concerning the fates of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and Al Horford.