Brotherly Love?
Ben Simmons. Joel Embiid. Daryl Morey??? What could possibly go wrong? Or right?
The Philadelphia 76ers recently hired Glenn “Doc” Rivers to be their next head coach. This of course was huge NBA news considering how Rivers last season coaching the Clippers went. The 76ers would then shock everyone by hiring Daryl Morey to be their President of Basketball Operations.
If you’ve been watching NBA basketball the last few years then you know how Morey works. After years of being embarrassed by the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs, Morey would take the Warriors style of “small ball” and inject it with steroids. No player on the Rockets would be allowed to take mid range shots except Russell Westbrook. They ran with no true center as they would trade Clint Capela to the Hawks to open up the floor more for Harden and company.
That of course did not work. I mean if it did, Morey would still be in Houston. But nevertheless, Daryl has a completely different roster in front of him and if you know Morey, you know that he is not gun shy at all, HE WILL MAKE TRADES.
The 76ers are lead by two young All Stars in PG Ben Simmons and Big man Joel Embiid. The 76ers have been trusting “The Process” for a few years and it got them close to a ECF appearance in 2019, but Kawhi Leonard happened. Jimmy Butler would then take his talents to South Beach which brought SG Josh Richardson to Philly. Sixers would then give Tobias Harris a max contract worth $180M over five years and would also sign veteran big man Al Horford to a 4-Year $109M contract.
It’s obvious that this team is built completely wrong and that moves need to be made for Simmons and Embiid to do damage. In my opinion, Harris and Horford have to be moved this off season. Harris is an iso scorer and needs the ball in his hands to be successful. Horford on the other hand is 34 and is a bad fit next to Embiid. Harris may be lucky enough to stay, considering that he had the best season of his career under Doc rivers in LA, which is why Philly brought him in, to unlock that potential in Harris once more.
But what if Morey plans to design the Sixers the same way he constructed the Rockets? You have Ben Simmons (16.4 PPG, 8.0 APG, 8.3 RPG) who is coming off of knee surgery after suffering an injury in the first round against Boston. He’s extremely versatile, an excellent defender, but refuses to shoot jumpers, something Morey loves in all of his players. Then you have Embiid (23.9 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 1.8 BPG) who is a dominant big on both sides of the ball that isn’t shy to taking threes.
Who would Morey be more likely to trade? I of course want this duo to stay together and fight their way to a finals appearance, but if Minnesota called and offered the 1st pick in the draft for Simmons, or if Golden State reached out about a potential Embiid trade that would include the 2nd pick in the draft, that would definitely be hard to decline. Especially, if you’re Daryl Morey.
The draft is four days away and trades can begin in two. When the 16th arrives, the NBA will be on fire. Let’s see if Philly ends up making some much needed or league shocking moves.
