PHILADELPHIA — As it turned out, Daryl Morey’s “Four More Years” is about as popular in Philly as Richard Nixon’s 1972 campaign slogan. As Morey spends this summer searching for a third star to run with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, Sixers fans can only hope it turns out less diabolically.
“Someone at the wing ... who can deliver in the playoffs,” Morey said. He isn’t age-averse, so hello, 34-year-old Paul George, I guess.
Give him credit. He takes big swings, and his boss, Josh Harris, loves that. How much?
In December, in the middle of his fourth year as Sixers president, Harris gave Morey a contract extension that will, through the 2027-28 season, keep directly depositing $12 million annually from Harris’ bank account into his.
Has Morey earned it?
He wouldn’t grade himself: “I’ll leave that to you guys.”
Mission accepted. B-minus.
He wouldn’t answer if he thinks the team is better today than it was four years ago.
It sure doesn’t feel like it’s better. Not after the Ben Simmons drama, the James Harden saga, and the first-round exit last week at the hands of an anonymous Knicks roster.
To be fair, though, however little you think of the Prince of Analytics, you have to admit that not all of his decisions have been catastrophic. He met with the press Monday to review the latest lost season of the 11-year-old “Process” and how he’s fared in his tenure thus far.
This refresher regarding the Sixers’ most resonant points of inflection — matching Paul Reed’s contract and adding Buddy Hield do not qualify — should help put Morey’s Sixers career into perspective.
1. November 2020: Traded Al Horford: A
Al Horford, ill-suited and unhappy in Philadelphia, was the face of the failed “Bully Ball” experiment of 2020. Morey started work Nov. 4 and traded Horford on draft night two weeks later. There were three years and $81 million left on Horford’s contract (which ultimately landed him back in Boston). It cost Morey first-round and second-round picks as well. Part of the return was Danny Green, whose professionalism instantly improved the Sixers’ culture and whose presence influenced the development of Tyrese Maxey. But the trade was a clever example of addition by subtraction.
2. November 2020: Drafted Tyrese Maxey: A
Morey immediately gave credit to general manager Elton Brand and his staff for evaluating Maxey and advocating that the Sixers take him with the 21st overall pick. Even so, Morey deserves credit for not trading the pick and for not vetoing the pick. Remember, the Sixers already had Simmons in their backcourt and planned to build around him for the next decade. Even if Morey doesn’t get full credit for this decision, rest assured, if Maxey had flamed out like Simmons, Markelle Fultz, or Jahlil Okafor, Morey surely would have received full blame.
3. February 2022: Did not trade Tyrese Maxey: A
As the Sixers sought to rid themselves of a malcontented Simmons for malcontented James Harden, they refused to entertain the prospect of trading Maxey.
This, despite continual exhortations from accomplished NBA experts (like me) who misevaluated Maxey’s ceiling.
Morey gets full marks not just for his resoluteness in 2022, but also in the summer of 2023, when other teams began to recognize Maxey’s potential. Said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:
“They are not going to trade Tyrese Maxey. They have made this clear. … They want you to know that you cannot have Tyrese Maxey. Prime Michael Jordan is available? Don’t call. Twenty-five-year-old LeBron James is available? Lose our number. Giannis Antetokounmpo says, ‘I want to be a Sixer’? If Tyrese Maxey is the ask, just keep walking.”
Maxey has since become an All-Star, a dynamic scorer, and the Sixers’ unquestioned alpha.
4. Winter 2022: Did not trade for Tyrese Haliburton: F
There has been much rumor and testimony about the Haliburton deal that didn’t happen. In the moment, the general narrative ran thus: The Kings wanted to deal Haliburton but the Sixers couldn’t meet their price. Since then, Morey has said there never was much smoke there, much less fire. Well, there should have been. Haliburton now is a 24-year-old top-10 player in the second round of the playoffs with Indiana (he ultimately was traded) who is under contract for the next four seasons and makes less money than Tobias Harris.
Imagine being able to pair a real point guard with Maxey.
5. February 2022: Traded for James Harden: C
Trading (essentially) Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and a first-round pick for Harden seemed like a sound decision. It was. Also, a no-brainer.
6. July 2022: Extended Harden’s contract: D
Once again, Morey agreed with other accomplished NBA experts that Harden’s decline in 2020-21 and 2021-22 was due less to his aging body and his outmoded game than his bad luck and bad rosters. This was a mistake. Harden’s inconsistency on the court in the 2022-23 season, his lack of professionalism off the court (he flew to Las Vegas between the first and second rounds of the playoffs), and his collapse in the second round of the playoffs all were foreseeable. So was his holdout the following preseason.
7. September 2022: Did not extend Harden’s contract: A
Morey finally grew out of his 11-year infatuation with Harden, around whom he first built the Rockets’ repeated failures. Harden expected a four-year, $210 million max extension from the Sixers. Morey declined. It cost him Harden’s fickle friendship and it cost him lots of face, but we all know it’s better to abandon a bad relationship than to stay together purely out of pride.
Harden and fellow dinosaur P.J. Tucker landed with the Clippers and brought the Sixers Nico Batum, Robert Covington, KJ Martin, Marcus Morris Sr. (briefly) and picks. Harden missed 21 of 28 shots in the Clippers’ last two losses to the Mavericks, who bounced them in the first round last week.
8. June 2023: Fired Doc Rivers, Hired Nick Nurse: A
Rivers, whom Morey inherited (by a month), had lost the team. Nurse was the best coach on the market. Again, a no-brainer.
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