Subscribe
Follow Us
PHILADELPHIA — After a disastrous, 24-win season, the Philadelphia 76ers are running it back. Not only are head coach Nick Nurse and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey going to be back, the latter said, but so are all three of the team's stars: Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George.
“Ownership gave us the resources to make aggressive moves this offseason to put a championship roster around Joel and Tyrese,” Morey said. “And you know, sometimes those aggressive moves don't initially work out, but we feel good about that. Those three guys, our three All-Stars going forward, I have to do a better job putting a supporting cast around them.”
In the 15 games, the 76ers' Big 3 went 7-8. Injuries obviously caused some of that failure but it’s still jarring that three stars of their caliber had a losing record together. Morey, above all, wants to contend for a title and believes in this group very much.
At the outset of the 76ers' offseason, Morey is committing to a younger and more dynamic supporting cast.
“I would say one of those things is I was very focused on finding veteran-type players who, you know, generally perform very well in the playoffs,” Morey said about his moves on the margins of the roster in the 2024 offseason. “And I didn't put enough emphasis on the team getting through the regular season. And so next season, for sure, we will be a younger, more dynamic group.”
Daryl Morey still committed to 76ers' Big 3
Article Continues Below
The trades for Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler at the deadline show that Morey recognized his mistake. Adding an assortment of veterans like Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond did not create the proper supporting cast for his stars. George, who turns 35 next month, also played a big part in exposing that being too old hurt the Sixers severely. However, Morey believes in having as much star power as possible, so he's not on the chopping block.
Especially with George and Embiid's injury histories, it only makes sense to make sure the supporting cast around them can stay healthy and improve over the course of a season. “We know he's an MVP-level talent when he's healthy,” Morey said about Embiid, mentioning that he scored 70 points in a game not too long ago. Being aggressive by signing George supported that elite talent in Morey's eyes.
“Are we somewhat indexed to talented players who are a little bit more injured? Yes,” he said. “But that's why we need to have a younger, deeper roster around them and then have them healthy going into the playoffs next year.”
The 76ers should have focused more on this last offseason, when it was already perfectly clear that Embiid and George were injury risks. While it's still better to be late than never arrive, Embiid's knee may be in too bad of shape for it to matter anymore. Nonetheless, Morey is adamant about building around him and fixing the issues from this season.
“Obviously we didn't have health to start out but even factoring that in, we need to hit the ground running starting at the beginning [of the season] next year,” Morey said. “I didn't set the tone well for the group going into the season, so that will be another area we correct.”
