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CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are exiting the trade deadline with a losing record and a spot just outside of the play-in. Daryl Morey still believes they can win a championship.
Morey doubled down on his approach to bring three stars together and figure out the rest later. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have barely played together and the Sixers' president of basketball operations is not moving off of his team-building vision. While acknowledging that the first half of this season has not gone to plan, he's once again reaffirming his belief in his team.
“We're excited for this stretch run where we might finally see this group together of our three stars — Paul, Joel and Tyrese. And we feel like that team has a real shot,” Morey said. “We've made our path to win harder, obviously. We're gonna have to fight to probably get in the playoffs and then we're gonna have to fight to beat a very good team in the first round. But we feel like we would've had to play that team at some point to win the title anyway.
“And we're just focused on [a] championship. I know you have to squint a little but we feel like this group can still do that,” he continued.
Daryl Morey still believes 76ers have championship potential
The 76ers brought in five second-round picks and sent out three second-round picks and a first-round pick that will mostly likely be very late in the round. They ducked the luxury tax and brought in some new players, Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler. Morey said that Grimes is “a key addition. We love his fit with Tyrese, his ability to hit shots, his ability to be the primary defender of the guards on the perimeter.”
The goal of this deadline, Morey said, was to get younger and more dynamic. After signing numerous players well into their 30s this offseason, the Sixers realized the value of youthful players and their upside. Morey gave credit to Nick Nurse for bringing along Justin Edwards, an undrafted rookie who has become a starter for the banged-up Sixers.
Trading KJ Martin and draft picks to the Detroit Pistons showed the Sixers' willingness to get below the luxury tax. They gave up a good player on a tradable contract and picks just to save money on this season’s payroll. It suggests that there are more priorities than just a title. But Morey explained that walking such a fine line between those goals is in his job description.
“We still think this can be a special season,” Morey said. “That said, I think in my job, I have to focus on both the now and the future and we wanted to accomplish three goals: get younger, get players who can help us now into the future and then the ability to retain them.”
The 76ers have a +5.4 net rating with Embiid, Maxey and George on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. In lineups with those three and Guerschon Yabusele, the Sixers' net rating is +10.3, in the 90th percentile. There is a proof of concept that this team can be good, primarily because Embiid is still amazing when healthy and Maxey continues to improve.
Morey didn’t lay the blame for the 76ers' disappointing start to the season solely on injuries but he did bring it up, crediting Nurse and Maxey with doing the bulk of the heavy lifting that has kept the team as close to playoff contention as it is. When Embiid comes back, Philly will have to hope that he can stay healthy and that the team around him is good enough to defy the odds.
