76ers fans dig up all the wrong moves that led to Daryl Morey’s firing

An embarrassing second-round sweep at the hands of the rival New York Knicks was bound to lead to some sort of major change being made. Sure enough, the Philadelphia 76ers wasted no time, firing president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, just two days after the team was eliminated.

While Nick Nurse generated a ton of negative attention throughout the year, the Sixers determined their issues stemmed more from the roster Morey built, and given how their season ended, it’s hard to say Sixers fans didn’t agree.

76ers fans have field day after Daryl Morey firing

Sixers fans have long waited for Morey to be gone, and I don’t blame them. The Sixers hired Morey to replace Elton Brand as their primary decision-maker ahead of the 2020-21 season because Brand’s teams never got past the second round of the playoffs. Here’s how Morey’s teams did in his six-year tenure running the show in Philadelphia.

They never even got to an Eastern Conference Finals when the expectation throughout his entire tenure was to win a title. That is unacceptable, and frankly, I’m surprised he got as long a leash as he did as a result.

Morey made several questionable decisions in an effort to try to get the Sixers over the hump, one of which was to acquire James Harden. Now, the Harden trade itself turned out to be a huge win, given how much of a disaster Ben Simmons was, but Morey’s choice to change his mind after initially promising a long-term deal to Harden led to Harden’s famous trade request in which he called Morey a liar and proclaimed he’d never play for an organization he ran again. The Sixers never got closer to a title than they were with Harden in the mix.

Another one of those controversial decisions came at this year’s trade deadline, when Morey said the Sixers were “selling high” when they traded Jared McCain for a late first-round pick and some second-rounders. McCain went from barely playing in Philadelphia, despite a non-existent bench, to playing a pivotal role for a Thunder team favored to win another title. It’s looking like the Sixers sold remarkably low for McCain, who just last season looked like a budding star.

What’s weird about the Morey decision is that the Sixers have announced Nick Nurse will be sticking around as the head coach. While this season wasn’t Nurse’s fault, choosing to keep him before even hiring Morey’s replacement is a decision Philadelphia could come to regret.

Sixers make right decision by firing Daryl Morey

This tweet pretty much sums it up. I thought the Paul George signing was a smart move, but it’s proven to be a disastrous one. I thought extending Joel Embiid made sense, but he can’t seem to stay on the court. I even think not giving James Harden a max deal in the late stage of his career made sense, even with knowing what that decision would lead to.

The NBA is a results-based league, though, and Morey’s Sixers teams have never had results. They’ve had some good teams, but the expectation has always been a championship. Morey has never gotten them close.

This year’s team had immense promise when healthy, but trading McCain was an issue, and not adding to the bench, especially after trading him, was a much bigger issue that wound up dooming Philadelphia. It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.

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