There’s this great moment in “Money Ball,” where after arguing with the Athletic’s manager on executing his vision, Billy Beane’s character, finally forces his hand by making several trades:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwmsSAvkzGE
Beane is so committed to his vision that he trades away, a potential rookie of the year, and other high-profile players because they don’t fit the analytics-based approach. Daryl Morey has tried again and again to portray himself as the NBA’s version of Billy Beane, a disciple, a forward-thinker, etc; but Morey’s tenure with the Sixers has demonstrated that he’s a one-trick-pony who has no vision for the team.
Morey’s Rocket teams had a vision. We all know this. He loved to brag about his approach and how he helped revolutionize the game to 3s and layups. Here’s the thing: everyone gets this now. The Byron Scott’s of the NBA are no longer coaching (besides Monty Williams). Every team has an analytics department, every team knows they need to get up 3-point shots. Morey’s Rockets team had a clear vision, but since he came to the Sixers that has disappeared.
Everyone likes to claim that he has been impossibly handcuffed and it’s true that inheriting a roster with such a poor roster construction limited him. Still, other teams have gotten off of bad contracts too. Nico Harrison, a Nike Executive turned GM, traded Kristaps Porzingis (obviously better than Tobias) just starting his $158 million, five-year contract and got nothing in return. Mavs received Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans' horrible contract (5 year$80,000,000).
That trade was viewed as a massive punt by the Mavs, but Nico Harrison knew what Morey should have known that just getting Porzingis off the Mavs roster opened possibilities for the team. Harrison got off another horrible contract in Bertans in the Grant Williams trade that brought PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford to the Mavs.
The Mavs are now on the cups of the NBA finals because Nico Harrison had a clear vision for the team. Get another ball-handler/shot-maker. Kyrie. And surround Luka with strong defenders in PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. (a vet minimum guy) and get low-usage lob threats. Harrison had to overcome two bad contracts (arguably 3 in Grant Williams) just like Morey and in less time the Mavs have gotten to two Western Conference Finals.
And for everyone who says Luka has been SO much better than Embiid in his playoff runs, so he’s easier to build around. Just look at the stats. They shoot the exact same percentage from the field in their playoff runs. Luka is way more clutch than Embiid, but Luka also has had way more margin of error than Embiid has had in his career.
Tim Connely and the Wolves are another example of a GM having a specific vision and executing it. In an era where shooting and spacing is so important, he zagged and created this two-big lineup that pummeled Denver in the playoffs. Wolves have a clear defensive identity and have a roster filled with players that fit that vision.
Morey’s teams on the Sixers have never seemed to have any identity at all. He makes his big move trading for Harden and then doesn’t surround him with the players he needs to be as successful as possible. Say what you want about Harden but he won two playoff games against the Celtics and Morey didn’t get him a lob threat to be successful in the non-Embiid minutes. Instead of being creative and finding new players to surround Embiid and Haren, Morey is uncreative going with PJ Tucker and Danuel House former Rockets.
He has no vision, no creativity. Instead time and time again, unlike Billy Beane, Morey succumbs to the wants of his coach, signing over-the-hill players at the deadline or in free agency that gives into the coach’s bad habits. Doc Rivers’s Clippers teams were destroyed in the Montrez Harrel minutes against Jokic, so what does Morey do? He signs him. Doc loves going with old vets instead of developing young players, so who does Morey sign instead of letting Maxey grow? George Hill.
And even with Nick Nurse, Morey has continued this tradition signing Kyle Lowry who ends up starting and giving the team nothing besides one game in the playoffs.
Morey has been incapable of finding the diamond-in-the-rough type of players that can elevate this team. For a man obsessed with 3-point shooting, he has never discovered a high-volume 3-point shooter at a minimum-level salary. And not only that, he lets one get away with Isaiah Joe. It seems painfully obvious that Morey made one great trade with the Rockets in trading for James Harden and has been living off the trade ever since.
by novabull23
15 Comments
You realize Morey had not one, but three big contracts he had to get off of, right? All Nico was doing was trading bad contracts for bad contracts until one of them expired. We don’t have that option with Joel.
Morey is just another GM now. He could’ve been a Billy beane type years ago, but you can’t be that anymore because all the teams use analytics now.
Give me Omer Asik and Ryan Anderson contracts. Morey’s playing chess or something
Every day I log on to this sub and read the absolute dumbest shit imaginable. Lock this sub til the season starts for the sake of our own sanity
Sam Hinkie is starting to make a lot more sense, being Morey’s protege. Neither of them ever had any good ideas besides “let’s try to get a star and figure it out”
No one is forcing you to root for this team bro.
Good to see Bryan Colangelo is back online.
You realize that *Moneyball* was fictionalized, right? Multiple people affiliated with the A’s have gone on record saying that Art Howe, the manager, was unfairly portrayed, and there really wasn’t that much conflict between his vision and Billy’s vision.
Morey tried to dump Harris. He had that bum in trade rumors almost immediately after he arrived, and that continued through this season. You know what happened? Every Front Office in the league realized Harris was drastically overpriced for what he does, so Morey was screwed. I’ve been critical of Morey, too, but he’s a solid GM who has an opportunity to build something great this summer. Let’s see how he does now that Low Energy Tobias Harris is off of the books.
I think this is pretty spot on. Morey has made good moves at the margins (e.g. flipping Horford) but his big swing was Harden and that blew up in our faces, seemingly because of Morey himself. The team has struggled his whole tenure to find reliable shooting, ballhandling, and backup center minutes. He let Tobias Harris finish out that contract long after we should have moved on.
After all his moves we’re left with two players on the roster. Does anyone really believe he is going to assemble a championship contender between now and October?
You are being unrealistic here.
Morey had THREE horrible contracts: Horford, Simmons and Harris.
He worked magic for Horford and Simmons. He got Danny Green and James Harden for those two.
That’s incredible.
He also had close to zero draft picks. Yet he drafted Maxey.
We all would have loved to get off Harris’ contract. The problem was, he was just good enough that trading him for a bad contract actually made us worse.
So it was better to let his deal expire than trade him for an old player who has years left on his deal.
Is Morey good or bad? He’s been alright all things considered.
This summer will define him. He finally has cap room and picks. Let’s see what he can do.
You might not like Morey’s style, but it’s an incorrect claim that Morey does not have a vision. Morey has said time and time again, he is star hunting. He believes the ideal team has multiple stars, surrounded by guys that complement the stars. He’s been saying some form of this for years now.
Also, Morey certainly had a very intentional plan to free up cap space for this year specifically, because the cap rules drastically changed with the first and second tax apron. Why are you discounting Morey’s vision to put the sixers in the unique situation they are in now? Do you think it’s an accident we basically only have Maxey and Embiid affecting the cap?
You can disagree with Morey’s vicious pursuit of star players, but it’s pretty disingenuous to act like Morey does not have a vision. If anything, Morey is one of the few GMs who frequently gets in front of a mic and talks about his team building philosophy.
Morey definitely isn’t perfect, but who would you choose to replace him with right now?
not reading all that
This sub moves the goal posts every year when it comes to Morey. It’s honestly funny to watch. And I’m not a Morey hater.
All this sub said for years was that Tobi was a perfectly fine valuable player who was just overpaid.
Now in one season he’s the worst contract in the history of the world and it was a crime against humanity that Morey had him for 4 seasons and he couldn’t possibly have been expected to do anything while being hamstrung with that contract.
He’s done a lot of shit that deserve criticism. Danuel House sucked. PJ Tucker sucked. Melton is mediocre. Kept Furkan and Shake around way longer than necessary. We never have a backup center. Let Joe go. Overvalued Paul Reed. He probably could’ve had Halliburton but traded for his buddy and then completely fractured the relationship.
OP doesn’t know what the fuck he is talking about. Morey has spent his tenure making the best of the mess he was left with. His moves are not perfect but it’s all been leading up to clearing the roster so he can deal. Morey was hired to sell tickets and he has done exactly what he was hired to do and will continue to do that.