Daryl Morey Post-Draft Press Conference | 2024 NBA Draft

Daryl Morey Post-Draft Press Conference | 2024 NBA Draft

very excited to welcome uh Jared McCain to the team um thrilled that uh thrilled that we uh were able to have a pick to get a player of this quality I want to thank our uh our staff who’s been here for pretty much all week without sleep and uh now working on the S second round upstairs without brand um you know Jared’s uh you know he’s just been a winner everywhere he’s going to someone Philly loves um pretty rare to get a combination of both a guy who’s got some skills that will get him on the floor earlier including shooting um but also with like a lot of upside and on a very steep Improvement curve even at his time at Duke defensively um which I think was one of the questions coming out of high school where he was top player in California winner at every level um you know as everyone says uh we were pretty surprised he was there and we’re looking at a lot of scenarios with um trade out trade back and they all sort of went away when uh when Jared made it there was a couple key picks in there in the early uh early teens that we needed to go our way or not pick uh Jared for us to be thrilled with the uh the draft I’m going to generally focus on the draft tonight if that’s okay I know folks have other questions uh but hoping to make this about his night uh and then we have the second round tomorrow so um pretty fun pretty exciting night so sorry it’s so late though question we’ll go with Gina you just alluded to it but you mentioned at your end of the season press conference that all options were on the table as far as going into tonight so yeah just how did you s sort of go about evaluating all of those options and then ultimately deciding okay get Jared is there or yeah uh the exact question we face on the clock there was a player offered to us that was uh pretty interesting we’d moved back a bunch of slots uh there was a move back pretty far but pick up uh you know a future you know so quite a few um quite a few sort of second round picks and things like that but uh you know we had McCain as a top 10 um player in this draft and someone who you know we’ve got a lot of roster opportunity so you know if you can uh if you can get a player who uh is hopefully rotation ready at a at a very young age I don’t want to put pressure on him but we think he’s got that he’s got the Improvement curve he’s got the approach um you know he’s obviously got a skill that the coach will turn around on the bench and say hey I need that skill uh he can really really punish people in transition really rebound um you know he’s uh you know he’s pretty special for a guy to to get sort of in the middle and middle of the first round and you know I don’t want to put any tough expectations on him but you know we really think this guy’s going to be a 76er for a very long time you know like uh some of our recent draft picks you said you had a player that was offer to you coming into this dra was that the focus I mean because that player will ensure that he’s ready to play now over trffic a g so to speak yeah we liked some of the concepts where we moved back a little bit and pick up a guy who might be a little bit closer to ready to play but you know really the value on McCain was was just too high for us so um you know we stuck in that that it’s a player we might be able to acquire later potentially um but but yeah no it was uh again all options were on the table like you said um there were some advantages to that um and we were really sweating the the pick right before us actually so well there’s a couple picks in there there’s we needed two spoilers starting it around yeah 12 or 13 uh to to go our way for him to still be there so he’s a he’s a tough player he’s know very good shooter but is there a little bit of concern with having a small back court uh with with him and Maxi together yeah I think that’s a a valid concern obviously your backc court um you know in a perfect world you’d have uh taller but I think you have to compensate that with strength he’s got like a strong frame very strong good rebounder um you know we think he’ll be a solid defender in the league over time I don’t you know he started off at Duke uh he was being targeted at Duke and as the season went on he he became someone that was actually one of their better Defenders so you know he’s got the he’s got the um attitude that coach nurse likes to bring which is just get a little bit better every day he’s got you know 95th percentile approach to the game uh teammate um work ethic you know we’ve had some good luck with taking the kids with a a real real base of potential and a strong work ethic and um you know we were we were really happy I think you know he’s you know I’m excited for Philadelphia to get to know him let’s go to KY the Paul I think you said at the U pressor you want me to col a wing player like there were a couple of wings there at 16 was there any thought maybe going it always Avil yeah I mean we’re pretty best player available um I think yeah perfect world no I think again you know I get people sometimes get on me when I say this but it’s true like we’re always trying to map forward to the team you know at the start of the Season or end of the season and how it might map forward and we’re not really looking at the roster right now with so many opportunities so many permutations of what could happen that you know almost never when someone looks back at a draft and they go how that guy go ahead of that guy oh they had this guy and so they didn’t they had a wing in front of them just never happens what always happens is like why didn’t they take that guy that was pretty obvious he was the best guy so we just go with the best guy I know it’s cliche but it’s also true yeah Amy darl you mentioned that you’re in the season press conference you weren’t looking for like a plug andplay player obviously you just mentioned you’re going to look for the best player available but with some of the intangibles you mentioned you know his maturity his Poise and the skill he brings do you think he’s a guy that could find his way on the P I think so I think it’s a big bar and I think is tough obviously we’re planning to be you know the best team in the East next year and um be right there with Boston and the other other competitors so it’s a high bar I think most likely it’s it’s someone who’s you know generally when you’re in the 10 to 20 range at someone who’s not starting at in the year at the rotation but you hope you know by the end of the year if they’re contributing then you’re in a really good spot as they show their work ethic and um yeah I frankly sort of checked every box that’s why why we’re so high on him in that he not only is someone who has a skill um and the work ethic to get out there on the floor um and also playing in high level games McDonald’s you know he’s been like a top 10 to 15 guy in the country in his class the whole way across um and so he’s a combination of a guy who we think you could get out a little quicker and at the same time a lot upside given his he’s uh very young and has a great work e think am also when you look at his shooting and the shooting numbers are really good and you say you know you guys Valu him as as a top 10 is that one of the first things that kind of checked the box for you or is it everything you given his rebounding the high motor he has and you know the high IQ he seems to play with yeah all all squel we really value shooting given the rest of our roster especially Joelle we just think joelle’s Ard able when he has shooting around him doesn’t mean we don’t put tough noosed guys out there that maybe that’s there but you know it’s it’s never an easy thing but look I mean if you know early on obviously you know Jared’s not g to be playing with maxi a whole lot I mean it’s just hard for a rookie but um you know that Elite shooting from two guys out on the floor is pretty pretty hard to guard and both of them make it really tough on it if you try to guard them tight they they you know I don’t have to cell Tyre Maxi but but Jared can attack a close out and and make a playl Jared mentioned that he hadn’t talked to the sers directly leing up to the draft what kind of goes into your calculist as an organization deter to draft someone that we yeah we really try to um that’s my phone sorry guys so um we tried mostly be like a black box for the other teams there’s a lot of games gamesmanship that goes on if teams know where you’re heading I was really disappointed a lot of people were mocking him to us uh so that was bothersome um yeah I I like to be a black box I think it creates trade optionality so um tend to uh tend to do all our evaluation during the season during like the period where um everyone else does it Z the not darl you talked about how Jared progressed during the season in college and at Duke he played at an offense that was focused a lot on a big man how do you think that that will help him transition also his performance in the tournament help him transition to working alongside Joel be yeah Jefferson scored 30 points uh in two of the key tournament games for Duke um big game player has as you point out played with uh played with a top big man um yeah I mean we we just see a guy who look so it’s asking a lot for a young player and a rookie to play on a team you know will looking to be you know top few in the East but he has that he has that possibility which is we have more roster opportunity than you might usually have in our situation uh and then that wasn’t the focus that we wanted we really wanted some with upside too so we just sort of got both so we I mean I mean I know I’ve said it but we couldn’t be more thrilled that you know so this sort of combination of character uh a little bit more ready to play a skill that helps you be ready to play early and then also a lot of WS side and a work ethic than David darl you mentioned uh Nick you know this this being the type of player that you would like just attitude wise this is your first first draft with him what sort of input has has he had in this process and how much are you thinking about players that could potentially do well under him I mean besides being a great coach I love that Nick’s a great partner um you know just like I’m not out there I leave Nick to draw the plays you know so um he he comes in he’s here as much as we are but at the same time he knows with our Scouts and shout out to prosper and uh you know everyone on the on The Scouting staff who put all the Timeless hours in he knows they put put Timeless hours in just like his coaching stuff does so you know he’s uh if anything he’s put a little put putting a little nudges here and there like hey can we look at him a little more you know those that kind of thing but mostly uh we uh we we know how much work goes in and and leave things to each other two more David Mur than um obviously there’s a certain level of offense that kind of offsets whatever defensive limitations size limitations you have um I mean you can think of several examples of guys of his size who are simply Elite scores that have to be on the court y um you know obviously not naming any names to to compare them to but you view him as you know a guy who can kind of shoot down the road kind of high volume threes off the dribble and you know kind of make that kind of impact on on a court yeah and he’s already doing it it’s already putting up a high volume of threes and being able to shoot threes at high volume and you know be in the high 30s low 40s you know is like maybe the most valuable skill in the NBA it’s on the list of the top few um so that’s yeah that’s you know big big part of the calculus with uh with Jared 100% absolutely you mentioned you and Elon already starting the second round crap um obviously change with draft splitting into two days do you like that first of all and then now that you sort of of have crossed this threshold of the off season how then do you see that informing the rest of of what you guys do yeah I don’t think the draft’s going to inform what we do in free agency very much um so that’s pretty much how I do it and we do it um but yeah it would be a quick turn around quicker turnaround than normal I love the second day I think it’s it’s amazing that in the past you know there’d be literally hundreds of millions of dollars of decisions made you know back to back and with two minutes on the clock I mean it’s yeah it’s sort of it’s a it’s a much better process for the league and I think it was a great change thanks y appreciate it oh 70 points my daugh

Daryl Morey meets with the media after the Sixers selected Jared McCain with the 16th overall pick in the 1st round of the NBA Draft.