“We Were All Disappointed with Where We Were”: Sixers’ Co-owner Details the Signing of Daryl Morey

The free-agency market in the NBA demands quick and calculated decision-making. A franchise has to be ‘pit-stop’ quick to fix its troubles by signing the right talent. The Philadelphia 76ers somehow pulled this logical stunt, not once, but twice in the past month.

The team successfully signed the likes of Doc Rivers and Daryl Morey to strengthen their on-court performance as well as the front office. The brains of these NBA greats, coupled with a fairly young team with a lot of talent, can prove to be a new dawn for the Sixers.

How did the Sixers manage to sign Daryl Morey?

The co-owner of the franchise, Michael G. Rubin, gave an interview where he heaped praise on various executives who made this deal possible. He began by suggesting, “After the end of this season, it’s fair to say we were all disappointed with where we were. You’ve got to turn negatives into positives. Led by Josh Harris, we had a major mission. How to upgrade all aspects of basketball organization, started of course with Doc Rivers.”

The Sixers signed Doc within three days of his removal from the Clippers office. But Daryl’s signing seems even more interesting, given the fact that Daryl had promised his wife a year off from basketball. He was almost ready to call it a “gap year” when the Sixers approached him. 

Michael revealed, “When Daryl became available if you kind of cut through it. He is the same guy we tried to get to years ago, worrying we won’t get him, and literally within hours of him becoming available, Josh Harris reached out and said, ‘I want to figure out how we get him to become our President of basketball. We moved incredibly quick, we did it with Doc, he was hired within days.”

Two sharp minds + Two great players = An NBA championship?

Joel Embiid averaged 30 points and 12.3 rebs for the Sixers in the 4 games he played in the NBA Playoffs 2020. He is often compared with the likes of Damian Lillard and has the capacity to win a series for the Sixers. On the other hand, Ben Simmons will be back after his injury. The two have some chemistry woes to deal with, but the duo is good enough to achieve a title success.

But how about Daryl and Doc, who come from two different settings? Daryl has served for a decade in a team that relied heavily on perimeter shooting, while Doc has worked on his own offensive mapping. 

The co-owner cleared this doubt and said, “When you look at Doc and when you look at Daryl, these guys in a lot of ways are opposites. They’re gonna work incredibly well together, it’s really interesting, in addition, Elton is such a great guy, as soon as he saw Daryl became available, he said, we need to go out, get this guy. This is how we win championships.”

Do you think the 76ers can go deeper into the playoffs this coming season?