The hiring of Daryl Morey was one of the most controversial moments of the 2020 offseason. By the time Morey, the mind behind the polarizing Houston Rockets teams of the 2010s, was hired, the Philadelphia 76ers had already parted ways with Brett Brown and recruited Doc Rivers in his place.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24115981/KOCMoreyFeature_Getty_Ringer.jpeg)
It was a strange manner in which to add a new president of basketball operations, but throughout his four years in Philadelphia, Morey has proven that he was the right candidate for the job.
Morey arrived in Philadelphia after spending 13 seasons as the general manager of the Rockets. During that time, Houston boasted a regular season win percentage of .615 and reached the Conference Finals in 2014-15 and 2017-18.
The latter season was perhaps Morey's most noteworthy, as the Rockets won 65 games and lost to the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.
In four seasons with the 76ers, Morey has been tasked with helping the team get over the hump with franchise player Joel Embiid. There have been mixed results during that time, due in no small part to injuries, but the promising signs have been undeniable.
Entering his fifth season at the helm, it's become clearer than ever that Morey was the right hire by the 76ers in 2020.
1. Daryl Morey has been learning from past mistakes
Morey spent a vast majority of his tenure with the Houston Rockets building around the ball-dominant play of James Harden. Harden led the NBA in usage rate in 2017-18, and ranked in the top five in that regard in every season between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
Yet, when Morey brought Harden to Philadelphia in 2022, he made sure to design the roster in a way that emphasized more than just the former MVP's abilities.
In reuniting with Harden, Morey ended the Ben Simmons experiment at a time when it seemed as though the 76ers never would. Harden played a far less ball-dominant role than he did in Houston, ranking second on the team and outside of the top 50 in the NBA in usage rate.
When it became clear that Harden wasn't the right fit alongside Tyrese Maxey, as he still needed the ball in his hands to be at his best, both sides committed to a clean break—messy as it was.
Entering the 2024-25 season, Morey has gone all-in on a new approach—one that emphasizes the off-ball value of star-caliber players. Rather than breaking the bank on a player who can run an offense, Morey paid top dollar for Paul George—an elite 3-and-D forward with star-caliber shot-creating abilities.
Morey hasn't gotten everything right, but being willing to move on and adapt on the fly is a trait that past regimes failed to embrace—and ultimately squandered great rosters because of it.
2. Daryl Morey has made the tough decisions to improve the 76ers
When Morey arrived in Philadelphia, he was faced with a series of franchise-altering decisions. Those choices took shape across multiple seasons, with each ultimately providing the 76ers with an opportunity to move forward instead of holding onto what clearly wasn't working.
That began in 2020, when Morey inherited a team that had moved on from Brett Brown and hired Doc Rivers—leaving their new president of basketball operations in a state of limbo.
Since his hiring, Morey has systematically addressed the 76ers' flaws. He parted ways with Rivers when it became clear that his second-round curse would persist, traded Simmons at a time when Philadelphia seemed determined to overlook his flaws, and brought in Nick Nurse to change the culture.
When replacing Simmons with Harden proved less fruitful than anticipated, Morey even made the choice to end the union that had made the Rockets a contender—albeit after a public dispute.
In 2024, those difficult decisions have continued. He let Tobias Harris walk in free agency after six productive seasons with the team, brought in a third star whose skill set actually complements their star teammates', and took calculated risks on free agents such as Caleb Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr.
With a star trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, Morey has now positioned the 76ers to reopen their window with a trio of stars who actually complement one another.
A stark contrast to the manner in which Philadelphia previously built its rosters.
3. Daryl Morey has given Joel Embiid one last, legitimate chance
It would be easy for a front office to view the injury woes and postseason shortcomings Embiid has experienced as reason to either hit the reset button or simply stay the course. Previous regimes were determined to win with what they'd constructed and thus sacrificed avenues toward improvement.
The four-year, near $211.6 million contract given to George carries significant risk due to his age, but it's proof that Morey is willing to avoid complacency and go all-in on Embiid during the final years of his current contract.
Embiid is signed through 2025-26 and has a player option for the 2026-27 campaign that he'll likely decline in favor of a new deal. With two guaranteed seasons remaining on his contract, Philadelphia had a choice to make: Either give Embiid a chance to win, irresponsibly gamble on Maxey balancing out the injury concerns on his own, or start looking for trades to rebuild around the star guard.
Morey chose the former and went all-in on acquiring George—a player whose fit alongside Embiid and Maxey, in contrast to Harden and Simmons, can't be questioned.
George is one of the best on-ball defenders of his generation, thus making him an ideal perimeter partner for Maxey's offensive mentality and Embiid's interior dominance. He's also a 45.4 percent shooter on catch-and-shoot threes, a dynamic threat in isolation, and a proven postseason performer with three Conference Finals appearances in a starring role.
Injury concerns will persist for as long as Embiid is on the roster, but Morey has done his job by giving his franchise player his best shot yet at a deep postseason run.
