The Sixers’ Daryl Morey has some great coaching and roster decisions to make in the off-season

On Wednesday, Daryl Morey said he had recommended the dismissal of head coach Doc Rivers to the Philadelphia 76ers’ ownership group.

The Chief of Basketball Operations was then asked why he remained as the team’s chief decision maker.

“I tell the ownership it’s hard to win (and) we’ve made progress,” Morey said. And honestly, I feel like I’m the best person to lead the 76ers and the ownership believes in that. And then if we don’t move forward, I understand if something happens from there.”

Morey is considered one of basketball’s best front office minds, which he has been for over a decade. Often times, this type of character will have more staying power than a trainer.

Nor was it as if Morey was adjusting to his reputation in Philadelphia. Every season, he made moves that had a positive effect on the Sixers. The problem for Morey this summer is that the roadmap for how to move forward is less clear than in previous years.

“I think last year has been a lot clearer,” Morey said on Wednesday.

However, the past year has not been any clearer. Each season, Morey has been tasked with addressing an apparent problem based on the shortcomings of the Sixers team the previous season. To his credit, he pretty much did.

In 2020, his first season in Philadelphia, the task is to address the spacing disaster that was evident the previous season. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons needed to play more distance in the starting line-up. Therefore, Morey replaced Al Horford and Josh Richardson with Danny Green and Seth Curry. The Curry-for-Richardson swap gave the orb the shot in the arm it needed—a dead-shooter that can also start off a Pick-and-Roll.

“Tonight’s topic with Seth Curry was trying to improve the fit. Having Curry a true elite shooter changes the dynamic of Ben and Joel,” Morey said.

With better shooting around Embiid and Simmons, the Sixers did better. They earned a #1 seed the following season. But every postseason has been a struggle, giving Morey a new case to solve.

In 2021, Morey’s mission is crystal clear and tough to execute: Move on from Simmons and find value for him. That saga continued into the middle of the next season, but James Harden became disaffected in Brooklyn around the trade deadline. While far from being a perfect player, Harden played at a high level that season. Simmons’ contract is now considered one of the worst contracts in the NBA – if not the worst.

Last season, the goal Morey mentioned was uncomplicated: tackle depth, especially with two-way players who can hang at both ends of the ground. So, Harden took a one-year pay cut, and the Sixers brought in PJ Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, and Danuel House Jr. To do this, the Sixers did not sacrifice anyone from the previous season’s rotation.

They weren’t perfect acquisitions. Milton was a great sixth man who could run hot or cold. House Jr. succeeded. Barely in the rotation breakout for most of the season, but hit it big as the Sixers won their best playoff game, which was Game 5 in Boston. Tucker’s lack of offensive production served as a catch-all season and into the playoffs, but in the biggest games and moments of influence, he delivered value.

“The durability part was relevant, but sometimes it’s only used if you win or lose. I think the two-way players are a little more obvious,” Morey said. “And I think we addressed a lot of that.”

Therefore, Morey was good at following the previous season’s outline that he had set out for him. But the goal now is to move forward into the postseason. In the two biggest games of the season, Embiid and Harden fell short of winning.

Last season, after Morey boosted the depth with more two-way skill sets (with financial help from Harden, of course), I felt like he had done his job. Then the onus is on the Stars Sixers and Rivers players to win.

Failing again, the big question heading into this season is even more complex: How much confidence is there in the core with Embiid turning 30 and Harden turning 34 next year?

“Having been in this business for so long, when you lose, there will be something to point to,” Morey said Wednesday. “So, I think it was very important, the elements that PJ and Melton added were very critical for us. But really the problem we’re facing…we didn’t get the better of the opponent… (we won another match) in the second round.”

It looks like the Sixers will be led by the Embiid-Harden pairing again next season. While he did not go into the details of any negotiations with Harden, Morey said he would like to bring the veteran guard back into the fold.

“We feel good about the alternative scenarios as well,” he said. “Scenario A is to bring James back. Scenario B, if he doesn’t come back, we’re going to have to get creative and feel good about the tools at our disposal if that happens.”

At an inopportune time when the decision maker’s main takeaway is that the team will fail, it makes sense to replace the coach. But when addressing Simmons’ game and two-way skill sets in previous seasons, the answers become a bit less flattering when shooting. a little less clear.

“We felt this was the best move to help us achieve our goals in the future,” Morey said.

A lot of research will go into training and what they need to do to improve it. There have already been calls for more offensive innovator, even if the Sixers have had the best offense in the league over the past four months of the season. Morey wants to have a cast more like the regular season Embiid.

Rivers had his chances of getting the Sixers over the hump and fell short. A new coach with fresh ideas can certainly do some good. But even Morey said that for the value he places on X’s and O’s, it’s “only one piece of the puzzle.”

“I actually think people place a lot of importance on that — like it ends up being a much smaller part of what people expect,” Morey said. “In terms of working with the stars, recruiting star players, things like that. It’s an important component, but it tends to be overrated.”

Morey also confirmed on Wednesday that Embiid, the NBA’s MVP, was “shocked” by the decision to fire Rivers.

The offseason has just begun, and especially with Harden, there’s some uncertainty about where it’s going to lead them. But as summer enters, the clarity is less than it was in years past. The pressure is now on Morey to find a coach and fix the problems.

(Photo by James Harden and Daryl Morey: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)