CAMDEN, N.J. — Now that the James Harden trade is complete, the Philadelphia 76ers can move on. They look to chase a championship and continue to grow under coach Nick Nurse.
All eyes will also shift to Joel Embiid. There is a school of thought that Embiid could eventually get frustrated and request his own trade. There are a multiple teams out there monitoring his situation and hoping he gets to that point.
Embiid is nowhere near that point at the moment and President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has his seal of approval on the way things are going.
“I can just tell you our relationship and his relationship with the front office, ownership, coach Nurse is extremely strong,” said Morey. “The Joel stuff that’s really our competitors, as far as we can tell, just trying to generate that.”
Embiid is the reigning MVP of the league. He has led the league in scoring two years in a row and is somebody the Sixers have to keep happy.
“In terms of like Joel is a very smart player,” Morey added. “He’s obviously the cornerstone, the MVP of the league. We always keep him aware of what we’re planning. He’s very comfortable in the approach we’re taking. He feels like it gives us the best chance to win. That’s pretty much it.”
The question becomes whether the Sixers can reach the same level as the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks in the East. With Harden gone, Morey will eventually have to make another move with the assets he has received. However, the Sixers battled the Bucks on opening night and only lost by one despite everything going on.
“If you saw against Milwaukee, we can hang with anyone,” Morey said succinctly. “I will say part of becoming a great team and a championship team, is to be realistic. Look, there are some tough competitors in the East. Boston and Milwaukee, who we just played, in particular. I said earlier in my opening press conference, let’s let it play out.”
As long as Embiid is upright and ready to go, the Sixers can challenge anybody in the league. It will be keeping him happy that will be the challenge for Morey as the season continues.
“Right here as I sit now, I’m not willing to concede anything to them, but you ask 100 people, they’d say they’re better than us right now,” Morey continued. “So let’s see how this plays out, see where our weaknesses are, now we have assets and the ability to address any issues and we will address those if we see them, but look, let’s see how it plays out.”
The next few months will be an interesting time for Morey leading up to the trade deadline. He has got to make the right move in order to keep Embiid happy and allow the Sixers to take that next step.
“We will show our fans in the marketplace if we’re a championship contender based on our play,” Morey finished. “If we keep winning two out of three games against good opponents, we will be. If we don’t, we’ll have to address that.”
[lawrence-related id=85687,85682,85678]