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The Philadelphia 76ers are entering a new era in their franchise as they have welcomed a new coach in Doc Rivers as well as a new President of Basketball Operations in Daryl Morey. The idea is to get the team back on the path of championship contention again with those two leading the way.
With Morey in town after a successful run with the Houston Rockets, some believe that he will try and acquire some of his former Rockets to join this current Sixers team. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith suggested that they go after James Harden, but colleague Jalen Rose says they should go after Russell Westbrook, instead.
Rose suggested that they trade Joel Embiid to Houston in exchange for Westbrook and here was his reasoning:
If I’m Daryl Morey, I tried to find a way to parlay Joel Embiid for Russell Westbrook and or PJ Tucker. In Houston they’re gonna have to play more traditionally, so therefore you have James with the ball on the perimeter, and you have Embiid as his big man. In the Eastern Conference, you have two guys in Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook that no one is ever going to stop from getting to the basket. Both those guys have found ways to not be able to shoot jump shots and still basically flirt with triple-doubles and Russell’s been an MVP of the league. You say ‘well that’s not Morey ball’, Morey ball is actually also getting layups and dunks and getting to the free throw line, those two guys do that too.
Rose has a good point, but in order for Simmons and Westbrook to have any driving room, they will still need to find shooters to space the floor properly. That was why Morey moved Clint Capela this season in order to give Westbrook room to operate. So, they will be running into the same problems.
Either way, it is still hard to justify moving a dominant 26-year old big man like Embiid for a 30-year old Westbrook who has not been the same, explosive guard he was in the past. Granted, he did have a very good stretch for Houston before the league suspension, but giving up Embiid for him would be a tough decision to justify. [lawrence-related id=38732,38720,38723]