Report: Some Rockets surprised by how quickly Daryl Morey joined 76ers

“No one is surprised that he’s in the league,” said veteran beat writer Jonathan Feigen. “They didn’t think it would happen this quickly.”

On Sunday, Daryl Morey‘s contract with the Houston Rockets was allowed to expire after 14 seasons with the team, including the last 13 as GM.

On Monday, he was formally introduced as the new head of basketball operations with the Philadelphia 76ers.

It was quite a fast turnaround, especially considering a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Morey was interested in taking some time away from the NBA to be with his college-age children, who are taking an academic gap year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That rationale was published the day of the Oct. 15 announcement that Morey would not be returning to the Rockets. While that report clearly left the door open to Morey eventually working for another NBA team, it certainly didn’t suggest that anything was imminent. Yet, less than three weeks later, Morey is officially leading another franchise.

Per veteran beat writer Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the speed of Morey’s transition caught some in the organization by surprise. In comments on Sunday’s Texas Sports Nation TV show, he said:

I don’t think it’s hard feelings so much that he left, or that he took the other job. Now the ‘gap year’ line, I think there are those in the organization that say ‘You took a gap weekend, you didn’t take a gap year.’

That line, that explanation sort of rings hollow now. But he was here for 14 years, 13 as the general manager. No one is surprised that he’s in the league. They didn’t think it would happen this quickly, but no one is surprised.

He was good to work with and good to work for, so I don’t think there’s hard feelings, but the immediate reaction was over that line.

Josh Harris, managing partner of the Sixers, said his team “moved quickly and aggressively” to bring Morey to Philadelphia upon news of his exit from Houston. “Talent like Daryl rarely becomes available,” Harris said at Monday’s press conference. “He has an extraordinary track record of success in this league as an innovator, visionary, and leader.”

Houston owner Tilman Fertitta had said on the day of Morey’s announced departure that he expected Morey to eventually end up with a team in the Eastern Conference. As a result, even if it’s a faster transition than expected, no one with the Rockets seems surprised by the outcome.

According to Feigen, Morey felt he needed to “start over.”

With Daryl it really was, in his own mind at least, ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ He really felt like, ‘I need to start over.’ He’s been banging his head against the wall, trying to get the Rockets through those last steps. When you go all in, and you lose, you get up and leave the table. And that’s what Daryl did.

In Morey’s 13 years as GM, the Rockets ranked No. 2 in the entire NBA in total wins, and they have the league’s longest active streak of eight consecutive playoff berths. He was voted by his peers as the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2018. While Houston never won an NBA title in Morey’s era, they were a clear success by nearly any other measure.

Morey will now look to Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and the Sixers for his championship breakthrough, while Rafael Stone — who was previously the No. 2 executive in Houston’s basketball operations department — is now the GM for James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and the Rockets.

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