Tag: Daryl Morey

Daryl Morey, Sixers stay for jersey retirement of Grizzlies legend Marc Gasol

Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers stayed for the jersey retirement for Memphis Grizzlies legend Marc Gasol.

After a 116-96 win over the Memphis Grizzlies for the Philadelphia 76ers, the Grizzlies honored a franchise legend by raising his jersey into the rafters at FedEx Forum.

Marc Gasol, who played 10 1/2 seasons with the Grizzlies, had his jersey retired by the franchise after the contest. He averaged 15.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 blocks while playing for Memphis to go along with three All-Star appearances and a Defensive Player of the Year award.

He led the Grizzlies to their only conference finals appearance in franchise history (2013) and is arguably the best player in Memphis history. He was traded to the Toronto Raptors at the 2019 deadline and teamed with current Sixers coach Nick Nurse to help the Raptors win a title.

“Really cool when I saw the announcement that they were retiring his jersey,” Nurse told reporters. “I looked down and saw we were here, I immediately hit him on WhatsApp and congratulated him, and said, ‘Man, it’s amazing because we’re going to be there. I’m so happy.’ He was obviously a huge part of our championship team in Toronto.”

Nurse stated the Sixers were going to stay after the game for Gasol’s jersey retirement before leaving for San Antonio. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey posted a picture of the jersey retirement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Of course, Nurse has experience coaching in the EuroLeague as well. That is where he began his relationship with Gasol.

“It seems like I’ve coached against him for almost his whole career because I was coaching a national team over there,” Nurse recalled. “It seemed like we were always playing Spain for something, like warm-up games or Euro Cup or whatever they were, qualifiers here and there, European Championships, even the Olympics. So, all the way through every level over there.”

When one combines the EuroLeague experiences with the NBA experiences, Gasol is an important member of Nurse’s basketball life and vice versa.

“It’s kind of cool to relate to almost, as a coach to go up and see him as a young very young player and then be in this industry, get a chance to coach him, share a championship with him,” Nurse finished. “I mean, incredible parade experienced by him, really incredible, he really had fun. And was just such a good player man just such a good, smart, tough player and a great pro and got nothing but great things, great memories and great thoughts about Marc.”

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James Harden talks Sixers tenure, Daryl Morey, Joel Embiid in return

Los Angeles Clippers guard discusses his tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid, and Daryl Morey.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed James Harden back to the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers. The Beard spent 1 1/2 seasons with the Sixers after being acquired at the 2022 deadline from the Brooklyn Nets.

In 79 games for the Sixers across two seasons, Harden averaged 21 points, 10.6 assists and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 37% from deep and 43.1% from the floor. He led the league in assists in the 2022-23 season and did many good things for Philadelphi. He and Joel Embiid were one of the best duos in the league.

“I think I did a lot,” Harden said of his time in Philadelphia after a Clippers win. “I had a very impactful — positive impact on a lot of people. I’m grateful for those relationships. I’m grateful for the opportunity and things like that. Those are things that I can cherish and move on with. Everything else doesn’t matter.”

It was a tumultuous summer, highlights by Harden calling out President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey as a “liar.” The situation was tenuous all offseason. Philadelphia then shipped Harden to the Clippers in October.

“I guess you look at it in a whole in life, and things that you want and feel like should happen, and they don’t happen,” Harden stated. “So it’s like, ‘Alright, cool. What’s next?’ Obviously, people always have a commentary on it, or their side, or an opinion just because they’re outside looking in.”

Harden believed the Sixers hoodwinked him after he made a sacrifice in the 2022 offseason. He wanted to get paid in the 2023 offseason, and it wasn’t happening.

“For me, personally, I feel like I did everything that I needed to do in the sense of the year prior, taking myself off the max (contract) to help the team get better, for this city. You know what I mean?” Harden continued. “For myself, obviously, to win a championship. Things didn’t work out. I wanted to get paid. They weren’t talking. So it is what it is. Then you move on. Everybody’s happy. Life is good.”

Harden received a great many boos in his return on Wednesday. He admitted he was confused by that, but also expected it.

“I expected it,” he stated. “I really don’t know what it’s about, but I expected it. So it is what it is. I don’t even know why they were booing. You can ask them. I don’t know why they were booing.”

When asked if he and Morey would ever patch things up, Harden said: “No. Hell no.”

When asked if he has a relationship with Embiid, Harden also said: “No.”

Now both sides can move on. The Sixers face the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road on Friday.

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Daryl Morey takes to Twitter to welcome Darius Bazley to Sixers

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey takes to Twitter to welcome Darius Bazley to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers have brought in Darius Bazley on a 10-day deal from their G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. The Sixers had open roster spots after their trade deadline moves.

Bazley was the 23rd pick of the 2019 NBA draft and played 228 games for the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Phoenix Suns. He signed with the Brooklyn Nets during the past offseason but was waived before the season started. He has career averages of 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds.

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey took to X to welcome Bazley to the Sixers with a YouTube clip of his highlights in the G League.

Considering Bazley is on a 10-day deal, he will have to prove himself in a short amount of time. His athleticism and defensive ability will go a long way in that regard.

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Report: Sixers’ Daryl Morey checked in on LeBron James, other stars

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey checked in on the availability of LeBron James and other stars around the league.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a busy trade deadline, making moves to help them right now and in the future.

They acquired Buddy Hield and Cam Payne, and both have already been helpful. They also created open roster spots and more financial flexibility that will help President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey make the next move for the future.

However, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, Morey was also checking on the bigger names around the league at the deadline, such as Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James:

After seeing James’ cryptic social media post of an hourglass a week before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on a James trade and was immediately told that James wasn’t available. In fact, Pelinka responded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sources said. And that ended that brief conversation. These sorts of bold trade calls are historically a common practice for Morey, who also called the Phoenix Suns and asked about the availability of Durant, only to be told Durant was not available, sources said.

The fact Morey was checking on big stars suggests he has a bigger plan going forward. It will certainly be an interesting offseason. The Sixers appear poised to be very active in adding to the roster around Joel Embiid. Acquiring somebody like James would have been a move that rocked the NBA.

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Daryl Morey expresses confidence in Nick Nurse to guide Sixers

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey expresses confidence in Nick Nurse to lead the Philadelphia 76ers.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers have slid in the Eastern Conference standings since losing Joel Embiid to a meniscus injury. They were once third in the East but have fallen to fifth.

However, the Sixers swung deals at the deadline to acquire sharpshooter Buddy Hield and add the reliable Cam Payne to their bench. The Sixers have won two in a row following a stretch of eight losses in nine games.

If there is one guy equipped to lead the team at the moment, it’s coach Nick Nurse, who has a vote of confidence from President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey.

“He’s almost uniquely, among NBA head coaches, set up to handle this,” said Morey. “I know we’re licking our wounds right now. Right now, we’re just trying to win a game tonight, let’s be real, but I’ve been with Nick through lots of player moves and injuries, and I have the utmost confidence that he’ll have the game plan, he’ll put the work in.”

Nurse is a mad scientist when it comes to schemes. He will try almost everything to win, and the Sixers have been prepared heading into every matchup due to his competitive nature and ability to adjust on the fly.

“Honestly, because he preps so hard and he takes the losses so hard, it’s like, ‘Let’s keep him positive.’ He doesn’t take losing well,” Morey added of Nurse. “None of our players do; no one does, but I feel like he takes it especially hard. He goes in every night saying, ‘You give me the troops, I’ll make it work.’ The reality of the NBA is if you don’t have your big dogs, it’s going to be hard, but he takes it hard.”

Nurse and the Sixers look to stay afloat until the big fella returns. He will be reevaluated in early March after undergoing a procedure on Feb. 6.

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What are Daryl Morey, Sixers looking to add in the buyout market?

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey gives a little insight into what the Philadelphia 76ers are looking for in the buyout market.

PHILADELPHIA — The trade deadline has passed, leaving NBA teams to look to the buyout market to make improvements.

The Philadelphia 76ers will be a team to keep an eye since they still believe they have a chance to compete for a title. Of course, that depends on the health of Joel Embiid, but as long as the big fella is out there, the Sixers will always have a chance.

At the moment, the Sixers are relying on Paul Reed and Mo Bamba to fill in for Embiid. However, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey stated he was looking for a backup center at the deadline.

“We did go in saying ‘Let’s see if we can shore that up depth-wise’,” Morey said. “Especially, with we have some period with Joel out where depth-wise, we’re a little short. There really were no bigs traded. I was shocked by that. We were aggressive to do that, but they just weren’t available so it didn’t happen. We’re gonna have to continue to be creative.”

Considering Morey was thinking big man leading up to the deadline, one has to believe he will look to the buyout market for one now.

“There are, obviously, a bunch of players available in the buyout market,” Morey stated. “I think that position has been lighter than others. Look that’s why I mentioned that we’re probably going to have to get creative. We love what Paul and Mo bring, but I mean, obviously, after just one or two teams recently, we’ve probably been the most injured or sick team in the league.”

Morey is correct in that the Sixers have been dealing with a lot. They have had to battle through adversity not only to Embiid, but to Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton and others. That adds to Morey’s buyout market thought process.

“We also would like to bring in another player,” he finished. “I can see us bringing in a player, but I don’t see it as someone you would expect to play a huge role necessarily.”

The Sixers have three open roster spots after the flurry of deadline moves. The open spots help Philadelphia’s flexibility as Morey looks ahead to the summer and the new league collective bargaining agreement kicking in.

“We like having open roster spots, whether it’s for players who might become available,” Morey continued. “Even signing young players to favorable deals is a smart move, I think, if we can do it. A lot of our moves are for planning in the new CBA environment, which I think is very impactful, and setting ourselves up for those big moves in the future.”

In terms of setting the Sixers up better than other contenders around the league to make a move in the buyout market, Morey feels confident.

“So these are all these new rules coming in — limits your draft picks, limits your abilities in free agency,” he finished. “All these things are coming. We’re the best set up of any of those teams that are contenders, by a good margin.”

From the way Morey is talking, it sounds like the Sixers could make a move rather soon.

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Daryl Morey addresses Joel Embiid’s recovery as Sixers move forward

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey addresses Joel Embiid’s injury as the Philadelphia 76ers now move forward.

PHILADELPHIA — As the Philadelphia 76ers move forward following the flurry of moves made at the trade deadline, the focus shifts to Joel Embiid.

The reigning league MVP will be reevaluated in early March following a procedure to fix a meniscus injury in his left knee and there is hope that he will be able to return during the regular season.

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey brought in Buddy Hield and Cam Payne to help the Sixers right now. Both are terrific shooters who can help Philadelphia on the floor, especially, when or if Embiid returns.

“I don’t wanna give it a scale,” Morey said of Embiid’s timeline. “We’re hopeful. Feedback has been more good than bad since the first we heard about what led to his procedure so we’re hopeful and we’re building the team to make it better this year. Obviously, it’s not 100%, but we felt like with Joel playing at an MVP level where hopefully he can get back to that, that this is a year we got a real shot.”

That is a positive sign Embiid can return before the season ends. The Sixers want to have him get a few games in  before the playoffs begin in April.

“Eye test, data, whatever shows that we were beating great teams,” Morey added. “We were really, really beating up bad teams, but we were also beating good teams and really one or two teams were right there with us.”

Some believe Morey’s moves at the deadline were more focused on the future. While the future is an obvious aspect he likes to focus on, the prospect of Embiid returning this season played a factor in his decisions.

“Always planning for the future,” Morey explained. “If the hope wasn’t there for Joel, I think it would’ve changed things dramatically. We’re very hopeful. Obviously, it’s not 100% — unfortunately, it’s probably a good chunk short of 100% — but we thought it was the right thing. … Winning the title is hard. There’s a lot of ways you can not win the title, and obviously, Joel not coming back at the level we hope would be one of the ways that we can’t win this year, most likely.”

Morey is right in that respect. If Embiid isn’t out there, the Sixers don’t stand much of a chance. However, if the big fella can play, Philadelphia is going to be in a great position.

“Other teams, their reason they can’t win is they’re just not good enough,” Morey finished. “So there are a lot of ways you can’t win. I generally like bets on players who are more talented that are out a little bit more. I’ll be more talented, out more, than less talented, always available. It’s nice to have both sometimes, but you want the best team and sometimes that means you’re going to take some risk on the injury front and we’re feeling that right now.”

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Nick Nurse, Sixers react to acquisition of Buddy Hield at the deadline

Nick Nurse and the Philadelphia 76ers react to the addition of Buddy Hield at the trade deadline.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers pulled the trigger on a big move at the deadline to acquire Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Marcus Morris Sr., Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round picks. Hield is one of the better 3-point shooters in the league, and Philadelphia hopes he continues to be.

Hield is a career 40.1% shooter from deep on 7.7 attempts and that will be a very helpful addition to a Sixers team building around Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Obviously, Philadelphia doesn’t have Embiid at the moment due to his meniscus procedure, but the fact is that Hield’s volume of 3-point shooting is going to be very valuable when Embiid does return.

“I think that, you guys hear me say this enough, I think the current state of everything and especially when you got some guys that need space, any time you can add some 3-point shooting and pretty good experienced 3-point shooting in Hield, especially, but Cam (Payne) also shoots the ball well,” said coach Nick Nurse. “I think that’s certainly an upgrade for us, yeah. Excited about it.”

Nurse is right that Hield is certainly an upgrade on the floor as a shooter. The Sixers need his ability to shoot the ball and the gravity he has will make life easier for Philadelphia.

“I feel like we got the best player at the trade deadline that was traded,” added President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. “I felt like he gave us exactly what we were looking for which is he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history. We really like what he adds to the team and we feel like our healthy group, our playoff rotation, with Buddy Hield is right there with everyone in the entire league.”

The defensive attention that Hield commands is going to make a big difference for Philadelphia. That is why Morey pulled the trigger to add him to the rotation for Nurse to tinker with.

“Look, with Joel and Tyrese, he puts the fear of God in other teams,” Morey added. “The shots are coming. They’re coming in transition. They’re coming deep. They’re coming off actions. You need to pay a lot of attention to Buddy Hield on the court … and that’s super valuable with Joel and Tyrese in opening up things up for them.”

With Embiid out, teams are pressing Maxey. The Sixers have needed to add shooting to help space the floor.

“They’re making it very challenging for Tyrese right now,” Morey continued “They’re making it very challenging on the rest of our team. That’s what they should do. Buddy Hield’s going to help during this period, but we weren’t as focused on this period. Obviously, we need to win games and it’s going to be a battle, but we were focused on (when) the playoffs are here, we have a rotation we know can win at a super-high level.”

The Sixers hope Embiid can return, and they believe the addition of Hield will help when the postseason rolls around in April.

“Buddy Hield’s going to play significant minutes in that rotation,” Morey finished. “The only player that moved teams that was going to play a big role in our rotation was Buddy Hield, and I think what he brings to the table is pretty obvious.”

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Daryl Morey addresses Patrick Beverley’s comments after Sixers trade

President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey addresses Patrick Beverley’s comments after the Philadelphia 76ers traded him.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers made quite a few moves at the deadline designed to help them immediately on the floor and position themselves for future moves.

One of those moves was trading Patrick Beverley to the Milwaukee Bucks for Cam Payne and a second-round pick. Beverley quickly became a fan-favorite in Philadelphia due to his hard-nosed play and his willingness to do whatever it took to win games on a nightly basis.

After the trade, Beverley stated President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey told him on Jan. 27 the Sixers weren’t going to trade him. The conversation would have taken place in Denver during their recent road trip.

Obviously, this isn’t the first time a player has accused Morey of telling a lie. There was the big James Harden fiasco in the summer, and there are now questions about Morey’s relationship with Beverley.

“I think my relationship with players and player-agents and people in the league is as high as any in the league,” said Morey. “I think Pat — I got a great relationship with him—he clarified what he said after he said it. I think if I was up here with Pat, it would be a very positive conversation.”

To Morey’s point, yes, Beverley tweeted it was all love to Philadelphia as he moves on from the Sixers to the Bucks. At the point of the deadline, things changed from that day in Denver and Morey had to make a move in order to get his team closer to a title.

“Obviously, what he’s referring to, yeah,” Morey added. “For sure, there were no plans at that point. It didn’t even seem on the radar, but we thought this was the best way to build a team. We saw his minutes going down and we thought it was best for him to be able to be in a place where he was gonna play a bigger role on a team and, here, we saw that role diminishing.”

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Daryl Morey explains why Sixers traded away Jaden Springer to Celtics

Daryl Morey explains why the Philadelphia 76ers traded away Jaden Springer to the Boston Celtics.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were busy at the deadline. They made a flurry of moves to help them both on the floor right now and help them in the future.

They acquired Buddy Hield to add 3-point shooting to the roster and make things easier for Tyrese Maxey and, eventually Joel Embiid when he returns, and they also added Cam Payne in another deal. They are expected to add 3-point shooting and veteran experience to the roster.

Another move that was made was sending Jaden Springer to the Boston Celtics. The 21-year-old was making a big impact on the defensive end as of late and it looked like he was going to make a serious dent in Philadelphia’s rotation before the Sixers decided to make the move.

“That one’s pretty straightforward in that, again, we’re focused on winning the title,” said President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey. “We had to look at, ‘What are the odds Jaden Springer — who I think has a great future — will help our playoff rotation in the one, two, three-year maybe horizon? And what are the odds that the second-round pick will help us?’ And we thought the second-round pick helped us more. That’s just the reality.”

Morey’s point is that he doesn’t believe a young Springer at this stage of his career will help the Sixers win a title in the next year or two. That’s fine if he believes that, and he may be right, but Springer showed some incredible defensive play against elite scorers such as Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry in previous nights for Philadelphia.

The second-round pick is something Morey could trade to go acquire another win-now player for the future.

“It allows us to go get maybe a veteran at next year’s deadline and things like that and we like the net of Jaden, Pat (Beverley) — who’s going to play less here — and one second-round pick for the best player traded,” Morey added. “We thought that was the right move. So yeah, we did it. It sucks. Jaden’s going to be really good, I think. I think his timetable’s a little pushed out, though in our evaluation, and if we’re wrong, we’re wrong, and you guys can all write it — it’s fine. Our evaluation was that his timetable to help a playoff team was further out than what the second-round pick could do for us.”

Some are upset that Morey traded Springer to a big rival such as the Celtics. He also made trades with the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks at the deadline. Morey does not care about that at all.

“I don’t,” he laughed. “I know maybe others do. I do think that comes into play when you’re talking about maybe your top few guys. I do think it matters then, but when you get a little further down the roster, I don’t think that should be a factor. I think you’ll miss opportunities that will hurt you more than those things. We’ll see. This is definitely a challenge trade. It’ll be a fun one going forward.”

One has to wonder though. The Sixers drafted a then 19-year-old Springer with the No. 28 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. They had to know that it would take some time to fully develop him for major NBA minutes.

“I feel like, in our phase of our team, we want things that help us on the court now with Joel,” Morey explained. “That was a pick that generally, we’d rather push into the future — almost all these later picks. Or, if we do end up picking someone, we feel like they will either help us on the court or end up in something like this, where you’re retaining the ability to use them to go get a Buddy Hield. And so, for me, the Jaden thing was successful.”

Morey also knows that there will be some who disagree that it was successful.

“I’m totally fine if people want to write the opposite, but if you take any look at late first into the second round, 85% of those players aren’t helping their team on the floor and can’t be traded for positive value that helps you get another player,” he finished. “Jaden did that, and I have to keep my focus on the playoff team now. And so that’s our focus, right or wrong.”

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