Five Questions to Wrap Up the Sixers Season
Well… it ended like it normally does.
How do you grade this season?
I give it an incomplete. Such a weird season that literally began with PJ Tucker and Danuel House Jr. still being Sixers. There’s so much we didn’t find out about these Sixers: They didn’t enter the playoffs or play the second half of the season at full strength, and we truly have only seen them 100% in say, October? This is a team that was already severely deficient on the wing and lost probably its two best perimeter defenders in Robert Covington and DeAnthony Melton. So, changes will abound this summer, and rightfully so – but I would have still liked to see this team competing when fully stocked.
How would you grade the first season of Maxey and Jo 1-2 Punch?
I give it a B. I mean look, before the MCL flap heard round the world, Joel Embiid was leading or second in most people’s MVP conversation, while Maxey was in the midst of his first All-Staar season. The only thing you would have wanted more of is a stronger Game Six from Maxey.
How important is this summer for Daryl Morey specifically?
Fine, extremely. Really no way around that. A not-so-hot trade deadline didn’t help his cause – and sure, he didn’t really know at the time what version of Joel was coming back (if any), but going half-in still wound up costing them in the down and dirty of the Knicks series. I hate saying he has to knock it out the park, because we will all have our own opinions – and maybe the only ones that will matter will be that of his bosses anyway – but man he absolutely has to think outside of his ethos this summer, and really try to put the best team around Maxey and Embiid.
How do you grade Nick Nurse’s job this year?
I give him a solid B. Can’t say A, because the team ultimately fell short of its goal and it’s always good to give people something to work for. I will say, I thought he did an amazing job motivating and keeping together a team that went through so much upheaval and trauma – all the respect in the world for that. I would have liked him to get weirder with the rotations in the Knicks series (RC4 I love you kid), but he stayed true to himself there, so it is what it is.
Any parting words for Tobias?
You were always “a good guy… but” for me, so I have nothing nasty or mean to say. Just that I’m incredibly happy you get to go be some other city’s “good guy… but”. Peace.
SPIKE’S CORNER - DARYL, I CAN’T MAKE ANY MORE EXCUSES FOR YOU NOW
I have been accused on more than one occasion of being soft on Daryl Morey. People have said it to me even more during my show on WIP (with Ike Reese and Jack Fritz, every weekday from 2pm until 6pm! You can listen on your radio or the free Audacy app!). Many have suggested that because he comes on the Ricky regularly and both Mike and I have a relationship with him, that we do not hold him quite as accountable as we should.
This is not true (at least not for me, at least not consciously). But regardless, the training wheels are gone this off-season, and this whole thing is now officially all on his shoulders. His excuses, numerous upon his arrival here four years ago, are finally all disappeared (or on the Nets, or the Celtics, or whoever signs Tobias Harris).
Morey is the General Manager I wanted them to go get after the Covid season, even when he was still with the Rockets. There wasn’t a specific personnel decision I needed them to make, and I didn’t care that they had hired Doc Rivers as the coach. I wanted an adult, with a good resumé to run the team. No more bullshit.
I do genuinely think Morey has done a good job over his Sixers tenure so far, given the circumstances. I don’t think you can ignore that he walked into a team that was paying a combination of Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons and Al Horford over $100 million a year. I don’t think you can forget that he walked into a team that had a coach that he didn’t hire, and he couldn’t fire, at least not immediately. It’s impossible to ignore the draft picks and young players who had been wasted or sent out the door, or that he had to use to fix problems that couldn’t wait (like Horf). But none of that matters this offseason. This is the last time I’ll bring any of it up.
You could certainly make the case – and I am making it – that Morey’s entire time with the Sixers has led to this offseason. Even our email fixer himself Sam Hinkie said that when Daryl took over, the Sixers were not close to winning a title. But if we gave him enough time, he’d get them there. Well, he’s had enough time.
Morey has exactly what he needs to build a contender. He’s got plenty of cap space, he’s got draft picks, and (we hope) he’s got two players who are capable of being the two best players on a title contender. I’m sure he would argue that we’ve had teams that have been real title contenders under his watch. He’s wrong. I cannot grant that as true until they beat a team that we’d actually consider “good.”
Whether he goes with signing an aging star, trading for an aging star, or signing a bunch of high value supporting players, this is the lasting impression he’ll make for me on the franchise. I’ll even give him the benefit of the doubt in real time with whatever move he makes, as my immediate reactions to such deals have been wrong on numerous occasions. I’ve been positive about deals that sucked, and I’ve been negative about deals that are good. I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. It’s my job to talk, but it’s his job to get it right. Even if it turns out that Maxey and Embiid aren’t good enough, that’s on him too. He could have traded either one of them countless times. It’s his job to know these things.
I don’t care that it takes two to tango. I don’t care how close he comes without getting the cigar. He just has to get it right this summer. We’ve all been waiting too long and had our dreams crushed too frequently for anything other than success this time.
in retrospect Maxey and Embiid are the kind of tandem we were hoping to get back in the Holiday Bynum days that never were. Only 10 years later or so