ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne: Why the 76ers Fired GM Daryl Morey

The Philadelphia 76ers parted ways with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, and ESPN's Ramona Shelburne walked Rich through why now.

The diagnosis was not personal. It was cumulative.

"Daryl Morey showed faith in Joel Embiid and James Harden before that and Ben Simmons," Shelburne said. "Sometimes as a general manager, you have to show faith in your players. You have to give them those max offers. Ownership was on board with those offers."

The math caught up.

"When you look back at the totality of this run that they've been on, somebody has to pay the price," Shelburne said. "They have not broken through. They just haven't gotten into the conference finals. They haven't gotten into the finals."

The roster decisions piled.

"You had a guy who was an MVP caliber player," Shelburne said. "The James Harden thing was a mess. The moves they've made on the margins haven't worked. They went and got Paul George. That hasn't worked out."

The conclusion was not a verdict on Morey himself.

"It's not that Daryl Morey is not a great general manager," Shelburne said. "I think he'll get another job. I think he's widely respected in the industry."

She added a wrinkle on the timing.

"I don't know if it'll be this cycle here," Shelburne said. "When you hire Daryl Morey, you're hiring someone to run your whole franchise. It's not just a second-tier guy. That's like Masai Ujiri who just got that job in Dallas. You need somebody who says, okay, we're broken, fix us."

Bob Myers is involved in the Sixers' search. Rich asked whether searches like this sometimes end with the searcher in the chair.

"That happened in our country," Shelburne said.

She closed the door on the Myers-as-Sixers-GM speculation.

"I don't think Bob Myers is going to be their GM," Shelburne said. "The only way that would happen is if they really can't find someone that everyone likes, and if Josh Harris asked Bob Myers to do that. But Bob Myers has graduated."

She framed Myers' current role as a step up, not a step away.

"He didn't take that job as the sort of special counsel, special advisor, whatever you want to call it, to all those organizations to go back and be the general manager of the 76ers," Shelburne said. "This is, I think he really is truly looking for a replacement."

Rich asked which contracts are issues and which players are gifts.

"The presents are Maxey and Edgecombe," Shelburne said. "And some other players that are on the team."

The cap reality of the roster is the wedge.

"That's why they finally made a move here, because you can't really do much," Shelburne said. "When you have somebody who's built a team that is somewhat stuck now, they're just stuck by these contracts. There's not that much you can do on the margins."

The list of keepers is long.

"They got to keep Oubre. They got to keep Quentin Grimes," Shelburne said. "They got to keep people from a team that just got swept by the Knicks and looked like they're not close."

The pivot to Maxey-as-centerpiece happened during the season.

"I think they successfully pivoted to becoming Tyrese Maxey's team this year," Shelburne said. "Where they're not built around Joel Embiid. They're built around Maxey. And Embiid is somebody who's there, and when he plays he's great, but they don't count on him night in and night out."

The Knicks series autopsy was layered.

"Maxey got hurt. His pinky's messed up," Shelburne said. "And Embiid was still playing his way back into shape after not being able to play for a while after the appendicitis. Paul George was good. But the Knicks were a buzzsaw right now. They just lost to a better team."

The architect-tearing-down-the-architecture problem is what justifies the change in front office.

"You don't have the same guy who architected a team tear it down," Shelburne said. "Bring somebody in with fresh eyes. Bring somebody with a different perspective."

The contracts themselves are the harder problem. Joel Embiid's three-year deal is just starting. Paul George might have movable value.

"I don't see how you can move Joel Embiid's contract," Shelburne said. "He just, his three-year deal starts this year. It's just now starting to kick in. He might be able to move Paul George. Might. He played well enough. He doesn't have as many years left on that deal."

The summary on Philadelphia, in Shelburne's framing, was the headline.

"They're somewhat stuck," Shelburne said. "And that's why you bring in somebody new to look at it with fresh eyes."