Philadelphia 76ers: Daryl Morey (thankfully) already loves Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid (hopefully) isn’t leaving the Philadelphia 76ers anytime soon.

When news broke that the Philadelphia 76ers were in deep conversations to hire on Daryl Morey as their next President of Basketball Operations, it left many a Joel Embiid fan in a peculiar spot.

On one hand, Morey is one of the best talent evaluators in the game and has consistently found ways to turn garbage into gold both via trade and in the draft. Then again, he’s also a humongous fan of playing fast, shooting a ton of 3s, and a small ball offensive approach polarized the league like few others could.

Would Morey *gulp* actually trade Embiid?

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Well, fear not Philly fans, for Morey shot down some of the more slapdash theories about ‘The Process’ having to uproot his basketball life to play elsewhere… at least for now.

In his introductory press conference, Morey outwardly gushed about the prospects of having Embiid on his roster, comparing the 26-year-old to Shaquille O’Neal in the process.

Morey, too, dispelled the popular theory that he’s only concerned with building a team capable of leading the league in 3s, as 3s don’t get degrees (or in this case championships); wins do. The Rockets opted to play small to optimize their best player‘s skillset, and if their best player instead was a dominant post player (in this hypothetical Shaq), the team would have happily given him 100 post-ups in the paint.

Do you know who this philosophy sounds an awful lot like? None other than Morey’s former partner-in-crime, Sam Hinkie.

That’s right; if you happen to have tuned into Pablo Torre’s candid interview with Sam Hinkie on ESPN Daily, you’ll recognize a ton of talking points that could have easily been spouted out by either executive. The duo both preach roster optimization and still believe that a big man can be the best player on a championship team, even in the year of our Lord 2020. Granted, Morey wasn’t as willing to suggest that Simmons needs to attack the basket with both hands and stop being so afraid to get to the line to earn it at the stripe – this was an introductory press conference after all – but it’s fairly safe to say the Sixers’ initial plan to hold onto their two internal stars for the 2020-21 season remains the law of the land in South Philly.

Hinkie also recommended adding a pair of shooters at the veteran minimum and a shooter with the mid-level exception – shooters like E’Twaun Moore and Austin Rivers– but that’s a conversation for another time.

dark. Next. E’Twaun Moore could be the Philadelphia 76ers’ answer to Eric Gordon

While we do not as of yet know when the 2020-21 NBA season will officially tip-off, it’s hard to keep enthusiasm levels at a realistic level for just how exciting this new era of Philadelphia 76ers basketball is shaping up to be. Will they instantly win a ‘chip? Most certainly not; the roster remains a work in progress by even the most liberal observer, but at least the team finally has the right person in place to get it done – an idea near unthinkable only one month prior – and he really seems to like the idea of further building around their best player and emotional lifeblood, Joel Embiid.