Philadelphia 76ers: Releasing Norvel Pelle was Daryl Morey’s first big mistake

Daryl Morey is a really good basketball executive.

Whether as the general manager of the Houston Rockets or in his current role as the Philadelphia 76ers‘ President of Basketball Operations, the 48-year-old Northwestern/MIT grad is unquestionably one of the brightest minds in the NBA, even if he’s never actually taken the court since, well, since maybe ever.

Morey identified James Harden as a franchise-caliber talent, helped to usher in the NBA’s current analytics crazy era, and all but fixed the Sixers’ rostoral woes for the low, low price of a 2025 first-round pick and a 2020 second-rounder.

With that being said, even teams who play the odds and go all-in on Moneyball ‘Moreyball‘ don’t necessarily bat a thousand, and occasionally, those decisions can look downright goofy in hindsight.

That, unfortunately, was on full display when the Sixers took the court against a Brooklyn Nets squad sans two of their best players.

Norvel Pelle should unquestionably still be the Philadelphia 76ers’ third center.

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Norvel Pelle – has any other player on the Philadelphia 76ers in recent memory been so polarizing?

*checks the 2019-20 Philadelphia 76ers roster* oh yeah, Ben Simmons. Nevermind.

To some, Pelle was an exciting, if not a tad gimmicky center who brought energy and a #onemanblockparty to the court every time he saw action, whereas to others, he was nothing more than a 26-year-old rookie who just wasn’t built for the NBA.

Unfortunately, Daryl Morey fell into the latter camp and opted to waive the soon-to-be second-year center mere days before his contract became guaranteed in favor of younger, higher-upside prospects like Tony Bradley and Vincent Poirier.

In theory, not the worst idea.

While Pelle was unquestionably the Sixers’ second-best center in 2019-20 if you exclusively count Al Horford as a power forward, his inability to score from beyond the arc, if not outside of the paint, and one-position defensive abilities left some questioning if his rookie season heroics were the high-end of his professional prowess, as opposed to the surface of a more expansive potential. Swapping him out for a pair of “developmental prospects” – even if Poirier is also 27 – just made more sense, especially since neither was going to earn consistent minutes with Joel Embiid and Dwight Howard locked in atop the depth chart.

Worst case, the duo were both on one-year deals and were making more money than Pelle, so they could potentially be included in midseason trades if neither developed into the heir apparent to Howard.

Well, if Pelle’s first appearance of the season with the Brooklyn Nets is of any indication, it would appear that Morey, and by extension, the Sixers, made the wrong call on that one.

Officially cleared to play for Steve Nash and company in a game without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Pelle made the most of his near 17 minutes of action versus his former team, recording two points, five rebounds, and three blocks before fouling out of the game with 3:50 left to play in the fouth. While that may not sound like the best game you’ll see, especially when Embiid dropped 33 in 31 minutes of action, Pelle unquestionably gave the Nets a little something coming off the bench in a game where DeAndre Jordan could only attempt to contain the Processed One.

Personally, I’m happy for Pelle. After signing an Exhibition 10 deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the days following his release from the Sixers, it’s nice to see that the 27-year-old will be returning to the playoffs and quite possibly playing quality minutes for a potential Finals contender.

But really, it shouldn’t be this way. No, Pelle unquestionably should still be a member of the Sixers, as he was signed to a bargain-bin two-year contract and had a pretty impressive niche fanbase for a player who averaged less than 10 minutes of action; assuming, of course, he actually saw action, which he only did in 24 games.

Even if Pelle only appeared in roughly a third of the Sixers games, which is how often the team has turned to a tertiary option at the five spot, it’s hard to argue that his style of play wouldn’t have provided more pop to the court than Bradley or Poirier, who has played less than four minutes in the last 15 games combined.

Say what you will about Pelle’s lack of an outside game or defensive in-flexibility, but he certainly brings more to the table than Philly’s current crop of underachieving centers.

Did Daryl Morey mess up by waiving Norvel Pelle? Objectively, yes. Should the Philadelphia 76ers have held onto the well-traveled center to at least compete with Tony Bradley and Vincent Poirier through the preseason? That probably would have been a wise call too. But will the decision ultimately impact the Sixers’ championship dreams, let alone playoff hopes? Not even a little bit. No, for better or worse, the Doc Rivers squad’s season will sink or swim based on the health of Joel Embiid and the rest of his starters. Having an exciting third-string center really won’t impact that all too much, even if every time either Bradley or Poirier get their number called, you have to sort of wish it was Pelle checking into the game instead.