Philadelphia 76ers: Stephen A Smith finally apologizes to Daryl Morey

On February 11th, Stephen A Smith had a take that will live on forever in the minds of Philadelphia 76ers fans the world over: Daryl Morey made a mistake trading for James Harden.

…actually, that’s totally not fair. What he actually said was “this is the worst day of Daryl Morey’s career,” which is by no means better and might actually be more brutal than my apparently baby-gloved summation of a two minute rant.

So, just for the sake of completeness, where was Smith’s thought process? Why would Morey rue the day he ever got “The Beard” back on contract? Well, his rationale went a little something like this; Harden’s game had regressed during his early-season run with the Nets, and may never become the same scorer he once was. Giving up two first round picks, a multiple-time All-Star, and the dynamic duo of Seth Curry and Andre Drummond was not only an overpay, but potentially handed Brooklyn the makings of a dynasty that could leave Philly out of contention for years to come.

*laughs* yup, that’s how things turned out alright.

So, with Ben Simmons officially ruled out for the Brooklyn Nets’ potential closeout game against the 3-0 Boston Celtics, Stephen A circled back to his spiciest take of the 2022 calendar year thus far and finally admitted that maybe, just maybe, the Philadelphia 76ers’ GM was right to pull the plug on the BS experiment before things got too exasperated.

The Philadelphia 76ers apparently sold high on Simmothesavage25.

Say what you will about James Harden; about his lack of burst, his pension for poorly-timed turnovers, and the overall degradation of what made him a three-time scoring champion, but you can’t say he hasn’t adjusted his game in order to help the Philadelphia 76ers in whatever way he can.

Gone are the days of “The Beard” attempting 24 shots per game, and in its place, Philly had found themselves a legitimate floor general who can still knock down a dagger step back tres but is just as comfortable facilitating for his teammates and setting up the likes of Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, and the offensive force known to his family as Tyrese Maxey.

And as for Ben Simmons? Well, his outfits are certainly creative; I’ll give him that.

Despite early support for the Simmons experiment in Brooklyn, many a national media member, from Jalen Rose, to Kendrick Perkins, and even Reggie Miller have taken it upon themselves to call out the former first overall pick from LSU.  But no one, no one had taken “Ben 10’s” absence from the court more personally than former Philadelphia Inquirer writer Stephen A Smith, who spent an entire segment of his ESPN show dunking on Brooklyn’s answer to Draymond Green.

What? You didn’t catch the segment? Check it out below.

“Nobody is worse than Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons might also be the weakest, most pathetic excuse for a professional athlete we have ever seen not just in American history but the history of sports.” My goodness, that is one heck of a quote.

After dogpiling on Simmons for the better part of a minute and a half, Smith turned his attention to Daryl Morey and not only admitted that the Philadelphia 76ers’ GM made the right call but that he outright won the trade.

Again, from Stephen A, “I don’t give a d*** if James Harden doesn’t look like the James Harden from Houston; (he) can still ball, he can still give you 20-10 alright. But he isn’t the James Harden from Houston? I don’t give a d***; he could give you five points and he’s still a better product than Ben Simmons.”

*exhale* honestly, what more is there to say on the matter, Philadelphia 76ers fans?