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| 76ers President Daryl Morey Photo: AP |
Whenever the Sixers DO tear it down, please get rid of Daryl Morey. He has been a disaster, and that's being kind. I think Maury Povich would be a better Team President than Daryl Morey. I would take Maury over Morey any day. "You claim to be a good talent evaluator, but the results showed that is a lie". "When it comes to this horrendous basketball team, Daryl...you ARE the father!!!"
As I write this, the Sixers are 20-36 and have the sixth worst record in the NBA. They have a superstar who has played about half the games he has been eligible for in his tenure here, yet he was signed to a 3 year extension for 192 MILLION DOLLARS!!! 64 mil per year, and he has said he can't play games that are back to back days. Can you imagine if you told your boss you couldn't work back to back days? Joel Embiid took on the nickname "The Process", after the Sixers' method of trying to build a winning team. But it's really a great description of getting him to play a substantial number of games. It's definitely a process.
Now I am NOT one of those people who complains about the money athletes make. It's a special skill. Very few of us are that athletically gifted. I have no problem with what athletes get paid. But...earn your freakin money! Embiid is amazing when he is healthy, but he is rarely healthy. There is ALWAYS something wrong with this guy. A wise man once said a player's most important ability is his avail-ability.
Don't get me started on the Paul George contract. A four year max deal for a player who is 34!!! Players don't improve as they get older. That contract is already an albatross. Imagine what it will look like in 2 years. They call him "PG", but what Sixers fans are yelling is at least PG-13...if not rated R. Sixers fans are pissed, and we have every right to be. Why would anyone spend their hard earned money to see the dreck the Sixers are putting on the floor?
All you need to do is compare the Sixers to the Eagles, and the problems are so evident. The Eagles have great ownership and arguably the best GM in the league. The Sixers have awful ownership and a Player Personnel guy who has ruined this team, maybe for the next decade. The irony is Josh Harris, the Sixers owner, is being hailed in Washington as a great owner of the Commanders. He followed Dan Snyder in DC. It's all relative, I guess. The Commanders do actually have a bright future, despite Harris.
But the Sixers will be an NBA joke for years to come. Many years. I take no joy in saying this. I was 10 years old when the Sixers last won the title in 1983. Who can forget Moses Malone's prediction of "fo fo fo" for the playoffs. He wasn't too far off. It ended up being fo fi fo. With THIS team... it's more like faux faux faux.
Like you, I remember that awesome Allen Iverson team in 2001 that went to the Finals. Cars all over the Delaware Valley had Sixers flags. That team didn't win the title, but they sure won our hearts. This town wants to love the Sixers. We all want to. But who can love THIS?
We suffered through the aforementioned "Process" years, including a year where the team went 10-72, and missed tying the worst NBA season ever (set by the Sixers in 1972-73) by one game. Prior to The Process, the Sixers couldn't get past the second round. Since the process, they still haven't. And this year, they won't even make the playoffs.
Oh, and while this awful season unfolds, the Sixers managed to get a sweeter arena deal...because, yeah sure, they deserve that.
It's kind of fitting we have a coach named Nurse for a team that is slowly dying. This team is on life support, and we need to pull the plug. Change the doctors and keep the Nurse. He's a good coach. Beyond that, it's time to cut our losses and start over.