The Philadelphia 76ers, currently without a full-time general manager after the Twitter scandal involving former GM Bryan Colangelo, apparently had their sights set on Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, however, Philly's efforts to lure Morey away from Houston have been denied.
The 76ers had great interest in Morey -- freshly voted as the league's Executive of the Year -- to replace the ousted Bryan Colangelo. But Morey couldn't be lured away from the Rockets, with whom he has spent the last 12 seasons. https://t.co/H7ZupxCF7c
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 16, 2018
Morey has been with the Rockets since 2006 and assumed the GM role in 2007. Since then he has been at the forefront of analytics and the NBA's 3-point revolution, taking things to extremes that make basketball traditionalists uncomfortable. For his efforts in building last season's 65-win Rockets, Morey earned his first NBA Executive of the Year award in June.
The Sixers haven't shied away from controversial general managers in recent years, as Sam Hinkie was the architect of arguably the biggest tanking effort in NBA history before Colangelo's burner account fiasco. Coach Brett Brown has been overseeing basketball operations since Colangelo resigned in early June. Morey might be the crown jewel of front-office executives, right up there with Boston's Danny Ainge, but it's hard to imagine him leaving the Rockets right now.
Morey continually mentions his obsession with beating the Warriors, and the Rockets were a Chris Paul injury away from possibly doing that last season. While Philadelphia's young core of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and (maybe) Markelle Fultz is enticing, it's not surprising that Morey wants to see if he can finish the job and bring Houston a title first.
