The Philadelphia 76ers have been publicly criticized quite a bit this season, as they’ve yet again fallen far short of the championship aspirations they’ve envisioned. Their handling of Joel Embiid and his nagging knee has been questionable, as the MVP big man has played just 19 games this season. Paul George was recently shut down for the rest of the season as he was deemed “medically unable to play” due to an adductor injury in his left knee and a pinky injury he’s been playing through. That’s in addition to the extensive list of other players injured, including Tyrese Maxey and promising rookie Jared McCain.
With all the injuries, the Sixers are 12th in the Eastern Conference, looking to hold onto their top-six protected first-round pick in this summer’s draft. This season has been a massive disappointment, especially after the Sixers looked like big winners of the offseason when they signed George. And now one former Sixers player is calling out team president Daryl Morey for how he runs the team.
Marcus Morris Sr., who was appearing on the “Kevin O’Connor Show” podcast this week, was asked about what his thoughts were when he heard Morey uses artificial intelligence to assist in making some basketball decisions. He used the question to explain why he does not trust Morey.
“This will be the first time I’ve ever said this, I don’t trust Daryl Morey,” Morris said. “I think he’s thinking too far ahead of the way basketball needs to be played. He’s trying to do a whole new team, trying to bring guys in — he’s flipping them in and out. Does he even understand the dynamic of being in Philadelphia, what guys you need to play in Philadelphia? Understand how the team needs to gel first before you talk about AI. What does AI do? I understand the effects it can have in other spots, maybe the offense, the numbers and things like that. But telling you what guys you should choose, or which guy fits with what you’re trying to do. What has he won? He hasn’t won in so long.”
Morris, a 13-year NBA veteran who has not played this season, continued on by bringing up the situation with former Sixers player James Harden who famously called out Morey in a very public fashion while touring around China to promote his new basketball shoes in 2023. At the time, Harden said, “Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be part of an organization that he’s a part of.” It was the cherry on top of what was a monthslong feud between Harden and the Sixers over a new contract he was promised by Morey. However, the contract Harden wanted never came and he requested a trade, which landed him with his preferred destination of the Los Angeles Clippers.
“You tell my guy [James Harden] you’re gonna do something for him, a guy you brought from all these teams and then you don’t — like did AI tell him not to pay James Harden this amount of money,” Morris said. “Did AI tell him to go get Paul George, hire Nick Nurse? Did AI tell you to get Caleb Martin because he played well in the Boston series? He can’t shoot the ball. You got three dominant guys who need the ball in their hand, why is that the first guy you go get? Why do you want to start a brand new team and try to win a championship? I haven’t seen any team that has 10 new guys be really good the following year. I don’t even know if any team has ever done that. I’m just not a fan of how he goes about choosing players. It’s like he’s trying to outsmart the game too much.”
Morris played for the Sixers during the 2023-24 season before being traded to Cleveland. He was one of the guys who Morey “flipped in and out” after just one season, as the Sixers overhauled their roster going into this season. And it’s not the first time it’s happened under Morey’s leadership. The Sixers have routinely overhauled their roster on a season-to-season basis, trying to figure out what fits around Embiid. First it was Ben Simmons, then it was James Harden and now it’s Paul George.
It’s been a constant carousel in Philadelphia with no ability to build long-lasting chemistry. And even if chemistry were to be built, injuries seem to always get in the way for this team.
“Some of the things I think that he does doesn’t have anything to do with basketball,” Morris said. “It’s his own values in how he thinks a team should be structured or ran. It’s mind-boggling, I just don’t understand it.”
