76ers President Daryl Morey makes feelings known on Joel Embiid as Big 3 with Paul George, Tyrese Maxey disappoints: "13 months away from scoring 70"
The Philadelphia 76ers entered the season as one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference. Replacing Tobias Harris with Paul George looked like a huge upgrade, and Tyrese Maxey looked poised for a breakout season.
Unfortunately, George sustained an injury in a preseason game, and he was in and out of the lineup because of multiple ailments. The same happened to Joel Embiid, who spent most of the season nursing a knee injury.
Embiid only played in 19 games all season, and there was some buzz about whether the team should consider trading him. Now, looking back on the campaign, 76ers' President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey wanted to put an end to those talks.
Per Sixers Wire, he said:
"Look, Joel is 13 months away from scoring 70 in a game," Morey said. "Obviously, a lot has changed. He got landed on in Golden State, and that’s created the next many months of him working to get healthy, which he’ll continue to do. We know he’s an MVP-level talent when he’s healthy."
Morey defended his pursuit of Paul George because of Embiid's superstar status, and he claimed that the team would continue to go after the best players in the league because they firmly believe they can win a championship with Embiid at the helm.
Daryl Morey says the 76ers need to get healthy
Granted, Daryl Morey knows that they need to get healthy as well. He pointed out that the Big 3 were barely able to play together, so no one knows what they're truly capable of:
"Mostly health," Morey said. "Even the games they played, at least three of them, something like that, they didn’t finish the game."
"I know quite a few of those, it was the first game back which is generally worse as you’re returning from injuries so I’d have to go look at each game in detail, but I almost feel like they had zero healthy games together. I think we haven’t really seen what they can do."
George, Embiid and Maxey only suited up for 18 games together, three of which they couldn't finish. They went 7-8 in the 15 games they started and finished, and the team finished the season with a 24-58 record.
Even Jared McCain, who looked poised to run away with Rookie of the Year honors, sustained a season-ending injury, so everything that could've gone wrong went wrong in Philadelphia.
If there's any silver lining, it is that the 76ers are projected to have a top-five pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and Tankathon has them taking Texas standout SG Tre Johnson with it.