You Can’t Blame Daryl Morey For Every Sixers Problem

Sixers fans are out of their minds due to the Knicks trading six 1^st round picks & a 2^nd round pick for Mikal Bridges. Wisely Daryl Morey did not trade all the Sixers’ assets to match the haul that the Nets got in return.

That doesn’t mean that the Knicks didn’t improve, but it does mean that the Sixers shouldn’t have made that same move. Fans are frustrated, but what issues are Morey’s fault and which issues are from the people who were here before him? 

Taking the Bridges trade for example. That happened after Bryan Colangelo & his wife decided to go rogue with burner accounts. Brett Brown had final say over the Sixers front office with Elton Brand beneath him.

The Sixers were in win-now mode and drafted Bridges. They then moved Bridges for Zaire Smith and an unprotected 1^st round pick. They used that unprotected pick to trade for Tobias Harris after missing out on Kawhi Leonard. The Sixers lost to the Raptors that season in 7-games.

After that season Brown traded Jimmy Butler, paid Tobias, and brought in Al Horford. A lot of those moves were mistakes, and none of them were made by Daryl Morey. (Bridges averaged 8.3 points & shot 33.5% from 3 as a rookie. Bad trade because Smith was a complete bust, not because they needed Bridges in 2018-2019) 

The Colangelo era led to Ben Simmons and the trade with the Celtics to move up in the draft to get Markelle Fultz. We know that Ben Simmons didn’t enjoy the game of basketball. Fultz has become a somewhat useful guard, but he lost his game completely here.

The Sixers never had a chance to get Jayson Tatum because if the Sixers wanted Tatum, the Celtics wouldn’t have made the trade. The issue is that they traded an asset for the wrong player. Then he went rogue as mentioned previously. Again, I understand being upset about the moves, but Morey didn’t do them. 

Sam Hinkie also was horrible at his job. The fact that he drafted Jahlil Okafor when he already had Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel on the roster speaks to his incompetence. The fact that people worship him is obscene in my opinion. It is not hard to just lose and then make a bunch of bad picks. Even Joel Embiid was an accident. He wanted Andrew Wiggins that year. Morey didn’t do that either. 

Daryl Morey drafted Tyrese Maxey at 21 overall. Maxey is now an all-star player. He doesn’t get credit for it from the fans, but he gets blamed for moves he didn’t even make.

He got James Harden back for a Ben Simmons who had quit the sport in 2021. Since the trade, Simmons has played a total of 57 games. Harden didn’t live up to expectations, but he averaged 21 points and over 10 assists while he was here. The reason the Sixers can create over $65 million in cap space is because of the trade Morey made when Harden imploded.  

I am as frustrated as every other Sixers fan. I just think we should be able to put the frustration where it belongs.  

The Philadelphia Sixers have had some legends come through town. You can go back to Wilt Chamberlain and Hal Grier. You have guys like Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and eventually Charles Barkley. Then there was Allen Iverson. And now Joel Embiid can be considered a legendary player himself. Even if his story is still being written.

But this article is not about those guys. Today we are going to talk about the guys whose Sixers careers were far less memorable. Even though they may be well-known names elsewhere in the NBA. The guys on this list merely had a cup of coffee with the Sixers.

Some of them are Hall of Famers. Others are infamous busts who had a pit stop in Philadelphia. Some guys started their careers here but went on to accomplish greater things elsewhere. Others had their cup of coffee here after they were well past their prime. None of them, are known for what they did with the Sixers though. At least not in a good way.

We picked 10 guys whose names most NBA fans would recognize, who made a pit stop at some point in Philly. Who made the list? Find out below.

We did the same experiment with the other 3 teams too. So below you can see players who had a cup of coffee with the Phillies, Flyers, and Eagles.

McAdoo is a legendary player. He made the Hall of Fame, won MVP, and is a two-time champion. Do you remember when he finished out his career with the Sixers?

McAdoo signed with the Sixers in January of 1986. He was not the same guy he once was, but he did average a little over 10 points between the regular season and the playoffs. It was his last stop in the NBA as a player. After that, he went overseas to play in Italy for a few seasons.

Vucevic has had a nice career between the Magic and Bulls. But he started out as a rookie that Doug Collins refused to give too many minutes to. The next offseason after being drafted, he was part of the now infamous deal for Andrew Bynum. He went on to make two All-Star games. Bynum never played a minute for the Sixers.

One of the most famous NBA busts had a cup of coffee with the Sixers. The Warriors sent him to the Bucks as part of the Andrew Bogut trade. The Bucks cut him soon after though. He signed a 2-year deal with the Sixers, but played in only 22 games and was cut before the second season of his contract. He nearly had as many personal fouls (37) as he did points (41) while with the Sixers. It was the last chance in the NBA he ever got.

The Sixers tried so hard to find the second scoring option behind Allen Iverson. One of the guys they tried, was Glenn Robinson. He was very good with the Bucks, usually averaging over 20 points per game. He was not bad with the Sixers, but he was not that same guy. He played just 42 games here and averaged 16 points per game. He was injured for his entire 2nd season here and then got traded.

McGee is perhaps best known for his frequent appearances on Shaqtin a Fool. Its gave him a bit of an unfair repuation. Did he make some bone headed plays in his career? Yes. But he was also a 3-time champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and a physical presence on defense.

His time with the Sixers was know memorable at all though. The Nuggets shipped him here, along with a first round pick, and the rights to Chukwudiebere Maduabum, as a pure salary dump. He played just 6 games here.

Kucoc won 3 NBA Finals with the Bulls, was 6th Man of The Year in the 1995-1995 season, and won pretty much every award you can as a Basketball player when over in Europe. He was a significant piece of the Bulls second run of 3 straight championships. But he did not get much time with the Sixers.

He was decent in the 1999 -2000 season, averaging 12 points per game. But the next season he was part of the trade that landed the Sixers Dikembe Motumbo. In the end, he played in only 80 total games here, averaging a little over 8 points per game.

Cauley-Stein never quite lived up to being the 6th overall pick out of Kentucky. He was by no means a bad player. He had some decent seasons as a physical defender. But he was never a star. His time in Philly was truly forgettable here. The Sixers signed him to a 10-day contract in the 2021-2022 season. But he only appeared in 2 games and scored 0 points. That was the last time he ever stepped onto an NBA court.

Brewer was only here for the span of two 10-day contracts. It was in the Jimmy Butler season, and they needed someone to fill in for Jimmy when he missed time. And Brewer brought them a ton of energy and hustle off the bench. My main memory is of his defense on James Harden. But they never signed him after the 2nd 10-Day contract expired, bringing is time in Philly to a quick end.

Obviously we don’t forget he played here. It is too recent. But he will be one of those guys where we look back one day and go “Oh yea, he did play here.”. Howard was probably one of the best backups for Embiid. He only lasted one year here. And like so many backup bigs before him, he disappeared in the playoff.

Not sure if anyone forgets his time here, so maybe it doesn't quite fit the brief. But Webber is a superstar, who had a disappointing cup of coffee in Philly. Webber was supposed to come here and finally be the guy to be AI’s Co-Star. It never quite worked out. He was injured for parts of his first season, had a decent first full season here, but then was benched in year 3.