Joel Embiid's Extension Was Daryl Morey's Worst Decision

Let's keep it on Philadelphia for a minute, which is now entering an uncertain offseason.

This week, Darryl Morey was fired as the general manager.

It was revealed during that same news cycle that Nick Nurse will keep his job, at least for now, with the team while they conduct a search for a new general manager.

Uh , the postseason started out great for the seventy-Sixers.

They beat Boston, shake a, you know, longtime nemesis off their back.

Then they go into New York and get pummeled, get swept in 4 games.

Uh, when, when you look at the 76ers, there's a lot of things to like in Philly.

You like Tyrese Maxey, who's gonna make an all NBA team.

You like VJ Edgecombe, who's going to be, I think, an all-star-ish player at least.

Like that's probably the floor for him.

I think he's gonna be a really good player in the NBA.

So you like the young talent they have as cornerstones.

And then you look further down the roster, and you've got these aging pieces with big contracts.

Joel Embiid, 3 years left in his contract, max dollars.

Paul George , 2 years left in his contract, max dollars.

Uh, I, I don't know how they maneuver their way out of this because Joel Embiid is basically untradeable.

Like who is taking on the final 3 years and almost 200 million of his contract when he's had this kind of injury history.

Same thing with Paul George, who's, you know, his, his absence was not injury-related this year, but The market for Paul George at $50 million just doesn't exist, at least not in my opinion right now.

So, when you look at the 76ers who are going to try to retool this thing with a new, uh, a new top executive.

What do you think of the position that they're in moving forward?

I think one.

Even though it's they're staying, those are still some pretty good pieces.

Like I like, uh, Paul George, Joel Embiid, obviously, Joel, he has to be healthy.

So I don't like when it comes down to the contractual pieces, I don't believe anybody would take that, you know what I'm saying?

So I believe like what you have to stick around to is making sure your others are elite.

Like the other day Mike Brown was discussing Josh Hart, and he's like, bro, Josh Hart's one of the best connectors I I've ever been around, you know, and I think you have to make sure You, you've taken a step one and you went from having an identity be like Joelen B to slowly turning a Tyrese Maxey and a VJ Edgecombe type mentality.

Now you have to further uh surround those people with even more winners and even more consummate pros.

You know, I think that team would have been good if they would have had Just enough like time to play together, like Paul not playing for 25 games is terrible, um, Joel and B being injured, like.

Even them being Boston and doing what they did was pretty impressive considering the fact they were never around each other, you know, and I think they need enough time to, one, realize nobody's taking these contracts, but also to be like, hey, these are still pretty good pieces.

We just have to set them up in the right way, but also help the others be fully elite.

I don't know what that looks like for Oubre.

Um, I thought Quentin Grimes was good if they kept them involved in a certain instance, but those people have to stay involved because the second The second Paul came back or these individuals came back, they were kind of null and void and and he ran out of depth.

And I believe that it's gonna come down to a culture thing, come down to being, uh, finding, finding more gritty players and more and being more efficient with your roster spot.

Because you're not gonna get rid of those contracts, but when those guys are locked in, they can play well and play at a high level and be good enough to win a first round series, obviously.

I think Darryl Moore is a good general manager.

Um, he's proven it in a couple of stops that he can develop winning teams.

He hasn't won a championship yet, hasn't really come close to it, but he's put together winners and he's not afraid to be aggressive.

He did it for years around James Harden in Houston.

He did, he put together a couple of different teams around Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.

So he's not afraid to take some chances.

The, the biggest mistake that Darryl Morey made, in my opinion, was in 2024 when he gave Joel Embiid that contract extension.

And this is not Monday morning quarterbacking.

At the time, I was like, what are they doing?

Like Embiid, if you go back to 2024, he had played, I think, 39 games the year before.

He had participated in the Olympics, but he was clearly not right in those Olympics.

And when they gave him that extension, I think it was in September.

They had to know something was up.

That was the year they didn't play in training camp at all and played 19 games in that season.

And for some reason, with 2 years left on his contract, they decided to extend him for 3 years, a contract that's just kicking in right now, uh, for the 70, uh, for NBA and the 76ers.

That was crazy, crazy.

Like, sure, if Joel Embiid's healthy, you want him around for a long time.

He was just in the prime of his career, but given the injuries he was coming off of and the injury history he had already had.

That contract extension has put them in the predicament they're in right now.

Like, where would this team be if they're like , you know what, we can't do it, Joel.

We can't give you an extension.

And his contract was coming off the books this year as opposed to kicking in for 3 more years.

They would be in a much more favorable position.

I don't blame him.

For the Paul George deal, because if you remember, that was one of those like, we've got cap space because Maxi's really cheap right now.

We gotta use it or lose it.

You know, Maxi's gonna be a full extension guy.

If we don't use this money now, we are not going to have it in the future.

So Paul George was out there.

He was an all-star.

I didn't blame him for that, but the MBid contract, man, that is what put them in this hole.

If they just let him at least go through another season and figured it out, a season he played the 19 games in, you wouldn't have had to have given him that kind of extension.

You could have shortened it, put some protections on it.

That was the biggest mistake Philadelphia made in the last, uh, few years.

And it's put them In a spot where I don't know how to get out of this.

Like, I, what do you do?

Like you can't trade Joel Embiid.

You can't trade Paul George.

You can keep trying to build around these guys , but to me, they're going to be spinning their wheels for the next few years while Maxi matures, Edgecombe matures, some of.

These other young guys they have on the on the team keep maturing.

They're just gonna keep being this type of team that gets into the playoffs, maybe wins a first-round series.

Maybe you cross your fingers and say, all right, Joel, you can have one great healthy season, one great year where you're not, you know, all banged up and going to the playoffs a mess.

Maybe that happens and you can make a deeper run, but They they're on two timelines right now, and that's, that's never really worked in the NBA when you've got a team on two timelines.

I, I don't, I don't, I don't think they have a lot of great options here when it comes to improving this team in the short term.

Yeah, I mean, like I said, reiterate once again, go around the league, see some great winners, see some great like personality individuals because Even when they signed those deals, you look at Paul George, not in a disrespectful sense, and I could just be wondering like what a player is thinking, but he's leaving home and I think he's just going for a money grab.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I think his mentality and mindset kind of showed up in a sense where he refocused recently, but for a year and a half, he wasn't locked in.

When you look at Joel Embiid, they weren't locked in.

So what I'm saying, the best bet you can get.

Not only go get talent because you blindly made a read on talent, look up from the paper sometimes and be like, yo, what's his personality, what's his history?

Like when he don't want to play back to back nights, will that kick us in the hind parts after paying him $60 million a year?

And I'm like, yo, show up and and get some guys where it's like the teams you envy and be like, hey, even if it's a Gervonta Green, like.

He might not be the most talented, but every team he goes on has a, a fire.

His unit always has some type of energy.

You can say it's crazy, but you'll get a Marcus Smart.

He's going to play some winning basketball, and, and when you're worried about your future, it's like, yo, take the most you can out of these high-paid individuals while Max C&M can use it.

But at the end of the day, fine.

People that are going to invest in their future overall when these contracts are finally up, and, and, and by the time the maturity stage ends, we have some real-life killers that have been through some real good games because Maxi shows up to compete.

DJ Edgecombe shows up to compete every single game, and they care.

You know what I'm saying?

And, and then the best bet is making the most out of that and being like, hey, by the time y'all hit 27, 28 together, will y'all be ready to go up against the top of the top, and we have the right type of team and you two are enough.

What do you think of Nick Nurse sticking around for now?

Usually when a GM is fired, the head coach is usually gone as well.

And maybe that's gonna be the case.

I don't know if they've made a firm commitment to keeping Nick once they establish who the top executive in the front office is.

Uh, Nick has won a championship back in 2019 with Toronto.

Uh, he's considered a pretty smart basketball mind, but the reality is this team has not achieved under him.

All the, The good things that came out of the Boston series, they were quickly undone in that series against the Knicks.

Uh, what's your perception of Nick Nurse as a coach?

I think they're probably just trying to deal with the necessary or lesser evils.

Like we, we don't want to clear this out and shock everything while we still have to.

Try to hold peace and still consider ourselves making a run for whatever title we're going to have to do contractually.

So we're sitting there and they're like, bro, there's not too much turnover, we're going to be stuck cool.

I want to give Nick Nurse credit because when he took over for Dwayne Casey back with the Raptors, he was kind of In a transitioning phase as well, and he's able to win a championship.

And I think that type of experience, him being able to weather the storm and have moments like, hey, if I get this together enough, I could beat the #1, you know, #2 seed.

I just had to make sure I have enough people working with me and it's as consistent as anything to get my system to run.

And you also got to give credit for a guy that's won a championship.

Uh, you, you know tons of coaches have worked 40 years and never won a championship.

So he knows how to climb that moun mountain, I believe in certain instances, um, obviously they got Their head kicked in versus the Knicks.

But I think with the right team, right type of mentality, he, he can get guys to buy in and he can go chest for chest with with certain groups, and I think he's pretty good.

You shouldn't I could be super tough, bro, but anytime you get me, you know, a Rolls-Royce and the car don't work, and the tires don't work, the brakes don't work half the time, there's no heat, like, don't get mad about how it comes out.

Like a team with Joe Allenbiid and Paul George, when you're vets and leaders aren't available or just doing goofy shit like like.

Like 25, like, you can't work with that, that's not me, that's them.

Like, you understand what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, fire the GM.

Like that that that culture is idiotic.

We just spent a bajillion dollars to try to be close to championship contenders and and now we're relying on something called VJ Max and our media team to keep us relevant.

Like we're talking about, yo, they just came over like the the conference uh nemesis.

We beat the Celtics.

Y'all haven't advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 20+ years.

You haven't made it past the second round.

So when we sit here, let's go bigger about it.

Like, you ignore it, like how did MB get this contract?

We all celebrated an MVP year where he ducked and dodged Jokic for forever.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

And then he celebrated for the next 3 years.

Nobody's ever held him accountable and it's like, how did he get this deal?

He was never not going to get the deal.

He was best friends with the owner.

He hangs out with Mike Rubin, he like he does whatever he wants, and that's perfectly fine.

This was the big savior from the old days.

There hasn't been a standard, like, and I'm not knocking it, man, you should bring your kid anywhere, but how we left that game for after you're making $65 million I celebrate like that.

I averaged 8 and 6, not the dude that is a cheat code and got enough money to buy a new body.

Like, nah, it's ridiculous, bro, it's it's absolutely crazy.

I, if I was a coach, I'd be like, bro, I don't want to speak too much, but y'all been wild in here and it's gonna take time for us to dig us out this bullshit because at the end of the day, we're OK paying dudes 60 million that couldn't shoot outside 4 ft.

We're OK, you understand what I'm saying?

We're OK and trusting the process, we're OK with drafting a dude that didn't play for 2 years and then whatever he decides to give us, cool, we're OK with all of this, and this is exactly where we're at.

I would say Next season, presuming Embiid is there, which he will be, um, whoever's coaching the team should be required to wear like a collar.

And if Joel Embiid crosses 30 minutes per game, They in a game, they should just get zapped like zapped.

Like for me, Joel Embiid is now forever a 25 to 30 minute per game player.

That is the only way you're gonna have any shot of keeping him healthy throughout the course of a season.

And we've talked about this before, but look at the success San Antonio had with Victor Wambayama, who was dealing with some injuries early in this season, averaged less than 30 minutes per game.

An MVP candidate who's young, who's arguably the best player in the league, averaging less than 30 minutes per game.

Lamelo Ball, another, a young guy who dealt with a ton of injuries during his early career, less than 30 minutes per game.

It worked and it could work for Joel Embiid.

Like they talked the right, they talked the talk before this season about trying to manage Joel Embiid better this year.

They've got to do even better.

Next year.

That means nothing over 30 minutes ever.

He might not like it.

It might cost you some regular season games, but if your objective is to find a way to win during these next 3 years of the Joel Embiid era, you have to accept that he is a part-time regular season player.

You get to the playoffs, you get a little bit more time between games, great.

You can ramp him up a little bit just like we're seeing with Wembayama.

But in the regular season, Little zapper, little zapper on my carotid artery here that hits every time he crosses 30 minutes, it keeps buzzing.

Like until that, because that's the only way to me you can keep him out there on the floor.

And I wanna add one more thing too, like, in practice, you have to practice.

I think one thing that came out a lot of times this year was like, well, we haven't really been with the big fella, so nobody really knows how to play, like, like with him.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

And it's like, yo.

If you're gonna be in a game for 30 minutes, those 67 minute spurts have to be elite, and we get the most out of you.

So there has to be a system, not you, and I'm not knocking, like I'm just like, hey, the best players can do what they want.

Sometimes I'm like it's a long season, it's like, bro, you don't hoop at all.

So like, make sure you practice, you give him B Maxi, I mean you give.

George, Maxi, Edgecombe, people, ways of knowing how to play with you.

Halfway through the Celtics series, he's like, yeah, the big fella adapted so well, he was just like, just run, I'll keep up.

But it's like that's a that's the dumbest shit to like that's a dumb ass game plan to go into and like I hope the guy that never plays and stay in shape and keep up.

Now, you have to be intentional about this, and outside looking in , it seems like sometimes over there it's a country club with some of the top guys.

Even in the past couple of years, you've seen Maxi call out and beat.

You're trying to win a championship.

You have the pieces to win a championship.

When you sit here, you have a coach to win a championship, and I don't even want to knock it, it's just like, bro, you have to practice, bro.

Like some of this shit makes no sense at all.

And it's, and when we sit here, they even discuss it, like, Chris, you're trying to dissect it, it's like, no, he don't deserve to win shit.

He don't act like any of the other top dudes.

You don't act like Jokic.

Jokic can dissect the game.

Yo you're saying we don't deserve like like money.

Like, do you understand what I'm saying?

Like, like he don't act like Dame who stays up at night and does this and a third, this is a country club.

It seems like for him to get money, show his skill set, and be larger than life and make up for a standard of a city that's thirst crazy and he sold them a media narrative.

Here we go, yo, trust the process for the next 15 years, we're gonna be even more mediocre, but it's gonna look cool.

Like when we sit there and it comes down like that blue collar city, that's that's that's not even synonymous with how they, they, they prepare.

Or how winning goes.

Like, no, big dog, every time I see you, bro, and you're unbelievable, bro, and you're making 60 million, I have no empathy for you.

You're how I felt about the, the appendectomy, right?

And it's like, man, you just had surgery.

For $60 million you should be fucking Superman and Wolverine.

I love you, Joel Embiid.

You sound like Ric Flair or Luke Aonic.

You see any of that during the last couple of weeks?

Ric Flair was sing to get back out and play.

I thought, I saw somebody say like, and I'm glad you came out with that note saying that you weren't playing for Team USA because I or your national teams, I don't know who the fuck, every year you know, you try to play for your national team and you'd be hurt in the playoffs, and it's like, no, take your time off.

If you are injured, if you are like over 30 and in a position to win for your team and battling injuries, I know it's a lot of criteria, but you shouldn't even go near the national team stuff.

Like, I don't know if Joel Embiid would have had the same 24, 25 season had he not played for Team USA, but he did, and he came back and he couldn't participate in training camp, and he only played 19 games that year, so.

I wouldn't want any of these guys playing in that, that, uh, that situation.

It's just telling you girls to cut the bullshit.

Like Batum is Michael Jordan in the summertime, and then he, you know what I'm Dennis Schroder is the greatest player ever.

Yeah, Urbiani is about to fight every year for Italy, like, you know what I mean?

It's like, but he don't give a damn about the NBA, and it's like, bro, this is your job like.

Let that go, but nah, it's, you're hooping, if you got soft tissue injuries, bro, you gotta eliminate, baby, you're hooping too much.

And and when we sit there as a role player, I'm not trying to come to these games without you, big dog.

Like , I I don't wanna play neither.

You know what I mean, if you're not, this ain't no real game, nobody's even taking it serious, like.