Daryl Morey Live From Sixers Youth Foundation Gala

Beasley Digital

Transcript

00:00What's up, Daryl? What's going on? How are you doing?

00:02Thanks for joining us this evening.

00:03Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming here.

00:05Yeah, I mean, this is great. Yeah, this is a great event.

00:08And thank you for having us here. It's fantastic.

00:10And it's nice to do this the day after an incredible win against the Denver Nuggets

00:15and Nikola Jokic back-to-back for MB dropping 41.

00:18I mean, Joel 6-2 against Jokic now? I think something like that.

00:22That's a pretty good record off the top of your head.

00:24I saw that, yeah. Well, the Twitter told me that.

00:26Oh, okay. It must be true. Everything on there is true.

00:30How are you thinking so far through the start of the season?

00:33Pretty excited, pretty fired up.

00:36I think Coach Nurse has the group playing at a very high level.

00:41Joel's as locked in as I've ever seen.

00:44Maxie's playing as well as we hoped going into the year.

00:47Obviously, people right now are taking for granted how he's playing, I think.

00:51But it's not a lot of guys who keep improving every year into their fourth year like this.

00:56So we think he's a, for sure, all-star.

01:00And, you know, really going into this year, that's what we needed.

01:03Then you got guys like Tobias who've been really stepping up lately.

01:07Nick Batum's, I mean, so many.

01:09Pat Beverly feels like he was born to play in Philly.

01:12So pretty exciting.

01:13Darrell, when you observe this team and think of maybe what you want to do even more moving forward,

01:20has it been hindered a little bit because of the injuries that you've had?

01:23And, you know, you see Melton in and out of the starting lineup and now in and out of the lineup altogether.

01:27But does it hinder it or do you have a pretty good idea anyway?

01:30I, you know, look, obviously you'd love to have perfect health from day zero through the end of June.

01:37But injuries in the regular season, as long as they're not, you know, things that will affect you going forward,

01:43I think can be healthy for a team because guys get a chance to step up and play.

01:48You know, Jaden Springer's given us good minutes.

01:51You know, Oubre, obviously, he's not in that group.

01:53He's been starting and been amazing.

01:55But when we've had guys come in and play, Mo Bamba recently has given us good minutes.

02:02I think it can be healthy.

02:03So, you know, those guys could be asked to play in the playoffs.

02:07You might get, you know, get an injury there.

02:09You might, you know, things like that.

02:10So I don't think it's that bad.

02:12Looking at the situation, after the Harden trade, fans were pretty skeptical of how things were going to look.

02:18They've all been pretty much 100% pleased to this point.

02:21But the ultimate goal is a championship.

02:24You watch the league.

02:25It's your job to pay attention to where your team is and where other teams are, as is.

02:30Where do you think the Sixers are, honestly, right now?

02:33And then how good do you think they could be if you were able to make a move or two?

02:37I think we're one of the very few championship contenders.

02:39I think you stated it the way I do, though, which is you have to be realistic about where you are relative to other teams.

02:45I think you have to say Boston is the favorite right now to come out of the East.

02:49And we focus a lot on the East, although, you know, obviously there's some very good teams on West as well.

02:55I do think Boston's playing at a very high level.

02:58It is a team that we focus a lot on.

03:01I do think Milwaukee also is right there with us.

03:04And, yeah, look, if there's an opportunity to make the team better, that's something we'll do for sure.

03:09Have you decided one way or another where you might go?

03:11Last time I had you on was right after the trade.

03:14And you told me, look, we're going to evaluate the Sixers, our squad against all teams.

03:18But you did say specifically some of the better teams in the league, like Boston and Milwaukee.

03:22Are you starting to get to where you're thinking you want to go?

03:25Yeah, I think we've got a sense of, you know, guys have played enough minutes.

03:30Coach Nurse, we've seen the players play within his system and structure.

03:34Coach has added a lot of things, both offensively and defensively, guys who can fit.

03:42And, yeah, so we've, you know, that's really the only thing we do.

03:45I just left here with, you know, we had like a five-hour meeting focusing on the trade deadline.

03:51And, you know, that's coming up here.

03:53When you acquire who you acquired, everybody knows Marcus Mars.

03:57And Nick Batum's been in the league for a long, long, long time.

04:01I kind of looked at it, you know, when I used to cover the league,

04:03I thought, wow, those guys were good back when I covered the league.

04:06They have some years on them.

04:07Are you surprised at how much they've given you this year considering that?

04:12Well, I think, yeah, the two you mentioned, Nick and Marcus,

04:17both are giving more than, you know, we probably thought going in.

04:22You know, obviously, Marcus from Philly, I think yesterday,

04:27especially he gave a ton of great minutes for us.

04:30Nick has been maybe the best pairing with Joel for that kind of a player since Joel has been here.

04:38I know Joel maybe feels that way.

04:40And then Covington, when he, you know, he obviously is dealing with something right now.

04:44When Covington was healthy, he was giving us good minutes.

04:48And K.J. Martin, I honestly feel bad for.

04:50Here's a guy who's played very, very well prior to this.

04:54But, you know, frankly, Nick has a really tough job figuring out who to play.

04:58But I do think if K.J. had gotten a lot of his minutes,

05:00we'd be talking about K.J. Martin right now, too.

05:03I want to ask you about your best player, Joel Embiid.

05:06He's played at such a high level.

05:07Not according to Stan Van Gundy, apparently.

05:09That was the, he did a podcast, so he didn't watch the game.

05:12He just did a podcast during the game.

05:15That was like an Adam Carolla rant just turned on in the middle of the game.

05:19Damn Stan.

05:20And he clearly had scripted it, too.

05:22I was like, what the heck is happening?

05:24At one point during that, the thing, Jokic takes a shot to the head.

05:27He looks out of it for like three possessions.

05:29Stan didn't even notice.

05:30No, he was just doing his podcast.

05:31Joel's dominating out there.

05:33And we're talking about how, yeah, whatever.

05:34If he's healthy, if he does this.

05:37But his level of play has surprised even us.

05:40I think that he was able to raise it beyond his MVP year last year.

05:44However, we know the only thing left for a lot of people will be what he does in the postseason.

05:51But the postseason will come when the postseason comes.

05:54You've been around a lot of great players.

05:55You've been around the league.

05:56How good, in your opinion, like is he top five?

05:59You've seen personally top.

06:01Like how good is Joel Embiid at this current moment?

06:04For players that I've had on the team, I actually felt I would never have someone beat, peak James Harden.

06:11I've had a lot of great players.

06:13Trace McGrady, Yao Ming, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard.

06:16So many great players.

06:17I never thought I'd see that.

06:19But what Joel's doing right now is like hard to fathom.

06:23Like both on both ends, offensively and defensively.

06:26And what he brings every night.

06:28And the approach he brings every night.

06:29And the leadership he's shown to this group.

06:32It's been, yeah, I really never thought it would happen.

06:34And it's been great.

06:36And then Maxie stepping up as well.

06:38So it's a special year.

06:39Folks should get out to Wells Fargo.

06:41And we've had great crowds.

06:43And we're excited for what's to come.

06:45Talk about Maxie.

06:46Because from the very beginning, reports that came out were that you guys were bought in to Tyrese Maxie.

06:51I think one report was that you wouldn't trade him for prime Michael Jordan.

06:56What is it that you saw last year in Tyrese Maxie?

06:59And knowing that the James Harden situation was probably going to go the way that it ended up going.

07:02What did you see in Maxie where you felt comfortable moving forward with him as your point guard?

07:07Well, it's his work ethic, how he's added to his game every year.

07:10I have to give Coach Nurse a lot of credit.

07:13I think he felt like when he watched Tyrese, and Tyrese had a lot of great games against Toronto,

07:18he felt like he could even utilize him even more.

07:21But, you know, guys going into their fourth year can sometimes take a step up, and he did.

07:28And it's been amazing to watch.

07:31And I think, you know, Nick, like basically saying, hey, and Joel, to his credit and his teammates,

07:37you have the ultimate green light.

07:39You see these other, like, top, top all-stars and what they do.

07:43Take every other shot.

07:45Put just the fear of God in the defense.

07:48You can be that guy.

07:49You should be that guy.

07:50And he's doing that right now.

07:51I want to talk about Nick Nurse a little bit more.

07:53So you bring him in.

07:54You were with this team before he got here.

07:56What is it that he's kind of extracted or implemented to these guys that have made the

08:01Embiid's, the Maxie's, and the whole team better?

08:04Well, I think Nick, obviously I knew him back to his minor league days when we hired him in

08:08Houston.

08:09He's always been a defensive innovator in my mind.

08:12And so I knew that would come.

08:14And I think he's utilized Joel in different ways than he's been used.

08:19But it's really offensively where I really thought Joel and Nick really clicked in that

08:24in the offseason, Nick was like, we need to prep you to Tyrone's point.

08:29We need to prep you for the playoffs.

08:32We need to make you hard to guard in the playoffs.

08:35And that means being less predictable.

08:36So we need to spend all this season working on different actions, different places on

08:42the floor, so that when we get to those big games in April, May, June, you'll be ready

08:50to make any defense pay depending on what look they throw at you.

08:54Tobias Harris has taken out.

08:56I don't know how much time you have, but Tobias Harris.

08:58Hey, I'm here for you guys.

09:00I'm just thrilled you're here.

09:01And we're here for the Sixers Youth Foundation, and it's been an amazing event.

09:05We appreciate it.

09:07You've spent some time.

09:08Tobias Harris, especially lately, has really stepped up offensively.

09:12And in the offseason, his dad did a podcast where he was saying, my son can do this, this,

09:17cook the groceries.

09:18Like, he was basically laying out like all this.

09:20He could have been on with Stan yesterday.

09:22Right.

09:22I love Trill.

09:24Trill's like one of my favorite guys in the league.

09:27He's been in the league for a very long time, knows the game really well.

09:32And look, I mean, he loves his son, and he should.

09:34Like, Tobias is, you know, he had a, I actually remember he was having a little stretch where

09:43maybe even Tobias would say, hey, I'm not playing my best.

09:46And the great thing I knew, because, you know, that happens to every player, I knew Tobias would

09:51come out of it.

09:52And he really led us through that period with Joel out.

09:55He led us even, you know, in games recently with Joel.

09:59So we're getting the best Tobias.

10:01And I think I've been thrilled because, you know, Nick wasn't as used to him.

10:05But I was like, look, I promise you, whatever you tell Tobias to do, he's going to go out

10:09there and do it.

10:10And he can't say that a lot for guys, like with his pedigree and his, the amount of money

10:15he makes.

10:16A lot of these guys aren't willing to do anything to make the team win, but Tobias does.

10:19Now, last one before we let you go.

10:21And we thank you for taking the time.

10:22I know.

10:23Go have fun.

10:23Enjoy yourself a little bit at the gala tonight.

10:26There was a trade that did happen today in the NBA.

10:28We don't have to talk about the trade, but I know there were fans that were upset that

10:32something hasn't happened with the Sixers yet.

10:35So what is that message that you can give to the fans?

10:38The deadline wasn't today.

10:39The deadline wasn't yesterday.

10:40The deadline's not tomorrow.

10:41So what's that message you can give to the fans?

10:43I give the same message I gave before the season, before the trade, which is referenced

10:47before, which is like, you know, evaluate us at the right time, which is the playoffs

10:52and how the team looks going into there.

10:54But yeah, most of the trades that really help teams, in my opinion, happen closer to the

11:00deadlines.

11:01The ones that happen early is usually one team or another team overpaying.

11:06And so generally those don't help you as much.

11:08Um, so look, we're evaluating everything.

11:12We obviously look at everything.

11:14Um, you know, I, I do want to tell the fans that calling the same team over and over and

11:19over and over does not actually help a deal get done.

11:21So this notion, this notion that that would be the plan, uh, or flying to their city and,

11:27uh, standing outside their door with a boom box over your head, that also doesn't work.

11:32So, uh, look, we're evaluating everything.

11:34And if a play, if a player becomes available, it can help us.

11:37We're for sure going to be right there.

11:39Thank you so much, Daryl.

11:40We appreciate it.

11:40And congratulations on the extension as well.

11:42Oh, thank you.

11:43I appreciate that.

11:44Thank you so much.

11:44I'm glad you're going to be here for a long time.

11:46It feels like you're comfortable here in Philadelphia.

11:49Turn it into a Philly guy.

11:50Yeah.

11:50I love, I love it here.

11:51It's, it feels very similar to where I grew up and, uh, the passion for the fans.

11:56I feel for everyone on that, on the Eagles and, and Phillies.

12:00And I hope that Joel and the team can give the city a lift.

12:03Thanks so much.

12:03Thank you, Daryl.

12:04I appreciate it.

12:04Daryl Morey, president of basketball operations for your Philadelphia 76ers.

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