A very successful offseason filled the Philadelphia 76ers with championship aspirations. While a team that has made it to the playoffs for seven straight seasons should always be respected in title conversations, the 76ers had one of the better offseasons for any team this past summer. Tyrese Maxey was signed to an extension, Kelly Oubre Jr. was re-signed, Paul George was added as a versatile star to form a big three with Maxey and Joel Embiid, Jared McCain was drafted, and Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson and Caleb Martin were added as role players. With Embiid entering his 30s, it was time to get the superstar a championship.
To say that the 76ers have fallen below those expectations is an understatement. As it stands, they are 3.5 games back of the Chicago Bulls for the 10th seed in the East, and even then it would take a massive undertaking to make it through the Play-In. In the face of that, the 76ers crowd has not been shy to show their displeasure at the 22-41 team. It doesn't take much to rile them up, and while they may jump the gun to do so, this occasion feels justified. Yet, Daryl Morey, 76ers President of Basketball Operations, begs to differ.
This might be the final straw for Daryl Morey.
— RB (@RBPhillyTake) March 9, 2025
I’m getting very tired of people blaming Sixers fans for being angry with an organization that has ultimately failed over and over for a long time.
We should be looking at the people in charge, not the fans. pic.twitter.com/eXkkw7KiNW
Yes Daryl, we're going to have a field day with this because this ramble is a massive coping mechanism.
Daryl Morey and 76ers fans don't see eye to eye
If the team you root for doesn't win a championship, and they had expectations to seriously compete for one, you have a right to be disappointed. This is especially true given this 76ers team and all the win-now moves the team has made over the years (trading for James Harden, signing George to a big contract, acquiring Nick Nurse to coach) to surround Embiid with the talent to keep him happy and with a chance to win.
As Morey said, they've had golden opportunities to do so, losing in heartbreaking fashion two seasons in a row. But he's surprised the Philly crowd was less angry that his team lost in one of the most competitive series in recent memory compared to losing a game seven to Boston? They performed well and caught a tough break in one and were trashed by a rival in the other.
I don't appreciate how much Morey stresses (no pun intended) how stressful his job is. No job is stress-free, and winning a championship in professional sports even more so, whether it's in Philadelphia or North Dakota. Morey was clear from the start that his goal was to lead the 76ers to a championship, and that "whatever gets us there is what we'll do."
And, to be fair, he's done everything at his disposal to do, and to pin this season's failures on him would be unjustified. After all, he couldn't have seen George's struggles this season coming (even though the Clippers didn't want to sign him to the contract the 76ers ended up signing him for), much less the injuries to him, Embiid, Maxey and McCain. After all, those four players only played 19 minutes together all season before McCain suffered a season-ending left knee injury, and they were excellent (plus-40.5 net rating).
But even with health, the big three Morey envisioned when he signed PG hasn't lived up to the hype (plus-2 point differential in 15 games), and that's only the fault of the players on the court. While I don't expect Morey to trash his players (it was bad when Doc Rivers did it about Ben Simmons, and it would also be bad here), reflecting on the mood of his team's fans depending on how they lose shouldn't be at the forefront.
Whether Philly fans are justified or not in their anger towards their sports team is an argument as old as time, and that won't stop. However, if you are the President of Basketball Operations of one of those teams, how they've judged you in the past shouldn't come up at any point. If they keep showing up to games and use energy to express their feelings towards their performance, that's a sign that they still care, and that shouldn't be lost in any of this. In spite of the constant injuries of their star players and the underperformance of their team, they still show up, and you have to put a winning product on display for them. That's the burden of being in professional sports, and if you can't do that, then you're not fit for the job.