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Tim Bontemps
Philadelphia-after the Filadelphia 76ers, concluded his disastrous season full of injuries with a 122-102 defeat against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, the president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, said that he and coach Nick Nurse would return next season and “evaluated everything” to prevent it from happening again.
“Obviously, a difficult season … not where we expected to be,” Morey said at his season end of the season, held together with Nurse about 90 minutes after the loss of philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center.
“We expect more. We really feel for fans who put their heart and soul in this team, and we know we have disappointed you,” Morey said. “The property gave us the resources to make aggressive movements this low season to put a championship list around Joel [Embiid] And Tyrese [Maxey] And sometimes, those aggressive movements do not work initially, but we feel good [them]”
It is not surprising, after Philadelphia had one of the worst records of the League (24-58) despite a list that initially believed and hoped to compete for a championship, the press conference was full of reasons for the poor season and the lessons learned.
The most important reason, of course, was the injuries, which limited Embiid, which underwent arthroscopic surgery in their left knee at the Nyu Langone Sports Medicine Center on Friday, only 19 games, Paul George at 41 and Maxey at 52. The three stars shared the court in just 15 games and for less than 300 minutes in general.
Even so, Morey expressed optimism about the health of the three players, insisting that everyone would be “100%” next season. That included Embiid, who has been dealing with persistent knee problems for more than a year.
“This has been a very complex situation for Joel, for our medical staff, for external people such as Dr. Glashow and others, discovering exactly the next correct step to ensure that we can put it in the best way to help our team win a championship,” said Morey. “It is not simple, and that is why you get different reports because it is one in which you need to collect many data and many opinions and then make the right decision, and we feel good with the choice.”
Although Morey is optimistic about the health of her stars, she acknowledged that she made mistakes last summer in her team construction strategy. Morey said he was focused on the playoffs when he went behind veterans and experienced players last summer, but the rigors of a regular season of 82 games were removed.
Morey and the nurse said that with the teams that put a greater emphasis on the offensive rebound and the amount of energy and effort necessary for high -level defense in the best players, it has made the construction of a list to survive the regular season sometimes differently to use the same approach to win in the playoffs.
But with a list that presents older stars and prone to injuries in Embiid and George, Morey said several times that the next season will be younger and more dynamic to compensate for that.
“In my opinion, when you have a talent at the MVP level, you must make aggressive movements to update that talent in that window,” said Morey. “That is what we did in the low season, and we feel good in the future. I think it is something unique to have a player of that caliber.
“Are we a bit indexed for talented players who are a little more injured? Yes, but that’s why we need to have a younger and deeper list in them and then have them healthy in the playoffs next year.”
Then, there is the first protected round of the first round of Philadelphia, one that, in the season, seemed to go west of Oklahoma City Thunder, a relic of an exchange to send the Horford to the Thunder in exchange for Danny Green five years ago in one of Morey’s first movements when he arrived in Philadelphia.
But after the 76ers closed the season with a 5-31 record, the 76ers obtained the fifth place in the NBA draft lottery next month, which means that they will have a 64% chance of clinging to the selection.
Morey said his plan for that choice, which called a “tool” to improve the list, was clear: to take the best player available, regardless of his position, age or preparation of the NBA.
“Definitely the best available player,” said Morey. “It has to be so high in the draft, surely. Obviously, there is a good possibility that we take someone, and in that case, it will be the best player. I have never moved away from that.”
However, the last conclusion was that despite all the frustrations and disappointments of recent months, Morey, the nurse and the rest of the franchise, as Maxey and George said on Sunday before the game, believes that, with some health and better planning of the list, things can be very different in a year.
“If everything sets well, we will have a younger and more dynamic list around a healthy Joel, Tyrese and Paul,” said Morey. “I never felt that the coach had a healthy game literally with the three. I know that some games played together, but they did not finish all and even those in which it was like their first return game.
“It was difficult … for me personally, it was obviously the most difficult season of my career, and I will only say personally, I will spend every hour of vigil discovering how to turn this team in the next season.”
