CAMDEN, NJ — After a week which saw the Sixers swing three deals prior to the NBA's trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, team President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey met with the media to discuss the deals. But in Morey's first media availability since September, there was plenty more to be address, from the status of Joel Embiid's knee to the team's future roster decisions to the overall state of the organization.
In this afternoon's Sixers soundbites, here is a fresh batch of everything noteworthy to come out of Morey's media availability:
• Morey on why the team views Quentin Grimes as a significant piece:
"Obviously, Quentin Grimes was a key addition. We love his fit with Tyrese [Maxey], his ability to hit shots and his ability to be the primary defender of guards on the perimeter."
• Morey on how team's additions of Grimes and two-way point guard Jared Butler fit its trade deadline strategy:
"Jared we see as someone who can really help us down the road as well. He's still in the early stages of his career, but one of the general themes we wanted to do at this deadline was get younger and more dynamic. That's something that I feel like as we're always assessing ourselves… we were a little bit on the older side with a lot of the acquisitions of our role players, and we want to get younger both now and in the future."
• Morey on the team needing to pay two second-round picks to shed KJ Martin's contract in order to duck the luxury tax threshold after giving him a contract designed to make him a valuable trade asset:
"With KJ, we both felt [in the offseason] he could help us and would be a potential path for us to upgrade the team, primarily this year…. But [as the trade deadline neared] we were sort of looking at a holistic plan of bot getting younger, getting players we think are ones that can help us now and into the future and also create flexibility to keep the key players on this team going forward. And we prioritized that over what KJ, CBA-wise, was able to do from a trade perspective to upgrade the team."
MORE: What to expect from Grimes and Butler
• Morey on the team's 20-30 start to the season:
"I'll take a step back: this has been a disappointing year…. I think [head coach] Nick [Nurse], Tyrese, I'd say those two primarily, but then the rest of the roster as well, have kept us in the spot where we can fight for the playoffs. And our goal is to fight for the playoffs…. The coaching staff, Nick, Tyrese, the whole roster, but I'm calling out those two in particular, have kept us in position. The new structure of the playoffs, I think are really built for us this year."
• Morey on the lack of public clarity on Embiid's knee over the course of the season:
"There have been those times where, sincerely, Joel himself, the medical staff, he looks very much on the way towards playing, and primarily his injury is one where you're managing his symptoms: swelling, pain. When those things happen, it's best for him to sit out. I know that Joel is doing everything he can and fighting to be out there as much as possible… He believes in this team. He believes in how it can come together… If he's not out there, it's because his symptoms aren't allowing him to be out there."
• Morey on the long-term outlook of Embiid's knee:
"We're optimistic long-term. Talking to the doctors and our understanding from talking with multiple experts — I think we're at seven, eight, nine, 10 at this point — of the top people in the world, all see this as one that over time will improve, but it's happened slower than anyone's anticipated/ We love how Joel's fighting…. I think [the injury designation] 'left knee injury management' is almost perfect… This has been that since that injury… We do think there will be a place in the future where the symptoms in that are reduced or go to zero, but we're still in the middle of that where we have to manage it, and it's going to be based on symptoms."
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• Morey on the Sixers adding a second-round pick alongside Caleb Martin in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks after Martin's physical hit a snag:
"Long-term, there's agreement that he's fine. Both the Dallas and Philadelphia medical staffs had many discussions about where Caleb's at, which happens as part of a trade. There's still full agreement on where he's at. He has sort of a nagging sort of injury. He was scheduled to play for us. Dallas is concerned that it's uncertain how soon he'll be back. They were concerned that that nagging injury might last a little longer than anticipated. But long-term, everyone agrees he's fine, which is why the trade went through. But to acknowledge that, 'Hey, you might not have this guy on day one,' that's where we amended the trade and it went through."
• Morey on what this team can accomplish after an underwhelming first 50 games:
"[The] team has a real shot. We've made our path to win harder, obviously. We're going to have to fight to probably get in the playoffs, and then we're going to have to fight to beat a very good team in the first round. But we feel like we would have had to play that team at some point to win the title anyway, and we're just focused on championship. And I know you have to squint a little, but we feel like this group can still do that."
• Morey on why he remains steadfast in building a team around Embiid despite the former NBA MVP's constant injury concerns:
"Players like Joel are so special. I mean, I think it was great he reminded us of his greatness with a triple-double after being out for many weeks. I'd say, you look at a lot of the teams that are above us in the standings, have young players that are improving and playing well right now. They're all hoping one of their guys becomes a top player in the world, top-five player in the world, because that is required to win the championship. It doesn't happen without one of these special players. And so we're building around Joel, we've built around Joel, we continue to plan to build around Joel because he's the special player than can help us win the championship."
• Morey on the two key cogs of Embiid's supporting cast and his continued belief in Embiid leading this group:
"We think Paul [George] is a great fit. We think Tyrese is a great fit. I'm excited about what Tyrese has added this year. His defense has materially improved, both eye test and data. That's so important to us. In this down season so far, there have been a lot of positives… Tyrese had a bumpy start like our whole roster did, but he's materially added defense, he's materially added playmaking, in particular drive-and-kick. So we see him as a key piece going forward as well… But Joel is core to everything we do, and we believe he's the right guy to build around. We believed it this offseason. We believed it based on what we knew about his whole situation. And we believe that he, Tyrese and Paul can win a championship. We'll see if that turns out to be true. And it doesn't look easy to spot how it's going to work exactly right now, given the path we've given ourselves, but we believe in that."
• Morey on if he is confident the team can re-sign Guerschon Yabusele after his stellar debut season with the Sixers:
"I don't think you can ever be confident on an unrestricted free agent, but we feel very good. He loves it here. We love him. We just freed up more with Caleb's contract going up… So we feel very good about retaining [Yabusele]."
• Morey on how rookie Jared McCain's impressive 23 games with the Sixers before suffering a season-ending knee injury changes Morey's long-term vision of how the 20-year-old fits into the puzzle:
"It went into the Grimes move, for example. Obviously we're focused on this season and making it a special year that we had planned and we have the ability to do that. So that's why I hadn't mentioned Jared McCain. But we do think Grimes fits with both Tyrese this season and then as you go forward, we wanted one of our guards top be able to take the primary guard matchup. We felt like Quentin could do that both with Jared and Tyrese goin forward. Jared was the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year when he went out.. Generally, those players take the biggest steps forward into their second year. So again, I have to look at the future even though we're focused mostly on now, but we feel like we're extremely well set up even more next year because we're getting a possible Rookie of the Year-level player coming back next season."
• Morey on if he has concerns about the size of a Maxey-McCain backcourt and whether that pairing is viable moving into the future:
"Definitely viable. I do think that kind of a structure creates defensive challenges. But I do believe in Nick — one of his strengths is his ability with ball pressure. He can get that out of even guys that might be thought of as challenged defensively. I know Tyrese was maybe thought of that way, and this year I think shows what he can do. And then also, look, Joel is a pretty big force, and one of the reasons our defense has taken a big step back is when you have a ball pressure defense but you don't have the Joel Embiid behind or even Drummond, who's been out so much as well, that really puts a lot of pressure on your defense, and that's been one of our big issues."
• Morey on why George has not been able to help the team do a significantly better job of winning without Embiid to this point:
"I think we wish we had held the for a little better… One of the big reasons we thought we could hold the fort was Drummond. One of them was Paul… both have missed significant time. I could just keep going. Sadly, with injuries this year, we seem to have hit snake eyes."
• Morey on if he still feels consistent support from ownership in his abilities:
"Yeah, I do… They've only been super supportive, super engaged, super involved, really believe in what we put together. Believe in myself and [general manager] Elton [Brand], believe in Nick, believe in what we put together. I understand that belief's been tested for all of us in a tough year, but I see no waver in that.
• Morey on the team swapping a 2026 first-round pick with little upside for four distant second-round picks:
"We felt like because that pick was very likely 28, 29, 30, that those four seconds were going to be quite a bit above that such that that value made up for the other stuff we gave up."
• Morey on whether the team will eventually convert Butler and fellow two-way player Justin Edwards to standard contracts, making them eligible for the postseason:
"Eventually, yeah, I think we'll have conversations with representation, and it's already begun, to potentially convert them. That's a two-way street where you have to work out something. So we'll see where that goes… We see them as big parts of our future and we hope to convert them at some point. We think they're good roster fits for long-term."
• Morey on the team's newfound ability to sign significant players in the buyout market:
"I would say it was nice to have. That market has been limited, I'd say, the past few years… It did open up some optionality of possible players, but right as I sit here now, we don't see one that would fit. "
• Morey on if he has any regrets about signing Embiid to a three-year, $193 million contract extension in September, a deal which does not kick in until after the 2025-26 season is over:
"No, we thought it was the right move at the time, we think it's the right move now. Again, with just NBA history coming involved here, you don't win without one of these special players. You don't get to add a Paul George unless he knows that they're going to be together for long-term. The feedback we got from, as I mentioned, so many medical staffs, was that this is something that is manageable and over time should improve. So we thought it was the right decision."
MORE: What did Sixers accomplish at deadline?
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