Daryl Morey on the 3rd pick in the NBA Draft, Joel Embiid & Lottery night roller coaster | Takeoff

Daryl Morey on the 3rd pick in the NBA Draft, Joel Embiid & Lottery night roller coaster | Takeoff

Hey everybody, welcome to Takeoff with John Clark. And let’s bring in our special guest, Sixers president of basketball operations, Daryl my he is out in Chicago. Daryl, congratulations on keeping your pick and getting the pick. How huge is this for the franchise? No, it’s massive and um really happy for Sixers fans who went through a very rough season like all of us. And uh when you go through a rough season, you want to make sure you take advantage uh both with young players with Bona Edwards Grimes, uh Jared McCain, and also uh we’ve got two very good picks in this draft now number three and number 35. So in years past, of course, you have been in the NBA for a long time. Where would you rank these players? Let’s say top three players in this draft. Yeah, I think the top few top three, four, you could argue five maybe could be. I mean, like there’s there’s good players in this draft. The top of this draft, I think, is uh I I would say I I was very fortunate to start my career in the 2003 draft, which some argue is the best draft of all time. So, but I think it’s in the top five of uh, you know, high quality players at the top of the draft in my career. Wow. Now, at this time, do you have an idea? The Sixers have an idea, all of you together, of who you’re going to draft, if he’s sitting there or a couple players. I mean, we’ve been working all season, so we have we have a good sense of the players we like, and we’re we’re really comfortable at number three. And I heard you say you’re not going to draft for need in any way. You take the best player available. Uh, what do the Sixers need at this point in your opinion? I mean, we need a championship. So, I I would say uh yeah, we’re we’re not looking at the draft for need. We’re going to do that. Look, address that through free agency and uh uh through other means as well. And do you see potential future allars that could be sitting there for you at three? I mean, historically the, you know, obviously Joel Embiid was three. Historically, the three pick uh has a pretty good potential to be an all-star level player. Uh there’s a lot of misses at three as well, so we got a lot of work to do to make sure we get this right. Uh but historically and especially in a good draft like this with a lot of high potential players. Um yeah, we have a good shot at getting a future franchise very important player. And in your mind, do you see yourself using this pick? I know there’s going to be some player movement. There’s some guys that may want out of their teams. Wink wink. But do you see you using this pick? Yeah, our plan is to pick this pick. Yep. Yeah. Now, you have talked about having a younger, more dynamic, more athletic team around Joel Embiid and Paul George. Um, you obviously have McCain, you have Maxi, uh, and you’re going to have a three pick and then a second round pick. Um, with Joelle’s knee and his situation and his age and his size, how can he keep up and play the style of basketball you want to play? I mean, he can. I mean, I think folks have seen him play at a high level and he’s working to uh to get back to that. And to your point, you know, I think, you know, if your rotation is nine, 10 guys, you know, the vast majority of those players are going to be, you know, guys in their prime guys either at the start of their career like Justin Edwards or Bona or McCain, uh, to the number three pick to the number 35 pick, uh, to, you know, really, uh, guys in their their their absolute peak like a Tyrese Maxi. Uh, so we’re gonna have a younger athletic group next year around Joel, Paul, and Tyrese. Now, you were on the rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, and Brian Winhorse of ESPN is out there picking up on something you said where you said, “If Joel Embiid comes back, you think he’ll be at a high level? What did you mean by that? Is there a chance?” My sense is he didn’t listen to my answer. I think I gave like a fiveminute answer and it got pulled into uh you know I’m sure if things go well for you John we’ll get pulled into a couple clips out of it. Um, you know, if you if you listen to my whole answer, my point was, uh, Joelle, you know, cares so much about the championship, cares so much about winning, uh, that when he when he plays, he’s going to, cuz the question I got was like, is he going to, you know, be the, you know, back up big someday for the 76ers. And I really just don’t see Joel being that. He’s he’s an elite player. uh he cares about winning so much that uh you know he’s gonna play at a high level uh when he comes back. Now Paul George of course he has a podcast and he’s back. Um he has said a couple months ago that he thinks Ace Bailey is a better pick than Cooper Flag. Has Paul let you know his opinion? I haven’t spoken to Paul directly although I was with his agent yesterday. The combine here is a big uh agent get together and look Ace is a tremendous player. absolutely someone we’re considering. Uh we’re looking at, you know, every option at at three and the players that we can pick, but we feel very good about who we’re going to pick and Ace for sure is someone we’re considering. And couple questions about Joelle and his surgery. I didn’t get a chance to ask you a couple things. I guess my question is is about a year ago uh or less than that, Joelle had a similar surgery on the left knee, meniscus surgery. And is this what he just had? Is this a similar surgery to last year? And if so, why are you confident? Why is everybody confident that the results will be different this time? Well, I think the surgery was a scope. Um, confidence comes from the doctor who did it and feels very good about the outlook. It’s the same doctor who worked with Kauaii. Uh, again, you could go back a year and you say Kauaii is pulling out of USAB. Everyone’s saying like, “Oh my goodness, what’s with Kawawaii? Was Kawawaii ever gonna be who he is?” And then he’s playing 45 plus minutes in the playoffs over and over uh for the Clippers. So my point is like we feel very good because of the feedback we’re getting from the doctor and the work that Joel’s putting in. So also when you guys shut him down, he was unable to play in late February of last season. It was, I guess, four or five weeks before it was determined that he would have this scope arthoscopic surgery. How come it didn’t happen right after he was shut down for the season? Yeah, that was talking to I believe somewhere between nine and 12 doctors just to make sure we get every eye dotted and every te crossed, choose the right doctor to do the surgery, choose the right approach. Uh, so that was the uh that was what took the time. Is this a situation where there were some maybe more invasive s serious surgeries that could have kept him out a long time and it was decided, hey, we don’t want to go that route. We want to see if we can go ahead and do the the less invasive surgery. It was really more just looking at all the options and making sure that the right one was being chosen. Okay. and and after what happened last year with Joel and the issues the knee had coming back, what did you learn about the approach, the plan for you, Joel, everybody involved? Yeah, I think for everybody, and we had a lot of conversations with the players during the season and after the season as well, is to go into this next season on the ground running. Uh again, I’ve sort of owned up that a big mistake I made was was focusing too much on the playoffs right at the start. Uh we need to go out there and prove that we’re the team we know we can be. We needed to prove that early and hit the ground running next year versus uh you know, I had a lot of um you know, comments early in the season I thought were a mistake about, you know, let’s just let’s just get ourselves set up for the playoffs and uh you know, we’ll be better about that next year. But is it a situation again where you really have to get Joelle to the playoffs healthy and and and not play him as much during the regular season? Well, I think that’ll be up to the medical staff, the doctors and things like that, but I do know that uh based on where things are at now that uh you know, all of our players will be available to to start the season. Um yeah, obviously a lot of info will come as Joel goes through what uh you know his rehab and and uh gets himself ready for next year, but uh right now based on the information that we have, we feel good about all our players being available there from game one. And you said you learned a lot about last year. Does Joelle need to do more as far as conditioning or diet or strengthening the area around the knee to to help that process of staying healthy with the knee? Joel’s doing everything he can to be out there uh from conditioning to rehab to everything. He’s he’s doing everything to be ready for game one next year. and and this team on paper like last year you said they had the third best odds and so many different things happen with injuries where do you think that was like just a fact um uh yeah where the I mean look we think our roster is better going into next season obviously the the three pick helps that and all the development that coach nurse did with Edwards Bona and McCain and and the trade for Grimes and and where’s he so we like our user better going into next season I don’t think we’ll be regarded ed that highly uh in Vegas just cuz we had a very tough year. Uh and I think until people see us healthy and playing, they’re not going to believe in the team and I understand that. Uh but I like where we’re coming from. Uh we have the chance to have a much better team than going into the season last year and let’s go out there and prove it. And you know, there’s a lot of people, they want to see Joel health. They want to see him playing MVP level basketball, but there’s a lot of people that are skeptical after what happened last year that he can play on that knee. And Kawhai, he is smaller than Joel. How much tougher is it for Joel at his size with the pounding that the knee takes on a basketball court to get through this? Well, I think everything factors in whether it be the specific injury, the you know, the position, everything like that. But, you know, there I’m, you know, I’ve mentioned this in the past, uh, you know, just to take a random player, a Brook Lopez, very injury-prone, played 30 games that are actually slightly or in a season slightly older than Joelle. Uh, again, I’m not comparing those two players from an actual basketball perspective, but they’re similar size players. And then Brooke has gone 78, 79, 80 games in in three straight seasons. So, like he’s my bottom line is like you don’t know. We’re not going to know. We’re not going to know until it happens, but we we feel optimistic that Joel’s on the right path. How much do you think Tyrese Maxi learned last year going through all the things that he went through, but the other injuries? And it seemed like his spirit was affected. H how do you think he he’s going to grow through that what he went through? Well, I think that’s one of the big benefits besides his advancing on the defensive end. He also advanced with all the defenses he faced when he was the primary focus of the defense. So besides developing young players, besides the number three pick, uh Tyrese is much more advanced in dealing with uh you know advanced defenses that are targeted at him. So Joel Embiid, Paul George, you expect them to be ready to go and healthy. Do you envision this draft pick being able to start with Tyrese Maxi, possibly Jared McCain? I mean, that’ll be up to Nick. Uh, obviously starting in this league, especially on a team that’s uh with championship aspirations like us, is difficult, but we’re not putting the expectations on him. I do think that the number three pick will very likely be in the rotation. However, if you had a message for Sixers season ticket holders and Sixers fans about why they should get their hopes up again with this team after what happened last year, what would be your message to them? Yeah, my message would be look, we know you’ve gone through a lot. Uh, but we’ve built on last season and now we have a young dynamic group uh with another potential a high potential player in the number three pick coming in. Tyrese is going to advance. Jared McCain was the odds on favorite favor to the rookie of the year. Harrison Grimes is one of the Harrison Grimes Quinton Grimes is one of the uh Quinton Grimes is one of the best uh young players out there as well along with Bona Edwards the 35 pick. I mean this is going to be a fun group around two uh two really great veterans of Joel and Paul George. Do you feel for Sixers fans? Because before you got here, there has been so much stuff that Sixers fans and the team and everybody that worked for the Sixers, they’ve gone through. I mean, there’s been so many things that have happened to this franchise, and it seems like they continued last year. Do you feel for Sixers fans and and the grind of all these seasons since the process of trying to get this right? Yeah, I wasn’t here for many of those, but of course, I understand them. And uh look, it’s it’s been a journey. And uh you know with uh with Monday’s lottery, I think uh things are turning. All right, final questions for you about that. We saw your emotions with the lottery. Now, was there a moment where, you know, going into this, you had the doubt in your mind like, are we actually going to be able to keep our pick here? Yeah, I’ll I’ll take you through the the the night for me at least, for what it’s worth, or for all of us, for Nick and Elton and myself who are sitting together. Uh when Dallas and San Antonio jumped up, uh we knew our odds were pretty bad. Uh I think they had dropped to like in the 10 to 15% range to keep the pick. Um then it was announced by Philly’s own Kevin Neandi that we’re out. And when it happened, I turned to Elton. I was like, I’m pretty sure we’re not out. Like just cuz we had we sort of understood it. Um Nick, who hadn’t been in all our sort of uh meetings about it, um like actually when I said we’re not out, turned to Elton and was like, Elton, I don’t think Daryl heard him say we’re out. And I think it was, you know, very fair, like it’s a pretty it would pretty be odd for ESPN to get that wrong. I think that’s pretty rare. So it’s almost like Nick thought I had like lost my mind a little bit there for a second. Uh and then when uh seven uh wasn’t OKC, I talked I was like I’m pretty sure we’re top four. I was like unless I again have like forgot how it works. I don’t see how we’re not in the top four now is what I said. But even then when you’re on that stage and you’re in that moment even I was like I somehow forget some like did ESPN like and then when they announced we had moved up that’s that’s when I was like oh thank goodness we we pulled you know we pulled this off and and not only kept the pick but got into a range of the draft where we’re going to get a very high potential play here. So you know that was uh that was that moment. And then Nick asked me a question that I refused to answer in the moment and that you know Sixers fans might find this maybe interesting, maybe not. Uh once we were in the top four with that group, our odds of the number one pick actually went quite high. Uh we were at like 40%. Then when Charlotte went four, our odds of being one dropped jumped up to almost 80%. And then we ended up at three. So, it was a bit of a It was definitely a roller coaster little period there that we went through. Now, you were on camera for a little bit of that, but imagine if they had like a heart rate monitor to see. Yeah. That my doctor would have been recommending, you know, something for me. Yeah. In that moment. Yeah. So, but uh I I love seeing Sixers fan. It was an incredible lottery party that was out there. My favorite part of the lottery party was that Sixers fans, not for a minute, were bothered that ESPN now announced us we were out. They were so well informed. They they did. They knew we weren’t out. So, I I just thought that was a great testament to Sixers fans, how locked in they are, how important they knew this moment was for the franchise. And uh you know, we’re going to put all our effort in there to uh to get the to get the best player we can get at three. Yeah, that that is a pretty cool story that it ended up the way it did. I got a final question for you. I was with Howie Roseman. Uh he received the MVP award, most valuable Philadelphiaian earlier this week and he was asking like what time did the Sixers pick or when did they find out if they get the pick and he wanted to know the exact time and he was confident. Uh and it kind of struck me because Howie Roseman went through some tough times in this town. He was doubted and the Eagles had some really couple bad years but then they rebounded to win one Super Bowl. Have won two now. But they also lost the Super Bowl two years ago and I saw a team that became extremely hungry. So I want to ask you last year what you went through last season. How much hungrier does it make you to get this right and try to win a title? Yeah. I mean that was one thing that Elman and I said after the evening was like let’s just never come back here. Right. So that was my first lottery. I hope it’s my last lottery. It’s sort of the parade of the the bad teams and you’d rather not be there. And we spent all year saying like, how do we make sure we’re never here again? And uh that’s what we worked on. Uh and I apologize, John. I we do have a draft interview in 9 minutes, so I got to I got to get I got to get to it. But I appreciate uh the time. I am not going to affect Sixers business. Sixers fans will not be happy. So I’ll let you go. Daryl my thank you so much for your time. I know it’s valuable. We appreciate your insights. Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. [Music]

This week on the Takeoff podcast with John Clark, Daryl Morey joins from the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago to discuss the Sixers’ strategy after winning the 3rd pick. Plus, Morey talks about what he learned from last season and changing their approach when Joel Embiid makes a full recovery.

00:00 – Daryl Morey
00:24 – Sixers keep the pick
00:56 – 2025 Draft Class
01:46 – Biggest need for the Sixers
02:40 – Sixers staying at 3?
03:03 – Can Embiid keep up as the Sixers get younger?
04:00 – If Joel Embiid comes back…
04:58 – Ace Bailey
05:51 – Embiid’s recovery
07:35 – Learning from last season
09:26 – Roster going into next season
12:23 – Message for the fans
13:47 – Lottery night roller coaster

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