As another Philadelphia 76ers season comes to an unfortunate end, the entire Delaware Valley plays the finger-pointing game.

It’s the coach’s fault, Harden’s fault; they have the worst bench in the NBA, whatever the case may be. It’s time we turn our focus on a different person, the president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey.

Since he arrived in Philadelphia, Morey has been dealt a tough card. We can all agree he made the most out of the awful Horford contract, as well as turning Josh Richardson into Seth Curry, who was a key role player that was flipped for a declining James Harden. Thybulle was deemed untouchable in any Harden trade when in reality; Curry would’ve been more useful.

The Ben Simmons situation was a very tall and unfair task to handle. It’s easy for everyone to assume Morey should have pursued a different deal with another team. But on paper, bringing in Harden seemed like a home run. Simmons would never play another game for the Sixers; Morey knew that. While the MVP days are long-gone from Harden, he can still be an impactful player on a team with very few impactful players.

In no world can Morey pay Harden a max contract. There’s just no way the fans of Philadelphia will let that fly with his complete lack of effort in the final two playoff games, most notably game six at home. It looks even worse considering Harden’s relationship with Morey and Michael Rubin, which appears to be a business-centric focus over winning basketball games.

The biggest problem with Morey’s moves this year, or lack thereof, is the complete negation of the bench. An awful bench has plagued the 76ers for the entire Embiid era. It’s honestly malpractice for Morey to continue to ignore this issue. According to Statmuse, the 76ers had the 28th ranked bench in the NBA. Of the sixteen teams in the playoffs, the Sixers had the 14th ranked bench.

On top of the bench issues, the Sixers honestly need an identity change. Some fans would suggest they never had an identity in the first place. The Sixers were the 29th-ranked rebounding team in the NBA this season. This is a product of having too many soft players who don’t have the grit and determination to win in the playoffs. There’s no excuse for it.

Not sure why Tobias would say something like this. His inability to ever grab a loose ball or box out has hurt the Sixers in back-to-back postseasons. I think it’s fair to say that Sixers fans want actual hard-nosed players and guys who honestly give a shit.

We are officially done with the talented guys collecting a check first.

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