The Philadelphia 76ers are tasking Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey with maximizing what’s left of their championship window.<\/p>\n
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Friday Gansey is replacing Daryl Morey as the Sixers’ president of basketball operations.<\/p>\n
Gansey has worked with the Cavs at some level dating back to 2012. He started with the Canton Charge, their NBA G League affiliate, in 2012, before becoming the Cavs’ assistant general manager in 2017.<\/p>\n
The team promoted Gansey to GM in 2022 after Koby Altman received a step up to president of basketball operations.<\/p>\n
Philly jettisoned Morey on the heels of a second-round sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks. It was an outcome that laid bare how far the team is from being at a championship level.<\/p>\n
One could also view the last few years as a rebuke of Morey’s overall approach. The longtime executive has generally believed<\/a> that talent supersedes all. Whether all of the pieces fit matters less than if the raw tools are there.<\/p>\n Philadelphia’s biggest swings of the Morey era backfired spectacularly. <\/p>\n James Harden publicly called him<\/a> a “liar” during the 2023 offseason and successfully requested a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers after appearing in 79 games. Signing Paul George hasn’t been a total disaster, but the nine-time All-Star’s decline is impossible to ignore. In addition, he has missed more than entire season (86 games) since arriving.<\/p>\n The other problem with George is that he’s on the books<\/a> for two more years and $110.7 million. That deal is pretty much untradable.<\/p>\n The same might be true of Joel Embiid’s three-year, $187.9 million extension.<\/p>\n Embiid averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks during the regular season, and he almost single-handedly decided the Sixers’ first-round series with the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n The decorated center simply can’t stay healthy, though. Since winning an MVP in 2022-23, he has failed to log 40 appearances for three straight seasons.<\/p>\n When healthy, Embiid remains one of the league’s best players. During the Celtics series, one anonymous NBA team official compared him<\/a> to Hakeem Olajuwon.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the durability concerns are probably never going away, and that will limit his and his team’s ceiling.<\/p>\n Moving on from Morey was an understandable response to how the Sixers’ season ended. A new voice at the top of the front office doesn’t change the fact the organization is stuck between a rock and a hard place.<\/p>\n As long as Embiid and George are there, Philadelphia can’t embrace a full rebuild. The stars’ respective trade values are such that they likely wouldn’t bring a lot back if Gansey was prepared to begin a teardown.<\/p>\n Embracing a longer-term view is further complicated by the fact Morey sacrificed a lot of draft capital<\/a> in trades. Being in win-now mode meant there has been less focus on player development too, and the decision to trade Jared McCain looks even worse in hindsight.<\/p>\n The McCain trade, which put the 76ers under the luxury tax, could reflect the biggest challenge ahead.<\/p>\n Co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer are a common denominator across multiple front-office and coaching regimes. They empowered Sam Hinkie to start “The Process,” which morphed into the ill-fated Bryan Colangelo\u00a0era amid outside pressure.<\/p>\n