Download the NBA App<\/a><\/p>\nCAMDEN, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Give Mike Gansey a pinch of credit for his acknowledgment of the most obvious part of the condition of the franchise as he takes over \u2014 kind of, sort of \u2014\u00a0the 76ers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a championship caliber team right now,\u201d Gansey said.<\/p>\n
Gansey is already at work as Philadelphia\u2019s latest\u00a0president of basketball\u00a0operations, trying to find ways to raise the team to a championship level, while deeply hindered by near-untradeable, unwanted contracts tied to aging and unreliable Joel Embiid and Paul George.<\/p>\n
Can the Sixers still expect to win a title with Embiid and George on the roster while also trying to build around Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe as the long-term centerpieces for any kind of championship future?<\/p>\n
Gansey had few hard solutions \u2014 \u201cI just got here,\u201d he noted \u2014 at his first press conference Monday at the 76ers\u2019 complex in New Jersey. He certainly can\u2019t solve all that ails the Sixers on Day 1. Those obstacles include closing the gap on the soaring\u00a0New York Knicks, and getting into the\u00a0NBA Finals, a task that seems unlikely to be accomplished with Embiid and George on the roster.<\/p>\n
The 43-year-old Gansey, a Northeast Ohio native, who played collegiately at West Virginia, was hired last week to replace\u00a0Daryl Morey. Morey was fired last month after the 76ers were eliminated in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.<\/p>\n
The 76ers were\u00a0easily ousted by the New York Knicks\u00a0to end Morey\u2019s sixth season in charge, and the organization quickly decided that someone else would lead the basketball operations department.<\/p>\n
Enter Gansey.<\/p>\n
Gansey joined the Cavaliers in 2011 and had worked as their general manager since 2022 and will lead a bit of revamped front office. Jameer Nelson, the 2004 AP Player of the Year at nearby Saint Joseph\u2019s, was promoted to general manager and replaced former Sixer Elton Brand.<\/p>\n
They will report to former Golden State Warriors general manager\u00a0Bob Myers, president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the 76ers.<\/p>\n
Myers has his own questions about the franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to become great at something, right?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Which raises a more pressing question.<\/p>\n
Who is really calling the shots for the 76ers?<\/p>\n
Gansey called Myers a \u201ccheat code\u201d to help him in the front office of a franchise that hasn\u2019t advanced past the second round in the East since 2001 or won an NBA title since 1983.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just like every front office; you\u2019ve got him, he\u2019s an extension of ownership with Josh (Harrs) essentially,\u201d Gansey said. \u201cAny recommendations, any ideas, we\u2019re going to go through them. We\u2019re going to be in alignment throughout the whole organization, Nick Nurse included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gansey said getting Nelson as his GM was a \u201cbit of a sticking point\u201d before he took the job and championed inheriting Nurse for at least one more season on the bench.<\/p>\n
Myers said his main goal is to \u201cjust be supportive for Mike and the whole staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uh huh.<\/p>\n
Myers was with Golden State for 12 seasons, getting promoted quickly to general manager and eventually being given the title of president as well. The Warriors won four NBA titles in his time there.<\/p>\n
When it comes time to make a final decision on a major trade or signing a free agent, it strains all credibility to suggest Myers won\u2019t have a major, major say in making the call.<\/p>\n
What about Embiid?<\/p>\n
Joel Embiid returns to action after an appendectomy with a 26-point effort against the Celtics in Game 4 of the first round.<\/p>\n
How does this franchise ever win a championship as long as it\u2019s tethered to an aging, fragile and overpriced anchor in Embiid? The 32-year-old Embiid\u2019s three-year, $187 million extension kicks in this season while George is owed more than $110 million over the final two years of his free-agent deal.<\/p>\n
Gansey was evasive on Embiid\u2019s future \u2014 much like he was when a similar question was posed that asked about his part in bringing a washed James Harden to Cleveland \u2014 but noted he already had \u201cgood conversations\u201d with the two-time NBA scoring champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith him and the roster we have,\u201d Gansey said, \u201cthat\u2019s who we have. We\u2019ve got to get those guys on the floor. We\u2019ve got to create an identity. Just get them to play basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Embiid has played only 96 of 246 regular-season games over the last three seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find an identity,\u201d Myers said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s maybe a harsh thing to say. But look at the numbers. We were not elite offensively or defensively. If you\u2019re going to win at the highest level, you\u2019ve got to be great at something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only way to get great, Myers said, is to have a team\u2019s best players on the court.<\/p>\n
Or, player.<\/p>\n
Embiid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good news is this,\u201d Myers said. \u201cThere\u2019s no scheduled surgeries this summer. There\u2019s no injury going into the offseason. In the past, there has been that. This is an opportunity to get better, not to play catch-up for Joel, but to actually get better and build on last year. And with that, the hope\u2019s that he can be on the floor a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Gansey\u2019s first major move?<\/p>\n
The 76ers have the 22nd pick of the June 23 draft, a recent strong suit of the franchise after years of high-profile misses that curtailed the path toward contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to hit on that,\u201d Gansey said.<\/p>\n
He said it<\/p>\n
\u201cI want fountains not drains.\u201d
\u2014Gansey\u2019s way of saying he wanted high-character players with a desire to play in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Gansey was Bob Myers\u2019 hire to head up the Philadelphia 76ers basketball operations. \u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[300453,355,99],"class_list":["post-692791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-mike-gansey-76ers","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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