Despite being with the team for less than a year, Daryl Morey is well familiar with Philadelphia 76ers’ internet lore.
Keith Pompey of The Philly Inquirer released an article this week deeming the team’s strategy known as “The Process” to be a failure. The efforts began eight years ago when former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie started blatantly tanking in order to accumulate high draft picks. “The Process” did ultimately net them stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. But Philadelphia still has yet to earn even a conference finals berth since then. Meanwhile, teams like the Phoenix Suns and the Atlanta Hawks have rebuilt much more quickly and have already achieved greater success.
Morey, the Sixers current GM, responded to the article Saturday in hilarious fashion. He posted a tweet that read, “That is a normal procedure. Move on, find a new slant.”
The tweet is obviously a funny reference to the internet burner scandal involving ex-Sixers executive Bryan Colangelo. In 2018, Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini, used secret Twitter accounts to defend her husband and to criticize various Sixers players. Her tweets sometimes even leaked sensitive information about the team. One infamous tweet defended Colangelo over his tendency to wear large collars. The post read, “That is a normal collar. Move on, find a new slant.”
Colangelo would ultimately resign due to the backlash from the scandal. Meanwhile, Morey is famously close with Hinkie, having mentored Hinkie back when they both worked together on the Houston Rockets. Thus, his tweet also reads as an implicit defense of Hinkie. The Sixers hired Colangelo in 2016 in what was largely seen as an effort to undermine Hinkie. Morey seems to be hinting that Hinkie, who stepped down from his post amid the Colangelo hiring, might have been successful with “The Process” had the Sixers allowed him to fully see it through.
Regardless, Hinkie now has the task of picking up the pieces in Philadelphia this offseason. Other teams have already come knocking to see if they can engage the Sixers in a blockbuster trade.
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