Morey’s offseason continues to confound
The Sixers lost a Game 7 at home to the Atlanta Hawks, and with that, there were the immediate public howls and directives.
Annually disappointed since 1983, the fans were adamant in their demands. They wanted Andre Drummond, the center who wilted whenever Joel Embiid would make a face in his direction. And they craved Georges Niang, a career backup who can’t guard a fire hydrant.
As for the draft, what they desired, what they really desired, was an 18-year-old guard who didn’t always start in his one college year at Tennessee, a stash-him-in-Serbia big-man and a mid-major center from Western Kentucky.
They were not done, however. No, the masses were insistent – insistent, they were – that Daryl Morey bring back Danny Green, who was so exposed at the defensive end early in Game 1 of the Atlanta series that the Sixers never did recover. As a matter of principle, since Green, who had been in town for about a year and thus had full command of
the situation, chose to lecture Philadelphia sports fans about their treatment of Ben Simmons, he had to be re-signed for two years, not one.
Of course, Morey went over the top treating fans to some more Furkan Korkmaz.
Really, D.M. You shouldn’t have.
Anyway, after the draft and the significant hours of free agency, the Sixers effectively exchanged Dwight Howard for Drummond, Mike Scott for Niang and George Hill for Jaden Springer. Chairs, deck. Morey did try moving Simmons at the draft, was snuffed at the rim, then declined to discuss the matter. The next trade deadline will be too late. But there is still time to do something before training camp.
That is going to happen. If so, the Sixers will have had an even more meaningful offseason than the one that already has the fans so delighted.
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I don’t get keytars.
*** Philadelphia fans enjoyed a nice weekend of nostalgia, with Harold Carmichael officially entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Roy Halladay having his number retired by the Phillies, and Manny Trillo being added to the Citizens Bank Park Wall of Fame.
All were well deserved. So, what’s next? Now that No. 34 is riveted to the wall, it’s time to give the same honor to Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.
Now that Trillo is on the Wall, it’s time to include Jim Konstanty.
And now that the 1980 Super Bowl Eagles have been recognized in Canton, it’s time for the Hall to give deeper consideration to their best player, Bill Bergey.
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You get why equestrian riders dress up like the bugler at the race track?
*** Phillies first-round draft choice Andrew Painter made an uncomfortable first impression.
At a recent introductory press availability at Citizens Bank Park, the tall right-hander made it clear that nothing was more important than the preservation of his arm and, thus, his own value. The quick interpretation: He will do nothing if it is not in the best interests of his own self.
Then, as if it was somehow a charm, he admitted to using his recently completed season to work on his pitch variety.
“You kind of work on it early,” he said. “I thought it was definitely going to be a priority. Especially in the long run, you are going to need those pitches, so why not start early? And then I just kind of used the spring season as really a chance to advance those pitches.”
Other high school athletes use the spring season to win games for their school.
Ah, maybe he’ll be great.
Scott Boras client, by the way.
• It’s not my imagination, either: Baseball became better the instant authorities began cracking down on whatever that goo it was that pitchers were using to vandalize the ball.
• Would love to see a bootleg video of Dave Dombrowski’s grin when he found somebody willing to take Spencer Howard, a living example of why there should be lemon laws for athletes, off his hands.
*** Relentless TV cuts to the parents of major-league players in the stands … I don’t get it. It’s not a tee-ball game.
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Even if it was a year too late, it worked.
As much as TV tried to ruin the spectacle with dopey interviews and coverage spread over too many networks, cable channels and apps, the Olympics weren’t bad, after all.
More, despite the parental warnings of the everfearful, roughly 10,000 athletes made it in and out of Tokyo without catastrophe.
The Olympics are not a perfect event. But they are something people enjoy watching, competing in and celebrating. And if every four years a little pingpong or horse-jumping can provide some healthy sports TV entertainment, it beats one more replay of a long-ago college football game.
As for the skateboarding? That can go. But let’s look forward to 2024, when they try it all over again in Paris. Grown-ups permitting.
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More puzzling than the appeal of the ballpark TV proposal is the couple that attends a game, one rocking the colors of the home team, the other in visitingside apparel.