quick takes 4: philadelphia 76ers edition

don't run it back

The Philadelphia 76ers are in trouble. Their second best player, James Harden, is feuding with their GM Daryl Morey. There was apparently a handshake agreement where Harden would take less money and then get paid or traded later, and the Sixers appear to be neither paying nor trading him. So he’s upset. Their best player, reigning MVP Joel Embiid (who was the second best player in the NBA last year), has made statements saying he’s happy to win a championship anywhere and has removed the Sixers from his Twitter profile. So, uh, the Sixers are in trouble.

I don’t know how to turn this into a Quick Take but I’d like to register that I think the Sixers should fire Morey, trade Harden, trade Embiid, and rebuild around Tyrese Maxey.

In terms of things I can put a percentage on, here are some QTs

• The Sixers will never win a championship with Embiid as their best player (95%)

• The Sixers will trade Harden before Christmas (80%)

• The Sixers will not trade Embiid before the beginning of the next offseason (80%)

• The Sixers will win less than 50 games next year (70%)

• The Sixers will not advance past the second round of the playoffs next year (70%)

Just to complain more, I sort of don’t understand what the Sixers are doing. When your best player blames his teammates after every playoff loss, it’s going to be hard to build the type of cohesive team that can win a title. Doubly so if your best player is injury prone and wants to win an MVP so bad he over-exerts himself during the regular season and is injured for the playoffs.