Daryl Morey thinks he built a Philadelphia 76ers roster that doesn't give up anything to the Boston Celtics' Banner 18-winning roster; one that added Baylor Scheierman and haven't brought back Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk as of this writing.
"You've got to give the Celtics their credit; they won the title, they're an excellent team, they brought everybody back, they're the target, but we don't feel like we give up anything to them, and we're gonna be coming to take the title away from them," Morey said during an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia (h/t On SI).
That's not the case, though. Sure, he added a former NBA champion, but that was the last-minute signing of Reggie Jackson -- not the $211 million investment in Paul George.
If anything, George has failed to live up to his potential in the postseason. George had three sub-20 point games during the Los Angeles Clippers' first-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks this past April.
Philadelphia will always live and die by Joel Embiid, but Boston is still best equipped to exploit him offensively and swarm him defensively. Tyrese Maxey continues to take steps forward as an alpha scorer for the Sixers, but he's still a liability defensively when up against Derrick White and Jrue Holiday.
There's a couple things Boston has on Philly right there.
The Boston Celtics spent money more wisely than the Sixers
Sure, the Celtics are in tax purgatory for nearly the next half-decade with the massive extensions Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, White, and Holiday are on. But they at least spent their money better than Morey did in the offseason.
George's four-year deal that'll bring him to the age of 38, plus Maxey's five-year, $204 million pact, put all the chips into the next few years for Philly. Embiid's legacy has been tied to those prolific, if flawed, secondary stars.
Meanwhile, the Cs have a proven product and even got good value on White's and Kristaps Porzingis's extensions.
One team has 18 banners, the other hasn't won any in over 40 years. Not hard to guess which one is which based on this past offseason.