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ORLANDO, Fla. -- As the Philadelphia 76ers weighed their options after future Hall of Famer James Harden requested a trade this summer, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey repeatedly stated his objectives were either to get a star for Harden or get a return that would position Philadelphia to trade for a star in the future.
The urgency of the moment was obvious. Philadelphia has the league's reigning MVP in Joel Embiid, but the team has been unable to get past the second round of the playoffs and couldn't afford to take a step back this season.
So far, the returns on the trade that sent Harden and P.J. Tucker to the LA Clippers for Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, KJ Martin, Marcus Morris Sr. and future draft assets have been positive. Philadelphia has the best point differential of any team in the NBA and sports both a top-5 offense and defense -- a longtime standard for any inner-circle title contender that has been matched this season only by the Boston Celtics.
"I believe we're good enough," Embiid told ESPN this month. "[Boston and Milwaukee], those teams are great. They got good players on paper. Like you guys [in the media] have said, they're better than us," he continued, tongue firmly in cheek.
"Whatever happens, happens. If we add whoever, that is good. If we don't, we're still going to go out and fight and try to win. But I believe in what we have. And we're going to do the best job possible."
Embiid's job is to continue being arguably the league's most dominant force, averaging a career-high 35.0 points. Morey's job, however, is something else: to try to upgrade the roster around his superstar and give Philadelphia the best chance to break through in the postseason for the first time since Allen Iverson led the Sixers to the Finals in 2001.
In the aftermath of the Harden trade, Morey has flexibility, and could take any number of paths forward as the league approaches the Feb. 8 trade deadline.