Report: Sixers attempted to lure GM Daryl Morey from Rockets

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 

As Summer League wrapped up for the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night, falling to the Memphis Grizzlies in the quarterfinals, the team's focus now turns to the remainder of the offseason in preparation for next season.

As of right now, the Sixers are still without a general manager, with head coach Brett Brown currently holding the interim tag as well. Sixers owner Josh Harris has already said that the team isn't concerned with finding a replacement for Bryan Colangelo in this present moment, as a replacement would take a little while to figure out.

According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Sixers apparently had their sights on a pretty big name for their General Manager opening, but were unable to pry this candidate from his current team. 

The 76ers had great interest in Morey — freshly voted as the league's Executive of the Year — to replace the ousted Bryan Colangelo. But Morey couldn't be lured away from the Rockets, with whom he has spent the last 12 seasons. https://t.co/H7ZupxCF7c

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 16, 2018

Morey is widely considered to be one of the best executives in the NBA today, and is praised for his recent successes of acquiring James Harden and making the Rockets contenders once again. 12 years with the organization meant that Morey wasn't going to be an easy sell to move elsewhere, especially after building a Western Conference powerhouse.

Stein also reported that the Sixers would not be commenting on their general manager search, despite the report that the team was interested in getting Morey.

As the Sixers fell in their pursuit to make Morey GM, Stein had Morey's reasoning in an update to his story late Monday night.

One update to the Sixers' foiled pursuit of Daryl Morey: League sources say Philadelphia indeed sought and received permission to meet with Morey, but the Rockets' GM elected to stay where is, having built the league's consensus top threat to Golden State https://t.co/Pz3CIPx0BN

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 17, 2018

 The Sixers will need to figure out who their new general manager would be, but I have to say, it was a valiant attempt in the end to get Morey, even though they fell a little short.