When Daryl Morey became the general manager of the Houston Rockets, he wanted to tank.
Leslie Alexander wouldn’t let him, and it forced Morey to get creative with asset management and development. Eventually, Morey landed his white whale in James Harden and tried to surround him with complementary players to unlock his game.
You know most of this, but as the last-place Houston Rockets take on the first-place Philadelphia 76ers, we have to look at where these teams are vs. where they were 5 or 10 years ago. The Sixers tanked to land Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.