Hey everyone happy pre-labor day and September 1st. I really love firsts of the month. They’re really fun. Every time it’s a first I make sure and tell Abby, and we celebrate it together, usually with a little dance. I try and get my three year old into it with us but he mostly just looks like at me like I’m the crazy one singing Hakuna Matata.
Last night was a bit of a sleepless night because I went to bed late but also because I was lazy to get out of bed to grab the pillow from the other room. That had me sleeping with my body pillow all night, which is a fantastic pillow if it’s used the way it’s supposed to be, but not great if you’re trying to use it as a reg pillow. It’s way too big. Let’s talk some basketball, shall we? I’ve got some Daryl Morey on my mind.
Oh where to begin. Daryl Morey, Daryl Morey, he of the NBA’s “data revolution” sea-change, the one that essentially brought “tech,” and the “tech mindset” of spreadsheet-robotic efficiency to the grind and poetry of the NBA. It’s hard to argue with the influence. He’s revolutionized the way the game is played, how the league’s players are analyzed, and how journalists cover the sport. But he’s also a General Manager. You know, the person in charge of building the culture of a team and eventually helping them reach the allusive mountaintop of a championship, not to mention being the team’s chief negotiator when it comes to player contracts.
Culture, winning, and salary negotiations, all three of these nouns are connected to each other, and I think we can make a pretty strong argument that Darryl Morey sucks at them.
Let’s take the latest with Harden. After lying to James Harden about his future with Philadelphia, Morey now has a much bigger conundrum on his hands. A mountain-sized one named Joel Embiid who really really-really-really wants to win a championship (to prove to himself that he’s better than Jokic), and who deserves the right, as the reigning MVP, to play for one.
None of this would have been an issue except for one thing, oh yeah, Morey, chief negotiator general manager dude, that one has an ego, and rather than doing what any sane human being whose life doesn’t revolve around whether they’re coming out on top, would do, Morey is going to do the exact opposite of a sane thing. Rather than, dare I say, checking his ego, Morey is going to drag his feet on this labor dispute thing with his star point guard James Harden, and mark my words, destroy the team’s relationship with their Joel Embiid-like MVP.
The solution is exceedingly simple, give Harden what he wants and trade him, but Morey isn’t going to do that because he’s built a reputation as someone who never loses a negotiation, a stone cold winner who would rather eat puppies than do something so horrifying as lose a deal. Sound like anyone familiar?
But players are expected to do the opposite on the court. They’re taught to take one for the team, to always put the team front and center, to sacrifice for the team, to team-team-team, and this is my favorite one, take less money for the team because that’s what a good team player does. But no, when it comes to General Managers, especially celebrity ones like Daryl Morey, the expectation is actually the opposite: Do what’s right for yourself and for the few suits above you.
Win at all costs. Fucking Squid Game that shit. Even if it means sinking the heart of your city and a team’s title hopes for the present and future. And since superstar players like Embiid come around once in a generation, it might be for a lot longer than the future?
I feel bad for my friends who are 76ers fans. That you got stuck with, of all the General Managers, this General Manager, the one who cares more about his fragile spreadsheet than everything that the job is supposed to be about: Passion, glory, the soul of a city, the same one where Rocky Balboa danced on top of a staircase — Philadelphia, all of that gets tossed out of the window for Dr. Spreadsheets.
Now imagine if the roles were reversed and some star player was selfishly prioritizing his/their owns needs over the teams. Said star player would be crucified. I can see all of the think pieces now, and god forbid if the player wasn’t a star. They’d be on the first bus back to the G-League, in no time. Adios contract. Dasvidanya NBA career (and subsequent production company) to make content based on their life story.
But that’s not what’s gonna happen with this Morey cretin. He’s barely going to be criticized. The reason for that, I suspect, has as much to do with the UPS, Starbucks, WGA/SAG strikes, and the greedy, hollow, and scandalous return to work policies happening across the county — as it does with basketball.
The bottom line is that those of in America who get paid, whether we’re writers or grocery store shelvers or car salesman or multi millionaire NBA basketball players, are working in a rigged system that favors the people in power signing the checks. CEOs, bankers, landlords, it doesn’t matter. It’s why everywhere you go these days people are so pissed off all the time, why a show like BEEF on Netflix resonates so hard with us, we’re all just pawns for the Daryl Moreys of the world to renegotiate with when they no longer feel like we’re worthy of their appreciation. They love us when we’re up and then want to poop on us when we’re down.
It’s why I love the Player Empowerment Movement in the NBA so much, it puts power into the hands of those who deserve it, and why my heart bleeds for James Harden, yes James Harden! for not signing his long term contract with the 76ers when he had the chance. That man may have left a couple hundred mill on the table for trusting his “handshake deal” with the Spreadsheets lord.
Growing up, the thing that used to scare me was retiring after thirty years with nothing to show for it except a cheap gold watch. It was like a waking nightmare, a burn in my belly when I woke up early to write. Now that seems like a dream come true for most people. Holding onto a job for thirty years in the year 2023 (in the country that celebrates Labor Day) when even working screenwriters and actors have to strike for their survival, and layoffs happen the second Wall Street comes to collect its receipts (on bogus subscriber models), makes a gold watch sound rather charming.
Luckily, the money and the size of contracts in the NBA makes it so players can kinda cocoon themselves from the vagaries of power, but it’s the same bullshit no matter where you go. So, yeah, players in the NBA, SAG, Starbucks workers; writers, we all have something in common, and if I said it once, I’ll say it again, James Harden deserves some major props for standing up to Daryl Morey this summer.
Love y’all, happy September 1st, Labor Day is upon us
BBF
What’s a time you got royally screwed by the powers at be? Don’t be shy.
Special thanks to Big Wos at The Ringer for majorly inspiring me for this one