CAMDEN, N.J. – On Thursday afternoon, Sixers Managing Partner Josh Harris and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment President of Sports Bob Myers met with reporters to discuss the firing of former Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and the next steps for an organization looking to find its way.

Myers, a four-time NBA champion as the lead decision-maker of the Golden State Warriors and a trusted confidant of Harris, appears set to become a central figure for this franchise, even beyond the completion of the search process he is leading to hire Morey's replacement.

Where does Myers stand on the construction of this roster, and what does he believe are the next steps the Sixers must take to return to championship contention? What does Harris say to frustrated fans who do not have faith that the team is headed in the right direction?

In the newest edition of Sixers soundbites, a full transcript of Thursday's availability with Harris and Myers:

• Harris makes an opening statement:

"Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. Tuesday was a difficult day for me. I consider Daryl Morey a friend, and he did a lot of positive things for our franchise. We made the playoffs five of six years, including the conference semifinals four of those seasons. Obviously, we drafted Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe — great players, core players. And over the next seven years, we have seven first-round draft picks and 12 second-round picks. I wish Daryl and his family the best. As we move forward, Bob Myers will oversee basketball and run the process to identify a new day-to-day leader. Bob is someone I've known for a long time. We have a great relationship. I've had the privilege of working with him over the last few  years as president of HBSE Sports. His credentials speak for themselves: four NBA championships, two NBA Executive of the Year Awards, and he's universally respected across the sports industry. I very much look forward to Bob, the new day-to-day head of basketball operations, whoever that is, and [head coach] Nick Nurse [leading]  our front office and coaching staff next year. To our fans , I want you to know: no one's more frustrated than me that we haven't achieved our goals. I care deeply for the city and the team. I acknowledge how disappointing it is that we've not made it past the second round of the playoffs. We owe it to you and the city to be better. Thank you deeply for your support. Now, I'll turn it over to Bob."

• Myers makes an opening statement:

"Thank you, Josh. I also want to share my gratitude for Daryl. I've known him for quite some time, have great respect for him, and wish him nothing but the best. I also want to say thank you for this opportunity to manage this process, to partner with new leadership. I take it very seriously. This  city [has] a passionate fan base. This is a blue blood organization. And  so to get put in this position is a privilege, it’s  an honor. I view myself as a steward to the fan base, and I take that very seriously. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think Josh and David Blitzer and HBSE was not serious about winning, and weren't committed to winning. I view these things as great challenges. These are great responsibilities to be in these chairs , but also not easy, and I know we have challenges ahead. I spent yesterday with the existing members of the basketball front office in Chicago. Elton Brand is there today with the group. We've got a lot of work to do , and we know that. With the 22nd pick in the draft , time to get to work. We’re less than 48 hours, though, away from this change, so I have some work to do, and I look forward to doing that. Again what I would say is when you look at the NBA, there's a few places that stand out as far as the history of the organization, the care of a city, and this is certainly one of them. And I'm excited to kind of move forward in this role."

• Myers on what he is looking for in a replacement for Morey:

"I'm a big believer in character and leadership, and I'm looking for a person that embodies those things. But there's many characteristics under that, that I believe kind of qualify in making a modern GM a success. There’s front-facing responsibilities. There's responsibilities of managing star players. There's responsibilities of managing up to ownership. There's contract negotiations. There's draft process. There's evaluating analytics. There's medical staff. You go down the line, and these jobs have an enormity to them, so I'm looking to find someone that can check as many of those boxes as possible but also raise their hand and say, ‘You know what? I'm actually not good in this space. I'm going to need some support.’ Because the misnomer about these jobs is: I had some success in my previous job, but it wasn't me by myself. There  are teams of people that make a team and an organization successful, so making sure we have the right person to lead them but also the right people underneath them, which is important. And the person that is going to get this job, like I said, I hope they check all those. They won't. It doesn't exist. How can we support them in roles that they don't have?"

MORE: Candidates to replace Morey

• Myers on what the biggest advantages and disadvantages of the Sixers' current standing are:

"There will be one happy team at the end of this season. Just one. There will be 29 teams that didn't get the job done. We're one of them. We're one of the 29 that didn't win the championship this year. Our season's over. And so you have to acknowledge the why of that and how did we get here, right? So there's some good moments. There's some good things about this organization, and there's some things we need to get better at. And some of those things we can fix internally, and some of them we can’t. And so we have to be honest about who we are and why we came up short, because you only do these jobs, you only take these jobs — I only take these jobs to win a championship.I think players, if they're being honest, only play to win a championship. I didn't hear any players say, ‘ Well, we had a great season, and, and this is exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to get swept in the second round.’ Nobody's saying that. I'm not saying, he's not saying that. So why did it happen, and what can we do? And again, that involves an intense evaluation process. Getting to know the players, getting to know the coaches, getting to know what works better, what can we change? And sometimes those solutions are ours to control, and sometimes they're not. Having done this job previously, sometimes I could get the team better internally, and sometimes I couldn't, and then you have to make changes externally. So that's our job. I think there are some positives, and there's some things that are challenges that we have to work through, but all of it has to be evaluated, starting with now we've got the 22nd pick  in the draft, we’ve got to get that right. And then there's free agency. And then there's an offseason program, and all those things matter to get us to where we want to go."

• Myers on the adage that it is not hard to get from bad to good, but it is challenging to go from good to championship contention, and what the Sixers need to do to make that leap:

"I believe that adage because when you're bad, you can try anything, and if it doesn't work, you're still bad. But if you're good, you have to risk something to go to great. So that's why it is harder to go from good to great, because you risk something. You risk making a mistake and falling back to bad. When you're good, you're scared to do that, or you're more resistant because you say, ‘ If it doesn't work, we're going to be bad.’ When you're bad, if it doesn't work, you're still bad. But yes, that is the nuance and challenge of any team. So there's some teams, there's a lot of teams — we made it to the elite eight, you might say. Well, you don’t really get celebrated for that in this business, nor do I believe should you. So then you say, ‘What do we need to do to get to great?’ I've actually been lucky enough to see what great looks like. But  that's not easy. It's not easy. So it's a hard look at everything. It's a hard look at whoever we hire, and we'll place it on them. It's a hard look at what I've experienced and what I know that makes a championship team. But it's also a question to our players: do  you wanna get uncomfortable? Because it takes a great level of uncomfortability to win a championship. Do we have that? Do you want that? Do we want that? Do you want to take that responsibility on? Are we satisfied? I don't. I know  [Josh is] not. And our players better not be satisfied with four out of six second- round [ playoff appearances]. Yeah , it's not easy to make the playoffs, but nobody plays this game to make the playoffs. In fact, 16 teams make the playoffs, more than half the league. That's not anybody's goal. The goal is to win a championship, so I say these things, but  I also want to say, clearly, how hard it actually is and how hard it will be. There is no wave a wand, me sit up here at a press conference and talk for 10 seconds, and that's the answer to fixing everything, and we're off. This requires a ton of work. And so whoever we bring into this process, including myself, including our staff, our players, has to be committed to that in a very big way, and that means sacrificing time and energy and putting everything you have into this. And we're going to demand that. I'm going to demand that of whoever we hire. I'm going to do that myself because I just don't know how to not do it. But we need our players to want that too, and that's our challenge to put on them."

• Myers on if he wants the executive he hires to lay out the plan for the future themselves or follow guidelines Myers puts in place for them ahead of their hiring:

"I'm a big believer in whatever the best answer is, whoever comes up with that, is the best answer. I don't care who says it, but it requires a lot of debate, a lot of conversation. I'll tell you what I'm looking for in a leader: somebody that's committed to getting it done, to getting us there, and is aligned with myself, is aligned with Josh, is aligned with our expectations, our work ethic, our commitment, our competitiveness. If they want to make a big statement about what we need to do, I'll listen to that. I asked the staff last night that exists, ‘ What are you guys gonna do? What do you think?’ A lot of different answers. And they said, ‘ What do you think?’ I said, ‘ I don't know the answer, but we're going to  figure out the answer.’ As  far as  one specific thing, I never think — like I said, having been fortunate enough to see how you win, I love Stephen Curry. I love him. He got one Finals MVP. It’s not one person that wins championships. It's a team that wins. And he would say that too, and he doesn't care. He's got four NBA championships. That's what matters. It's not about anything else. It's about the team. And we want as many people that — I know the nature is to look at one person. It's never one person. It's a team of people. Whoever wins it this year, it won't be one guy. It'll be a team of people. And we’ve got to figure out what team we can put together that has an opportunity to do that."

• Myers on whether the Sixers should be prioritizing the timelines of older players like Joel Embiid and Paul George or younger ones like Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe moving forward:

"That is the question. And if I had the answer to that question, I'd actually just do it. I don't know if I need to tell you. I'd just do it. I look forward to partnering with leadership to get that answer, but you're asking the right question, but that's a question I think everybody's asking. And it's not to criticize an older player or praise a younger player. It's about: how do we get past the second round? How do we get further? But that's what makes the job hard. That's what makes it gratifying, is figuring — if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it. It's very hard to build these things and build them in the right way."

• Myers on how important it will be for a candidate to show they can maximize the remainder of the expensive contracts the Sixers have handed out to Embiid and George:

"Not having interviewed anybody, that's a good question that I will ask them. 'Well, how do you feel about our roster?' And I imagine I'll get different answers from different candidates. And there will be one answer or maybe a few that stand out and [make me] say, 'That's really interesting. I didn't think about it that way.' Or I might say, 'What about this? What do you think we can do here? Um, what do you view from the outside?' Sometimes when you talk to candidates or people outside your organization, you get a different answer than [from] people inside. There's a bias inside a building [compared to] outside. Somebody [could] say, 'You know, actually, I think this can work,' or, 'I really like this guy,' or 'What if you played this way? What if you partnered these two guys?' Again, I don't look at it as – I don't want to speak for Josh, is whoever we hire, I'm not going to base it on the first thing they do, the first player [they acquire]. If we get it right, this person will be here for a long, long time and make many decisions, and hopefully many of the right decisions. But as far as near-term, yeah, those are questions I'll ask, maybe borrow your question, just ask that question: 'How do you think this can work?' And, and then I might say, 'What about this?' Josh might say, 'What about that?' The people that have been in the building might say, 'I think this.' I'm a big believer in a group. I didn't win four championships. I didn't do that. Our group did that. People did that. I like that idea. Working in sports is the best thing because you're on a team. And so I look forward to building out someone that can lead that team and work with myself and certainly work with Josh."

• Myers on if he believes Morey handled the trade of Jared McCain properly, from the transaction itself to his ensuing controversial comments about having "sold high" on the fan favorite:

"Well, I'm not going to – I like Daryl. I'm not going to disparage Daryl here today. I think he did a fine job, and I think he's a good person. And what I will say to your question, and I understand why you asked it, is that what I will tell you is that was a few months ago. Right now we have the 22nd pick. Our job is to get that right. We have three second-round picks from it. We should be graded on the ultimate result of transactions like that. But I understand. I made draft picks where we got an F right away, 10 minutes after the draft. F! And I was like, 'How do they know it's an F? I mean, the guy hasn't even played." But your job and everybody's job is to react. I totally understand that. Our job is to make a trade. There will be a reaction. It'll be positive or negative, but that trade isn't done, and our job is to make sure that on our end of the trade, we do a good job of drafting the best player at 22."

• Myers on what he envisions his role with the Sixers looking like after he makes a hire and how it differs from what it has been since he joined HBSE in October:

"I view [myself] taking the next few weeks, not sure how long it'll be, to identify a day-to-day leader that'll have a lot of authority here, which they should. What they're going to get, and our fans are going to get, is them plus me. I won't be on a day-to-day level, but on the high-level decision making, which is being here at the draft, being here leading up to the trade deadline, being available for free agency discussions, free agency meetings, things like that, I'm going to be involved at that level. And I can tell you that I imagine – and this isn't, I'm not saying this lightly – I'll be communicating with that person daily, if not five out of seven days a week. And I don't only view that as at a job. [It is] because I want to. I want to hire somebody that I can work with. I want to hire somebody that Josh can work with. And most importantly, I want to win. And I think that I have had some experience in this space, and if I have something to say, it's hard harder for me not to say it than say it. But that'll be my role, and obviously continuing to work with Josh on all this very high-level stuff. But I'm looking forward to that role. And the best part about working in sports is the competition. If you like competition, it's a great space to live in. But you've got to deal with some pain. You've got to deal with some loss. But when you win, it's all worth it. But that would be how I would characterize it."

MORE: Previewing Sixers' 2026 offseason

• Harris on if Embiid can still lead the Sixers to a championship:

"We win as a team, we lose as a team. Bob said it's not one player. I think putting all the focus on one player is the wrong place to be. I think that he's an important player on our roster and he's a warrior, and some of the things that you said are also true. So I think we're looking forward to welcoming him back on our team."

• Myers on if he would like the search for a new lead executive to be completed before the NBA Draft next month:

"I'd like to have someone. I hope to have someone. But if it hasn't happened, that's okay too. But the goal would be to have someone in place for the draft to get acclimated with the new group. By the way, the group is working now. And whoever we hire, not sure who that will be, will likely, possibly already be evaluating the draft from where they're coming from. So that's a benefit in some ways. But yeah, I'd like to, and I hope to, but it'll be as much time as required to get the best person. Because again, sure, have someone by the draft, but the goal would be to have someone that's the right person for a long amount of time after that."

• Harris on his reaction to New York Knicks fans taking over the Sixers' arena by the end of the second-round series:

"Yeah, so obviously I didn't like it. I mean, it's our home court. We did everything we could, including buying tickets to keep the [Knicks] fans out. We geofenced. And look, it's not – it's on us. The fans supported us. And let's face it, we got swept. And so for that last game, you know, there were some Knicks fans in the arena. And so our job is to come back and win that series next year. And so, I didn't like it, but it gives me more focus and more orientation to just sort of getting back to work and bringing in – I mean, again, we have a four-time NBA champion here who's going to be overseeing basketball ops, and that's a big deal. And so there's a recognition that, hey, this city's not going to be satisfied, and we're not going to be satisfied unless we win an NBA championship. That's hard. There's 30 teams that want to do it. There's 29 other teams that are all smart, and we need to be smarter. And so that's what this is about. It's about doing everything we can to move to the next level."

• Harris on what he has made of Nurse's three-year tenure in Philadelphia so far and whether or not Nurse will have a role in the search process for Morey's replacement:

"The team played hard for Nick, and there were a lot of things that happened, I think we all saw, where there were various rosters that were available and rosters that weren't available. We were up-tempo, and then we slowed it down, and he handled all that. And even in the playoffs, the team played hard. And Nick's a championship coach. He's won an NBA title. So I think he's earned the right to be here. He's our coach moving forward into next season. In terms of the search, I'll leave, I'll leave that to [Bob]. But I think generally, you talk to your coach, you listen to what they want, but ultimately his job is not to find the next GM or President of Basketball Ops. It's our job."

• Myers on Nurse:

"I saw Nick yesterday in Chicago. He's got enough on his plate. And like Josh said, it is our job and our responsibility to locate this person. And it's not to exclude Nick, but again, he's got enough responsibility. And this is our focus. But look, I imagine somebody that we hire will be a great partner for Nick, and that's what we have to promise him."

"Yeah, I watched the team just like I'm sure you watched the team. The thing I liked was that we got to see – and it's maybe not completely, but we got to see a healthy team. We got to see, at least in the playoffs for the most part, Joel came back. And when you're healthy in the playoffs, the best part is you don't have any excuses about why you lost. You lost. I didn't like ever going into the playoffs with, 'Well, so and so was hurt, and if he had been healthy, we would've...' Those hypotheticals aren't helpful. So what is helpful is we played a team, we were mostly healthy, we lost. Okay. Let's just be honest about that. Let's acknowledge that. After that, to your question, that's going to be the next – leading up to the draft. What do we need to draft? What are we missing? What do we not have? And then the question's going to be with what we have, how do we get better with what we have? And the final question's going to be: we've got a mid-level exception. What do we do with that? But back to the other point, I want to partner with somebody that I can have those discussions with in a meaningful way, and I'm going to have those discussions with potential candidates and ask them that question. I don't have that answer today, but our job is to have that answer. It was fascinating to hear, from the current staff that I saw yesterday in Chicago, what was said at the exit interviews. I find that very impactful. I'm not going to tell you. That's not fair. All of it matters. All these conversations, all the things you learn about an organization – when the game is over, and you go in the locker room and you talk to the players, you talk to the coach, you talk to the training staff: what happened this season? Until we get all of that, I'm not going to say we've got the answers to that question, but I do know this: we have to get better, find a way to get better."

• Harris on the process that led to the McCain trade and if he views it as a mistake that Morey was empowered to make such a decision months before being let go:

"So the way these things work generally with something like that is the front office makes a recommendation, and then ownership, which included Bob at that point, we okayed it. So I think we were involved in it. It was part of a bigger plan. I wouldn't say that – as Bob said, we don't know the outcome of that trade right now. We are sitting here with the 22nd pick, but I understand what you're saying, and I understand the question. And I heard all– obviously I understand the view of it here. So I think that right now we're focused on, what do we do with all the assets we got in that trade? And we'll know whether that trade was a good trade or not a good trade over the next year or two. But yes, that's the way it worked."

• Harris on if he is willing to empower a front office to cross the luxury tax threshold in light of repeated maneuvering below it at trade deadlines:

"Yeah, I appreciate the question. There's been a lot of chatter, and that gives me a chance to answer it directly. The front office absolutely has the green light to go into luxury tax. In fact, we've been in and out of luxury tax. And so it's not an issue. I mean, it's just not an issue. We're building an arena here. I can tell you that the amount of dollars you spend on that versus the luxury tax, it's magnitudes more. We built this facility. We've signed a number of max deals. So there's no issue with the luxury tax. And so I'm glad that you asked."

• Myers on the same issue:

"And I'm just going to add to that. I don't know a lot of you, but I just can't imagine a day where if I said to Josh or leadership said to Josh, 'This deal makes us a contender, but you have to go into the tax,' if he says no, which he won't, I wouldn't work for somebody like that. Because look, to be honest, if you look at the history of teams that have won a championship – I was one of them – we were in the tax. It'd be great if you can win a championship by not being in the tax. Very hard to do. But it has to make sense. Again, I'm not worried about that part of the job, because if that comes up, I know what the answer will be."

• Myers on if Brand, currently the general manager, is a candidate for the front-office opening:

"I'm going to take, since we just – like I said, this not even 48 hours [ago] – I'm going to talk to Elton, get his thoughts on things. I've spoken to him. Like I said, he's in Chicago now with the group. Known Elton a long time, [will] figure out what we think is best, but we haven't gotten to that level of detail with any of that yet."

• Myers on if he believes in drafting for fit or choosing the best player available:

"I think the philosophy will be what – I think this group's done a pretty good job drafting, to be honest. I don't want to come in and run over anybody. This existing group, including Daryl, has drafted some, some good players. Maxey, VJ , good examples of very successful players that were picked, so I'm not an expert in that. I'll give my opinion. I want to meet with the group, hear what they say. Each year is a little bit different as to what you're looking for. See who might be available at that pick and partner with new leadership and see what their philosophies are on the whole thing. But look, obviously you want somebody you can build on. Maxey's the ultimate success story in that range. I mean, can't expect that, but at the same time, getting a quality player you can build with."

• Myers on how much autonomy he expects his new hire to have:

"You need good people. You need good people that are in harmony, so there is no acrimony. There's no– you can debate, healthy debate. But I, actually, in my previous job, we had a lot of people in the room commenting on what we should do, what we shouldn't do. But ultimately we came together and I expect a lot of autonomy of this person. If I do a good job, a tremendous amount of autonomy, because that's what you want: hire somebody, let them do their job. But at the highest level, you certainly give your opinion, you weigh in. A healthy organization, you're not in a room where people are storming out and back-channeling and saying, 'I would've done that, I would've done this.' So hiring a decent person that I can collaborate with. And by the way, it's not your problem. I'm not going to hire somebody that I don't think can be malleable, that can be collaborative, that can be thoughtful, that can take direction, that can be humble enough to say, 'You know what? That time I didn't get it right,' or, 'You know what? I really believe in this. You have to give me the strength to make this decision.' All those things are part of hiring the right person. And as to what happened in the past, obviously I wasn't here, but I believe we're gonna get a very functioning, high-functioning, quality front office with this hire."

• Harris on the frustration from fans that has been directed towards him specifically:

"I think I'm very focused on setting up the team and the club to push through the second round and go to the NBA championship, achieve our goals. I care deeply for the team. No one's more frustrated than I am. I understand people's frustration, and this is – going out and getting someone as talented as Bob to kind of help Philly achieve its goals – this is the next step in our evolution. And so, all I can tell you is that I'm sweating it really hard. I'm sweating it just as hard or harder [than] any of the fans. But that's what I'm focused on, and I understand people's frustration."

• Myers on if a team can win a championship in today's NBA with three max contracts:

"Well, we didn't get it done this year with three guys, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. I think it's a smart question in that, what's the modern roster supposed to look like with the second apron, really, which oftentimes operates as kind of a hard cap? The truth is, depth may be more important than it's ever been. Maybe that's the pace of play. Maybe that's what we require of our players more. Not to say that this model doesn't work, but we have to look at what happened this year and be honest about it and see if – we've got to be honest about, can this model work? And that's really the question, and also understanding that depth is key, and you only have a certain amount of resources to spend. So that's something – that's all part of the questions. It's all part of what we need to figure out going forward."

MORE: How Morey's Sixers tenure reached its end after six chaotic seasons