Can Tobias Harris be the Philadelphia 76ers’ third option?
After 26 games with the Philadelphia 76ers, Tobias Harris has clearly been a boost to the Sixers. But has Harris been good enough be the third-best player on a championship team?
I didn’t expect the Philadelphia 76ers to trade for Tobias Harris, but loved the decision to trade for him. He averaged 20.9 points, 2.7 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game while making 43.4 percent of his shot from behind the 3-point line playing for the Los Angeles Clippers this season. Since joining the Sixers only Harris’ assists (3.0) per game have increased, while his points (18.7), rebounds (7.8), and three-point percentage (34.1 percent) have declined.
Watching Harris play, I sometimes don’t really notice him. Among the members of the starting lineup, Harris is the only one that kind of just goes with the flow of the offense. One of the worst examples, was the Sixers’ final regular season game against the Milwaukee Bucks where he scored 13 points. With Jimmy Butler missing that game, I kept wondering when Harris was going to take over.
In hindsight, he did have Giannis Antetokounmpo guarding him a lot, so his struggles in that game were understandable. It’s just surprising that his three-point percentage went down since joining the Sixers, because he should be getting more open shots sharing a starting line with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Butler, and J.J. Redick. Harris has scored no more than one three-pointer in half of the games he played for the Sixers.
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While Harris’ three-point shooting hasn’t always lived up to his reputation, in the eight games without Embiid after the All-Star break, Harris was the Sixers’ leading scorer averaging 22.5 points per game. When comparing his production to the second best player on the Eastern Conference leading Bucks and the second place Toronto Raptors, Harris matches up well. The Bucks second best player Khris Middleton is averaging 18.2 points, 4.3 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game, while the Raptors second best player Pascal Siakam is averaging 17 points, 3.1 assists, and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Harris has come a long way since being taken with the 19th pick in the 2011 draft by the then-Charlotte Hornets. Before the draft, draft expert Jonathan Givony described Harris as, “Not known as a spectacular athlete, Harris will surely have to improve the consistency of his jumper to make it in the NBA, but considering his age and work ethic, he should be able to do so.”
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Harris has done what few late round first picks have done and has improved to the point where national writers like Tommy Beer would have him ranked eighth in their 2019 free agency rankings, above Middleton and Al Horford. While it’s too soon to known if Harris is capable of being the Sixers’ Chris Bosh or Draymond Green, it’s in the realm of possibility.