Philadelphia 76ers: Tobias Harris’ former teammate was critical of withdraw

Tobias Harris of the Philadelphia 76ers was recently criticized for his decision to not play for the USA in the FIBA World Cup by a former teammate.

The Philadelphia 76ers starting small forward Tobias Harris is a well traveled player in his NBA career. He’s played for five teams in his eight NBA seasons. He’s made plenty of friends along the way, Boban Marjanovic is the most prominent example. Another friend he made was Evan Fournier when both were on the Orlando Magic. Fournier recently criticized his former temmate and friend according to Dionysis Aravantinos of EuroHoops.

"“It does [bother me]. To be honest, when you look at LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and all these guys… they came here already and won, so it’s fine. But for friends of mine like Tobias [Harris], I thought it was a great opportunity for him to see something different and compete. I think they don’t realize how beneficial this is for their career. It’s a great tournament, great basketball, super intense. I know you have to work on your game, but this is way better.”"

There’s a lot to unload from the Magic’s wing’s statement. Harris was one of many players to withdraw from playing for the USA’s FIBA World Cup team, but he wasn’t the only one he mentioned.

Fournier excused superstars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving from missing the FIBA World Cup. Durant wouldn’t have been able to play anyway because of injury; but due to the fact that those players have won on the international stage before, is the reason why he is willing to give them a pass.

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Superstars were given a pass, but Fournier didn’t give a pass to his friend and former teammate of a season and a half in Harris. However, it doesn’t appear like Fournier is attacking Harris, but wishes that he could have taken advantage of the situation. Fournier led the French team that knocked the USA out of contention for a top spot with 22 points. Surely not having Harris on the USA roster made it easier for France to win, but this statement by Fournier isn’t focused on that aspect.

It appears that Fournier wanted the best for his former teammate and based on the quote above, believes that playing in the World Cup was more important than not. Fournier knows the benefits of participating in the World Cup as he’s done it twice in his career including this past one.The first time he played in the World Cup was in the 2013-14 season in which he saw an increase in production when he played with the Denver Nuggets that same year.

The quote from Fournier is critical of Harris’ absence, but it wasn’t meant in a negative aspect. The two played with each other for all of the 2014-15 season and part of the 2015-16 before Harris was traded to the Detroit Pistons. It appears that during that time they built a strong enough relationship in which Fournier is willing to give Harris constructive criticism.

What Harris does with this criticism is on him, but hopefully he can use it as fuel entering this season for the Philadelphia 76ers. Team USA clearly could have benefited with Harris on the roster, but hopefully the decision he made to not play will yield positive results.