Philadelphia 76ers: Tobias Harris ranked as top-15 power forward in NBA

The Philadelphia 76ers’ most expensive asset has produced this season.

A fair and balanced perspective on Tobias Harris is difficult to come by. He’s being paid $180 million over a five-year span, the price of most top-shelf superstars. He will never live up to his contract — not in a vacuum at least — but the Philadelphia 76ers have still gotten productive minutes from the 27-year-old.

Harris spent most of the season sandwiched into the starting five at small forward. The Sixers still made an effort to squeeze as many minutes out of Harris at the four as possible, though — the right decision when you consider his defensive shortcomings and offensive strengths.

As Bleacher Report continues to rank the NBA’s top players at each position, some were surprised when Harris was not mentioned on the small forwards list. That’s because he qualified as a four based on lineup data.

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Andy Bailey and Dan Favale, who have spearheaded B/R’s pre-Orlando ranking efforts, dubbed Harris the 11th best power forward in basketball this season. A fair ranking, if a bit low.

While not on par with his contract, Harris has brought a ton to the Sixers offense this season. He’s averaging 19.4 points on 36.2 percent shooting from 3-point range. After a despairingly slow start, he quickly transformed into a reliable No. 2 scorer.

The Sixers will never get from Harris what they got from Jimmy Butler. He’s not meant to shoulder a primary creation load in the halfcourt. He lacks an elite first step and the burst to shake top-notch defenders. Even so, it’s important to appreciate what he does bring to the table — high-end shooting, the ability to exploit mismatches in the post, and an unselfish demeanor.

Harris has also provided significant value as a leader this season, although B/R didn’t explicitly factor intangibles into their ranking. Harris is perhaps the most vocal member of the Sixers locker room, and he played a big part in keeping his teammates connected during the hiatus.

As far as the players ranked ahead of Harris, there are a few bones worth picking. Paul Millsap (No. 10) and Kevin Love (No. 9) are the most readily debatable. The list is, of course, based solely on this season, and Harris’ productively is inherently limited due to Philadelphia’s depth.

It’s not difficult to make the argument for Millsap, who is far more desirable as a defender and has hit 44 percent of his 3-point attempts this season. But when you consider Harris’ prowess as a volume scorer — coupled with his superior presence on the glass — I would argue Harris’ ceiling is higher. He’s certainly more talented.

Love is difficult to gauge because, for much of the season, he appeared to go half-speed as the Cavs’ only true star. Cleveland is trudging through hefty rebuild and Love simply doesn’t have the incentive to play hard. Both Harris and Love have had similarly productive seasons, but I might give the edge to Harris due to the difference in competitive status between Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Depending on how Philadelphia handles the Al Horford situation, Harris could spend even more time at power forward next season. Maybe then he will move up B/R’s rankings a bit.