Philadelphia 76ers: 5 takeaways from 2020-21 preseason

Sixers preseason takeaway #4: Same ol’ Tobias

Naturally, a disclaimer: Tobias Harris is good! A really solid, productive NBA player who can capably function as the third wheel on a competitive basketball team. He’s not “bad,” unless you evaluate him in relation to his contract.

That said, the narrative of unfairness when it comes to evaluating Harris against his contract is a bit strange. Harris is taking up $34 million in cap space. That’s $34 million the Sixers cannot use elsewhere. If he makes that much, his production has to hold up to $34 million. If it doesn’t, it becomes a misuse of resources and an actively negative force against Philadelphia’s success.

Harris has not been very promising in the Sixers’ first two games under Doc Rivers. Again, it’s the preseason, so it’s not time to panic. The Sixers haven’t implemented the entirety of their offense yet, and Harris will surely gain a better understanding of his role as the season progresses.

For now, all we have evidence of is more of the same. Across two preseason games, Tobias looked sluggish in his decision-making — dribbling out of open 3s in favor of contested mid-range jumpers, and so on. If he is going to truly thrive in Doc Rivers’ pick-and-roll system, he will need to make quick reads and have no shortage of confidence in his pull-up (or spot-up) jumper.

The Sixers need more from Tobias if this current group has any chance of competing in the East. It’s not his fault the Sixers overpaid him, but the Sixers did overpay him. If he continues to underperform that contract to such an egregious degree, Philadelphia will have a tough time recovering.