Tobials Harris is making a legit case to be a third All-Star for the Philadelphia 76ers early this season.
One of the good surprises early on this season is the efficiency of Tobias Harris as a secondary scoring option for the Philadelphia 76ers. His production this year, along with other factors, is making a valid case for the 28-year-old forward to make his first All-Star selection.
It should be noted that while the All-Star game itself has been canceled in Indiana and the 2021 All-Star weekend as a whole is in limbo.
3 reasons Harris can be an All-Star: His efficiency
The easiest place to start is with Harris. This has been by far his most efficient year and his best defensively as well. Let’s start with defense because “defense wins championships” as the old adage goes.
“His efficiency and improved defense, along with his impressive stat line is a good first point in an argument for Harris to become an All-Star this year. ”
For most of his career, Harris has been a slightly below average defender. Last season, Harris had shown to be an average defender despite guarding opposing small forwards which is out of position for him. He’s averaging a career high in steals (1.1) and blocks (1.0) thus far and the advanced numbers show it’s been the best defensive season of his career.
His Defensive Rating per 100 possessions is at a career best 105 and his Defensive Plus/Minus score is at a career high as well at plus-0.4. Defensively, he’s been an active and engaged defender and it’s something that can’t be ignored.
Harris’ offensive numbers are just as impressive as his improved defense. He’s averaging 19.0 points on 50.7 percent shooting from the field (career high), 44.7 percent from the 3-point line (career high), and 82.4 percent from the foul line.
To put it into the perspective, Harris’ 3-point percent is the 32nd best in the league. The only players that are shooting better than him and scoring more points are Kevin Durant, Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton, Paul George, and Collin Sexton.
His efficiency and improved defense, along with his impressive stat line is a good first point in an argument for Harris to become an All-Star this year.
3 reasons Harris can be an All-Star: Sixers’ record
The Sixers are currently 8-4 and have the second best record in the Eastern Conference. Before the COVID-19 outbreak on the team, the franchise held the top spot in the East. When the team is able to use their full roster again, then they should be competing for the best record in the conference again.
The Sixers having the best record in the East and one of the best in the NBA as a whole can play a big part in allowing Harris to earn his first time All-Star nod. It’s not an uncommon practice in the NBA to have teams with multiple All-Stars and the best teams sometimes have more than two.
As recently as the 2019 All-Star game, the Golden State Warriors had three All-Stars in Stephen Curry, Durant, and Klay Thompson. However, some would argue that of course those three players made the All-Star game. Another example came in the 2015 All-Star game where the Atlanta Hawks had four All-Stars in Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague, and Kyle Korver.
The 2015 All-Star game is a better example to pull from as the Hawks had the best record in the league and that helped them send four players to the game. An injury to Dwayne Wade also helped Korver get the nod. Still, outside of Horford and Millsap, there was a strong case that neither Teague nor Korver should have made it.
Having one of the best records in the league will help the 76ers get Harris an All-Star selection. If it helped players like Teague and Korver get selected, Harris should certainly be in the race for a spot considering how much better of a player he is than they were at that time.
3 reasons Harris can be an All-Star: Shallow frontcourt depth in the Eastern Conference
Record and skills alone won’t be enough to get Harris is first All-Star selection. The other factor that will help him is that the frontcourt depth in the East isn’t ridiculously deep. Especially when factoring in team records as well.
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Durant, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are virtual locks to make the All-Star selection spots unless an injury occurs. There are some solid contenders following them as well.
Middleton, Jaylen Brown, and Jimmy Butler are near locks as well, but Butler and Brown can be listed as a backcourt player, so there is some flexibility. Then there are players like Domantas Sabonis, Julius Randle, Gordon Hayward, Jerami Grant, Nikola Vucevic, Andre Drummond, and Pascal Siakam also in the running with Harris.
Team record and teammates will have a big impact on whether these players will get a spot on the All-Star spot. For sake of argument let’s take Butler and Brown out of this equation because they could be listed as backout court players. The East already has four locks plus Middleton for the front court spot. That leaves one front court position and two free spots.
Players from losing records don’t usually get All-Star game appearances, just ask Bradley Beal from last year. That means Grant and Siakam are currently out of the running as of now because the Detroit Pistons and the Toronto Raptors are the two worst teams in the East.
Players whose teams have around a 0.500 record or competing for the last couple of playoff spots are Vucevic, Drummond, Randle, and Hayward. Depending on what direction their team’s trend within the next couple of weeks will have a big impact on if they are in the running for an All-Star spot.
That leaves Sabonis as the only known threat to take an All-Star spot from Harris. Sabonis made the All-Star game last season, the Indian Pacers are currently the fourth seed in the East as well. The only thing working against Sabonis is that he has two teammates in Brogdon and Victor Oladipo who have All-Star cases as well. They may cancel out his bid to make the game.
Drummond could be in a similar boat as Sabonis if the Cleveland Cavaliers do trend in a winning direction and that’s due to the fact that Sexton is playing like an All-Star as well. Sexton could easily cancel out Drummond’s bid to be an All-Star.
There’s an opportunity for open spots for Harris to get depending on how things go within the next couple of weeks. However, there’s a window of opportunity for Harris to slide into an All-Star spot.
Harris’ efficiency, the Philadelphia 76ers being a top team in the East and the lack of legit depth in the East’s frontcourt could allow the Sixers’ forward to earn his first All-Star appearance this year.