Sixers: Tobias Harris is the third star this team needs

As we march minute by minute closer to the NBA Draft, fans of the Philadelphia 76ers are all holding their collective breath, waiting to see how the Ben Simmons drama will unfold. If and when Ben Simmons is moved, there will still be a large portion of the fanbase that would rather see Ben stay and Tobias Harris go.  There are undoubtedly a lot of moves that could happen before next season, but moving Tobias Harris does not need to be one of them.

Make no mistake, if the right move comes along for Harris that would be just fine.  The only unmovable on this team is Joel Embiid.  But the idea that Harris is as big a part of the problem as Simmons is flawed in several ways.

The Sixers have a Ben Simmons problem. That should not overshadow all the good Tobias Harris has done.

In a recent article for The Sixer Sense, Mike Rotindo proposed that if the team made any moves other than obtaining Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard, it would be better served to keep Ben Simmons and move on from Tobias Harris.  The problem with keeping Ben and Joel together is that this postseason, all of the critics were proven to be correct: they are in each other’s way.  In the halfcourt offense (which is playoff basketball), Ben and Joel both occupy the paint and kill the spacing and ball movement.  One of them needs to go and Embiid is clearly the transcendent talent.

The other issue appears to be about Simmons’ attitude and mental makeup.  Nothing creates more division in a locker room than a player who doesn’t understand his role, or worse, allows ego to get in the way of performing that role.  Ben must be moved to bring in a true “number two” star to balance the skills of Embiid and allow Harris to be the “third star”.  It is no coincidence that his imperfections always seem to come to light when Simmons struggles.  Ben playing badly forces Tobias into different roles and exposes what he can’t do, instead of allowing the team to highlight what he can do. Harris is a better third man up than he is a second man up (regardless of what his paycheck might say.)

Keeping Ben allows the spacing problem to continue and dooms the team to another early exit.  Keeping Harris and adding other perimeter options gives the team better offensive flow, while opening up the middle for Embiid.  The offense should be top-3 if they add any of the rumored trade options to go with Harris and Embiid — obviously Beal and Lillard, but even Fox, Brogdon, McCollum, LaVine, add your favorite rumor here, would all upgrade the offense.  For those concerned about the defense, that is another area where Harris made huge steps forward, moving from a below-average to an above-average defender, and any team anchored by Joel Embiid will always finish in the top half of the league on D.

Another take seems to be that Harris isn’t a true “third star”.  So let’s play a game.  Here are three player’s stat’s for last season.  Two of them are All-Stars and one of them is Tobias.  Can you figure out who is who?

Player A — 20.4 pts, 6.0 rebs, 5.4 assists, 47.6 FG%, 41.4 3-pt FG%, 89.8 FT%

Player B — 19.5 pts, 6.8 rebs, 3.5 assists, 51.2 FG%, 39.4 3-pt FG%, 89.2 FT%

Player C — 21.4 pts, 7.2 rebs, 4.5 assists, 45.5 FG%, 29.7 3-pt FG%, 82.7 FT%

Both of the other two players, Kris Middleton and Pascal Siakam, are a similar body type with comparable skill sets.  Any idea which stat line belongs to Harris?  They are all pretty similar, aren’t they?  Player A is Middleton, B is Harris, and C is Siakam, and it should be noted that Middleton and Siakam are posting these numbers with a higher usage rate than Harris.  Siakam was the third star on a championship Raptors team, behind Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry.  Middleton was the third star on this year’s championship Bucks team, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday.  Harris seems to fit that third star mold like a glove.

It is important to add in the Doc Rivers factor when thinking about this as well.  Critics of Harris are asking where he was down the stretch of close games in the Hawks series, but perhaps they should be looking at the plays that were being called.  Doc spent the season saying that Tobias was going to play the role of closer in tight games and there were several times this season when he did exactly that.  Harris stepped up in that capacity this year, even hitting a buzzer-beater to defeat the Lakers. But once the playoffs started, Doc went to Joel and only Joel down the stretch, making them more predictable, as well as throwing away the work they had put in during the season.  Harris finally showed this year that he is capable of making clutch shots, but he can’t do that if they don’t run any plays for him to do so.

Hopefully all of this unnecessary drama is ironed out before the season starts.  Daryl Morey is unlikely to sit on his hands and do nothing, so there are definitely moves coming.  The Sixers would probably be more likely to find equal value in trades for Tobias Harris because his skills are so easily measured and they have a great season to look at with highlights of his consistent scoring.  (The problem moving him is obviously his salary.)

Simmons is a different story.  The 76ers will probably not find equal value for such an unusual player who comes with so many extreme positives and negatives.  But there are a lot of players out there who are going to be a much better fit on this team, next to Joel Embiid, which is all that matters.  And Tobias Harris will be waiting there to be the third star that he has always been.

Bold Prediction: If the Sixers trade Simmons and wind up with one of the guards that I mentioned or a similar level talent, this next season will be the year Harris makes his first All-Star team