Ranking the Sixers’ most important defenders

Tobias Harris

Tobias Harris is usually the player that gets left out in discussions of team success. Naturally, Harden and Embiid are the recipients of such praise and Maxey appears to have established himself as the third player in the Big 3 for the 76ers. Because of his excessive contract, Tobias is usually ridiculed for not being able to live up to what is expected of him.

It is worth pointing out though, that Tobias may have been the most consistently reliable player in last year’s playoffs. Harden was looking like a shell of himself and could not beat any defenders in front of him. Embiid was in and out of the lineup with injury. Tobias was there providing strong defense and knocking down the shots we expected him to make.

The surprising part of his playoff performances was his defense. Tobias showed his strength and versatility by guarding both opposing forwards and guards. He has the size to hold his own against many of the modern day big men and the agility to stay in front of most guards in this league.

If Harris continues to build on his defensive play from last postseason, he can likely limit the criticism of his contract by the media and city of Philadelphia. Whereas Embiid and Tucker are proven defensive stalwarts, the maturation of Harris as a strong defender could be the X-factor in if this team can contain opposing electric offenses.