Tobias Harris adjusted well to the James Harden trade. Now the Sixers need him to be even better. | Mike Sielski
With Harden in the lineup, Harris needed to become more of a spot-up shooter. He has. He'll be an X factor against the Raptors.
What is it about Tobias Harris that leaves people wanting more from him? Is it the money? Surely, part of it is the money. In June 2019, four months after acquiring Harris from the Clippers, the 76ers signed him to a five-year, $180 million contract. They did so because of the player he was and, more importantly, because of the player they believed he would become.
He had all the traits trending in his direction. Good person. Strong work ethic. Diverse skill set. A desire to be great. That same summer of 2019, not long after signing with the Sixers, he joined several NBA players in attending — at the invitation of Kobe Bryant — a two-day camp at the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Paul George: Harris was there alongside them and Bryant.
“When you look at demeanor, work ethic, and competitiveness, I definitely took a lot of notes on that from him,” Harris said during an interview in January. “I think he was one of the best in his career — ups and downs, nothing really fazed him on the floor. He would just rely on his work ethic to push him through, and I take all those things into consideration, of course, in how I kind of implement and go about it, just continue to work.”
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Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who closely follows the Sixers or the NBA in general who would place Harris in the same class as those names. Names are different from players. Kawhi and Kyrie — those are names. Idiosyncratic fellows, but names nonetheless. Harris isn’t a name, not in that regard. He played on five teams through his first eight years in the league. His game, as well rounded as it is, and temperament on the court can tend toward passivity. Since joining the Sixers, he has spent most of his time as the “third star” on the roster at best, behind, in no particular order, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, and James Harden.
Even through the first two-thirds of this season, before Harden arrived, there were occasions when it was fair to assert that Tyrese Maxey had surpassed Harris as a more productive and important player to the Sixers. And when Harris missed 13 of his 18 shots from the field through Harden’s first two games with the team, concern increased about his ability to fit in with a player who handled and dominated the ball as much as Harden does.
Except …
“He’s been good,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Early on, he struggled a little bit. But I think Tobias, of anyone, is really kind of figuring out where spots are, when to be aggressive. He’s sacrificing a lot, as typically the third guy does, and he’s been absolutely wonderful the last two weeks of the season.”
Actually, Rivers, for once, is right. Over his 24 games since the Harden trade, Harris has necessarily become a less active scorer for the Sixers. He is taking three fewer shots a game (12 now, 15 before Harden), and his overall shooting percentage has dropped a tick, from .484 to .477. But the one facet of his game that has improved substantially — and this is no little thing — is his three-point shooting. He was making 34.5% of those shots through his first 49 games. Since Harden showed up, Harris is making 40.0% of his threes.
Why does that stat mean so much? Because in the first round of the playoffs, the Sixers are facing the Toronto Raptors, who, with their collective height and length, can double-team Embiid and Harden more effectively than most teams. And because you didn’t have to be a hoops savant to understand how Harden’s presence promised to change the Sixers’ approach on offense and Harris’ approach in particular.
Harris likes to take midrange shots and, at 6-foot-7, post up a smaller defender. With Harden orchestrating so many of the Sixers’ halfcourt sets — shooting a three, driving to the basket, playing pick-and-roll with Embiid — those opportunities would be harder for Harris to come by. A different opportunity would arise for him, though: Harden and/or Embiid would draw more of an opposing team’s attention, leaving Harris open for catch-and-shoot three-pointers. Sure enough, not only is Harris making a higher percentage of his threes, but he’s also taking more: 3.4 a game before Harden, 4.6 a game after.
Those shots will matter in this series and in any that follow for the Sixers. The Raptors will try to force the ball out of Embiid’s and Harden’s hands and into Harris’. You want more from a max-contract player who so often seems content to settle for a secondary role? You want more from Tobias Harris? Here’s your chance to get it. Here’s his chance to give it to you at last.
Editor’s note: Mike Sielski is the author of the book “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality,” published in January by St. Martin’s Press.