Sixers Need Tobias Harris To Become A $180 Million Role Player

Since making his Philadelphia 76ers debut late last month, James Harden has largely lived up to his promise to make life easier for his teammates.

Joel Embiid, the current MVP front-runner, told the Sixers’ broadcast crew that he was “probably the most wide open I’ve ever been in my career” after Harden’s debut. Second-year guard Tyrese Maxey, who was already in the midst of a breakout campaign, has been even better alongside Harden. The 10-time All-Star has even turned Matisse Thybulle into more of an offensive threat, which should be huge for the Sixers come playoff time.

However, it’s been much tougher sledding for Tobias Harris. He’s averaging only 11.8 points on 40.6 percent shooting, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in his six games alongside Harden, a far cry from the 18.7 points on 48.4 percent shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists that he averaged before Harden’s debut.

With Harden in the fold, Harris’ offensive role should be simpler than ever. Instead, he’s falling back into the same slow decision-making habits that have plagued him throughout his time in Philadelphia.

If Harris doesn’t grow more comfortable with his new offensive role over the next month, he’ll be one of the Sixers’ biggest question marks heading into the playoffs. His long-term future in Philadelphia will be in major doubt as well.

Before Harden’s arrival, the Sixers often needed Harris to manufacture scoring chances for himself to avoid overtaxing Embiid. Nearly 11 percent of his shot attempts on the season have been post-ups, and he’s averaging 1.05 points per possession on those plays, which ranks in the 76th percentile leaguewide.

But with Harden in the fold, the Sixers are now able to generate better shot attempts on most trips down the floor than a Harris fadeaway mid-range jumper. He isn’t a potent enough threat on isolations (0.83 points per possession, 42nd percentile) to justify consuming possessions that way.

Instead, the Sixers need Harris stationed out on the perimeter, ready to let it fly as soon as he catches the ball.

“When I got the ball and I’m getting to the basket, just be ready to catch and shoot,” Harden said after the Sixers’ victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this month. “Be ready to load the clip up. We’re still getting used to each other, so hopefully it’s not gonna take too much time… but just be ready to shoot. And if you don’t got the shot, then you can just swing or be smart enough to attack the basket.”

In other words, the opposite of this:

In his first four games alongside Harden, Harris shot 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) on shots where he had the ball for less than two seconds and 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) on shots where he had the ball for two or more seconds. Over his last two games, he’s gone 5-of-10 on shots where he had it for less than two seconds and 4-of-10 on shots where he had it for two or more seconds (including 0-of-2 when he had it for six or more seconds).

In theory, playing alongside Harden, Embiid and Maxey should simplify life for Harris. During a recent appearance on The Ryen Russillo Podcast, Sixers wing Danny Green said Harris is getting “a lot more open than he thinks” because of how much defensive attention his star teammates command.

“He’s not used to being that open,” Green added.

Instead of overthinking his options, the Sixers need Harris to act aggressively as soon as he touches the ball. The more he dribbles, jab-steps and pump-fakes, the more he’ll allow defenses to reset and close off passing and driving lanes for himself and his teammates.

They need more of this version of Harris:

When the Sixers signed Harris to a five-year, $180 million contract in the summer of 2019, they likely envisioned him developing into their third star along with Embiid and Ben Simmons. To his credit, he did play at an All-Star-caliber level alongside those two last year.

However, they don’t need that version of Harris anymore. He’s now fourth on the offensive pecking order behind Embiid, Harden and Maxey. They need him to channel his inner Danny Green or Georges Niang and turn into more of a complementary catch-and-shoot threat rather than an offensive focal point.

Harris should still have the opportunity to feast against second units at times. The Sixers will need him to help stave off minutes-long scoring droughts whenever Embiid and/or Harden are off the floor. But even if Harris does speed up his offensive decision-making, he isn’t likely to average 20-plus points with Harden, Embiid and Maxey all healthy.

Rather than focus on his shot volume, the Sixers need him to embrace doing the little things to help his star teammates. That includes playing tough defense, rebounding, boxing out, diving for loose balls and setting hard screens to free up his teammates.

In other words, they need him to become the NBA’s highest-paid role player.

“It’s not that Tobias is a bad player; far from it,” an Eastern Conference scout told Sherrod Blakely of Bleacher Report. “But that contract. He’s basically making max-player money as the team’s fourth option behind James, Joel and (Tyrese) Maxey.”

The Sixers’ will have to confront that issue this offseason, but there’s nothing they can do about it for now. Instead, they’ll just have to figure out ways to maximize Harris alongside his star teammates.

That mostly involves staying in his ear about quick-decision making.

“There were opportunities where Tobias had four or five catch-and-shoot opportunities that he passed up and tried to dribble past somebody,” Harden said after the Sixers’ victory over the New York Knicks last month. “And that’s the thing that I’m going to stay in his ear about. He got those opportunities. I don’t care if he missed 20 of them — those are shots that we need you to take because more times than not, you’re going to make those shots.”

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac.