Tobias Harris Is Raising The Sixers’ Ceiling By Embracing His New Role

When the Philadelphia 76ers acquired James Harden at the trade deadline, it forced everyone on the team to re-evaluate their roles on the fly. While Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey acclimated quickly, it took Tobias Harris more time to adjust to his new reality.

He now appears fully comfortable in his new role, which could drastically raise the Sixers’ ceiling in the 2022 NBA playoffs.

During Harris’ first six games alongside Harden in the regular season, he averaged only 11.8 points on 40.6 percent shooting, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Prior to Harden’s debut with the Sixers, Harris was averaging 18.7 points on 48.4 percent shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

Following a win over the New York Knicks in late February, Harden was blunt when discussing what tweaks Harris needed to make offensively.

“There were opportunities where Tobias had four or five catch-and-shoot opportunities that he passed up and tried to dribble past somebody,” he said. “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.”

That message finally got through.

During Games 1 and 2 of the Sixers’ first-round series against the Toronto Raptors, the indecisive version of Harris was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he’s been ready to let it rip off the catch, and he’s averaging 23.0 points on a sizzling 64.0 percent shooting (including 6-of-8 from deep) as a result.

Harris told reporters after Game 2 that he had to “make some adjustments” to his game after Harden’s arrival, but he credited a conversation with head coach Doc Rivers for crystallizing expectations for him.

“This is the first time in my career that catch-and-shoot was an emphasis for me,” he said. “In past years, it was more where I would catch the ball, isolate, hold. So, it’s just evaluating how to be more efficient in my role. That was a big emphasis from the All-Star break was catching that ball and shooting it quick. For me, that was an adjustment, but it was a lot of extra hours in the gym and hard work of adjusting to it and being able to let it fly. And for me, I’m in a great rhythm, great groove right now.”

Before Harden’s arrival, only 18.9 percent of Harris’ field-goal attempts during the regular season were of the catch-and-shoot variety, and he shot only 34.5 percent on those looks. After the All-Star break, catch-and-shoots comprised 35.4 percent of his overall shot attempts, and he knocked down 36.6 percent of those looks.

Only seven of Harris’ 25 shot attempts against the Raptors have been catch-and-shoots thus far, but he’s gone 5-of-7 from deep on those. He’s been ready to catch and fire when Toronto sends extra help at Harden or Embiid, which has helped stretch the Raptors defense to its breaking point.

Harris’ quick decision-making is also reflected in the number of dribbles he’s taking before shot attempts. Only 29.9 percent of his shots before Harden’s debut came after zero dribbles, whereas that number soared to 46.0 percent after the All-Star break. He’s 8-of-10 on such shots against the Raptors, which comprises 40 percent of his overall attempts.

“Tobias has been so good for us,” Rivers told reporters Monday. “He’s just playing without thought, just kind of being aggressive, straight-line, that’s been great for us.”

Harris isn’t just making his impact felt on offense, though. He’s also been one of the Sixers’ primary defenders against Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, who’s been playing at an All-Star-caliber level over the past few months.

With Harris as his primary defender, Siakam has shot only 5-of-13 overall and has yet to attempt a three-pointer. Against all other Sixers, he’s 11-of-25 overall and 1-of-3 from deep.

After Game 2, Rivers praised the work that Harris has been doing on that end of the floor.

“He’s got a tough [assignment] guarding Siakam,” he said. “He had three amazing helps today that we talk about with our digs. This is as focused as I’ve seen Tobias defensively ever, here and L.A. He’s been fantastic.”

Harris credited the Harden trade for allowing him to devote more energy to defense. With Harden shouldering so much of the half-court creation load on offense, Harris doesn’t have to expend as much energy creating shot attempts on isolations or post-ups.

“I definitely have more energy to go out and guard somebody and pick them up and exploit my energy on that end,” he said Monday “… To have a full impact on this team, you may not get the same amount of shots, but you can make a bigger impact on the defensive end. And I kind of just embraced that challenge since then.”

Harris is making a concerted effort on the glass, too, which was one of the biggest swing factors coming into the series. After averaging only 1.8 contested rebounds and 12.0 rebounding chances per game during the regular season, he’s up to 3.5 and 16.5, respectively, over the Sixers’ first two playoff games.

The Raptors entered the series as the NBA’s second-best offensive rebounding team during the regular season, but the Sixers have outrebounded them 80-71 through two games. If the Raptors aren’t winning the battle of the boards, their mediocre half-court offense isn’t likely to keep them afloat in this series.

Embiid unsurprisingly has hauled in a series-high 26 rebounds in two games, but Harris has outrebounded anyone on the Raptors with 16 boards. If he continues to help the Sixers hold their own on the glass, he’ll shore up one of their biggest vulnerabilities in this series.

Harris won’t show up on any lists of the NBA’s best two-way forwards, but the way he adjusted his game after Harden’s arrival is raising both the Sixers’ floor and ceiling. If he continues catching-and-shooting without hesitation, playing hard-nosed defense and battling for rebounds, he’ll quash the questions about his long-term fit alongside Embiid, Harden and Maxey.

“This guy has given everything for this team,” Rivers said Monday. “He started out as the second option, then Tyrese got going, and then we bring James in. Tobias has had to make more changes than anybody on our team. And he keeps doing it without complaint. And it’s such a great example for what a good teammate should be.”

The Sixers entered the series as minus-178 favorites, but they’re now minus-1800 favorites after jumping out to a 2-0 lead at home, per FanDuel Sportsbook. Embiid and Maxey have been the headliners so far, but Harris deserves a ton of credit for the role he’s playing in their comprehensive demolition of Toronto.

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