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Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers: Tobias Harris’ lackluster shooting is killing his value

By Matty Breisch

(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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After playing great in LA, Tobias Harris’ lackluster shooting is seriously hurting the Philadelphia 76ers, and his impending free agency value.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a lot of problems in their 102-111 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, like Joel Embiid clearly not playing at 100%, Brett Brown‘s questionable decisions, and an inability to guard opposing guards, but it’s hard not to point at Tobias Harris and feel at least a little bit disappointed with his four points in 41 minutes of action.

Yea, you read that correctly.

Predominantly facing off against DeMarre Carroll, Jared Dudley, and Ed Davis, all of whom scored at least four points in less than 40 minutes of action, Harris only took seven shots from the field and missed both of his 3 point attempts.

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While it wasn’t all bad for Harris, as he still hauled in seven rebounds, six assists, and a steal, his lackluster performance was hardly what Elton Brand presumably expected he’d get out of the 26-year-old combo forward when he gave up a king’s ransom to procure his services.

And really, this isn’t a new issue; its been happening for about a month now.

In the lead up to the 76ers’ Game 2 bout against the Nets, Harris has played in six games; scoring an average of 14 points while knocking down a woeful 16 percent of his outside shots (4-24).

Granted, that serving size is pretty small, but when you compare it to Harris’ entire statline as a Sixer, 17.5 points, and 7.9 rebounds a game while hitting 32.1 percent of his shots from 3 point range.

Now, compare that to Harris’ 55 games of action with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he recorded an average of 20.9 points and 7.9 rebounds while knocking down a very, very good 43.4 percent from 3 point range.

Ouch.

And to make matters worse, Harris hasn’t been particularly impressive defensively when on the court.

Sure, he technically had a positive three Real Plus-Minus for the contest, tied for the fourth best mark on the team besides T.J. McConnell, Jimmy Butler, and Zhaire Smith (who played one minute), but Harris’ inability to keep lesser forwards in front of him and stick with his man in switchable situations was just brutal. Because of the 76ers’ supersized starting five, there will seemingly always be a player facing off against a smaller, faster foe, but when Harris’ typically average defense takes a turn for the worst, things can get real ugly real quick.

Which is really unfortunate, because this series seems almost tailor-made for a player like Harris to shine.

Because the Nets lack a truly transcendent forward, Harris should be able to score at will; knocking down 3s when opposing defenders sag off and punish smaller foes in the paint as a Carmelo Anthony-esque, back-to-the-basket iso ball scorer. When a team’s outside shots aren’t falling, like Philly’s 3-25 performance on Saturday, having a bullish scorer who can get buckets from all three levels is incredibly valuable.

But who is to blame for this lack of production? Is this all on Brett Brown for an inability to put his stars in a position to succeed, like Kenny Atkinson has done for the Nets? Or is this all on Harris, who hasn’t hit three or more 3s in a game since March 30th? It feels like a little bit of both.

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While Brown could certainly do a better job at getting his players in position, especially since his job is pretty firmly on the line, Harris also has to get a bit more aggressive when it comes to scoring to help put his team in a winning position. Like Jimmy Butler before him, if the Philadelphia 76ers are going to breeze past the Nets and face off against either the Toronto Raptors or the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, they are going to need some dominant performances by ‘Playoff Tobias Harris’.