Philadelphia 76ers: 2019 NBA Draft prospect primer

Terry Harris – North Carolina A&T

The Philadelphia 76ers have a problem.

With three of their five starters set to be free agents and only five total players under contract going into this summer, the team is going to have to get very creative to find a way to remain competitive and get better in the always in flux Eastern Conference

What if I were to tell you that a simple second round pick could all but guarantee that Philly remains in the running – potentially the favorites – to retain not one but two of their impending free agents.

I know that may seem crazy, but hear me out for a second.

As you may or may not know, 26-year-old forward swingman, Tobias Harris comes from a pretty big family, and his younger brother Terry is actually a prospect in this year’s NBA draft.

Splitting his four years of college basketball between three programs, Houston Baptist, Eastern Michigan, and most recently North Carolina A&T, Terry Harris doesn’t quite possess his older brother’s physical gifts, or ability to score the ball from virtually anywhere in the court, however, he is an alright player with a skillset that could interest the Sixers.

While he only played 76 games in college over four seasons, the younger Harris really came into his own at NCAT, averaging a career-high 8.1 points on knocking down 45.8 percent of his shots from the field, and 41.1 percent of his shots from 3.

Sure, his numbers aren’t particularly good when you compare them to the top-flight players in this year’s draft, but there’s a pretty simple reason why that is; Terry isn’t a top-ranked prospect.

If you take a peep at ESPN’s Top-100 prospects in the 2019 NBA Draft Big Board Harris isn’t even listed, making his chances of hearing his name called on draft night slim to none.

However, Harris has received at least a few workouts from teams interested in continuing on the Harris tradition in the NBA, including your friendly neighborhood Sixers.

Now could this just be a sign of goodwill to Harris in an attempt to keep his interest in staying with the club? Oh yeah, that’s totally possible, but I’d take things a step forward and say the Sixers should all but guarantee Tobias sticks around by drafting is younger brother Terry with their last pick in the second round.

I mean think about it, as things currently stand the team has three second-round picks in the 2019 NBA draft. While Elton Brand could certainly use these as ammunition to move up and down the board at will and reportedly intend to select at least one or two players who can contribute right away as a rookie, there’s also some value in using a pick to guarantee they score the younger Harris brother’s rights.

Though he might not make the team as a rookie, drafting the 6-foot-6 guard/forward could help to tip the scales in Philly’s favor with his brother, as the duo are reportedly high on the possibility of play together for the first time since eighth grade.

Furthermore, signing Harris all but guarantees that Boban Marjanovic will probably stick around in free agency, as the duo has become somewhat of a package deal.

While I personally would rather see the team target a player like UCF‘s Tacko Fall in the second-round as a much younger Boban clone, there is value in retaining the 7-foot-3 Serbian big man. Who knows, with a full season in Brett Brown‘s system, maybe he finally does become the matchup chess piece capable of dominating true centers in a limited role?

Worst case scenario Harris isn’t one of the 15 best players on the Sixers’ roster next year, and he spends the season in Delaware, maybe on a two-way contract. Though teams typically reserve their two two-way slots for players with near-NBA skillsets, like last year’s two-way guard Shake Milton, who has a very good chance of making the team this year, they also used two-way contracts on Demetrius Jackson, who finished out the 2019 season playing in China, and Haywood Highsmith, a player you’ve probably never even heard of.

Ultimately, whether the Philadelphia 76ers decide to draft Terry Harris will come down to how they value prospects in this year’s draft and how the board falls on June 20th. However, with plenty of ammunition to spare and no guarantee that either of their max-level free agents sticks around post-July 1st, it may be worth investing a draft pick to curry some favor with Tobias Harris.