Philadelphia 76ers: Tobias Harris is comically bad at getting to the line

The highest-paid player in Philadelphia 76ers history has a passivity problem.

Free throws kind of get a bad rep in the NBA.

Though a totally legitimate form of scoring, free throws are viewed comparatively to extra points in football, and players who draw fouls at an above-average clip are often called floppers, softies, or words too mean to be posted in this PG format.

Personally, I think that’s bunk. The NBA, like all sports, is about getting an advantage whenever possible, and when else, dare I ask, can a player not only get a higher percentage look without having to worry about a live defender, but also accelerate an opposing team’s foul issues? It’s like an open goal shoot out in hockey, or having an opportunity to slug against the Philadelphia Phillies’ bullpen; it’s just too easy.

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So naturally, when a high-volume shooter doesn’t go to the line, like at all, it’s equally confusing, especially in the foul-happy modern-day NBA, it’s going to draw similar ire from a vested interest in said player’s performances.

With that in mind, we need to talk about Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris.

You see, Tobias Harris is colloquially known as a three-level scorer. When the 27-year-old landed in South Philly last February, comparisons flew fast and free between the latest Sixer and eventual Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony. On paper, that comp made sense, as the duo both like to mix it up in the paint, are similarly lackluster on the defensive end of the court, and even rock similar headbands.

But in his prime with Denver, you couldn’t keep Anthony off the line, a trait that Harris just doesn’t seem to possess.

Since entering the league in 2011, Harris has averaged 3.1 free throws per game. He’s never attempted more than 246 in a single season and isn’t even that effective when attempting shots from the ‘charity stripe’, sitting perfectly at 82 percent. How does that even work? You know you usually get two, sometimes three free throw attempts when fouled in the act, right? Just for context, Joel Embiid has taken the line 1,795 times in his regular-season career thus far; 93 fewer times than Harris despite having a 409(!!!) game disadvantage.

Want to feel really gross? If you divide Harris’ salary versus his free throw attempts, he’s making an average of $143,678 per attempts, or $178,359 for every made free throw.

Disgusting.

Harris takes an average of 4.2 field goal attempts for every one free throw, a brutal stat when you consider he attempts a little over 12 shots a game from the field. Of those shots, Harris attempted 10.4 after one or more dribbles, and 9.1 against tight or very tight coverage per the NBA’s Advanced Statistics. Now I’m no statistician but how can those two things be true at the same time? How can Harris take the bulk of his shot attempts off the dribble around opposing defenders and not get to the line at least a handful of times a game?

One word: Aggression.

Sure, Harris is a solid shooter, a versatile combo forward, and a deceptively decent defender when he wants to be but Harris just doesn’t have that killer instinct that made Jimmy Butler a minor folk hero in our fair city last spring. In actuality, Harris is kind of the anti-Butler, in that he’s aggressively un-aggressive; an ideal third starter who won’t cause a stir during media availability if he feels slighted for touches.

On a normal team, built correctly for the way the modern NBA likes to operate, that would be just fine, even if his money was artificially inflated by Elton Brand‘s desire not to look foolish for making an unsuccessful midseason trade, but when one of your stars is a dominant center with a below-average handle and the other is a non-shooter point guard out for the season with a knee injury, that passivity can become brutalized.

For all of the knocks against vintage Melo, his money-hungriness, his lack of an outside shot, his black hole ball handling, no one ever called the 10-time All-Star passive.

With Simmons gone, Shake Milton over-matched, and Josh Richardson much more of an auxiliary piece than a primary option, Harris really has to be that guy who storms the paint, crashes the offensive glass, and for the love of the basketball gods, lean into defenders to earn an easy trip to the line.

I know, right? It’s really that simple.

Next. Who is to blame for Joel Embiid’s lack of touches?. dark

If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to find the will to fight on, steal Game 3, and give Boston a series, Tobias Harris is going to have to seriously step up his game and earn that $31 million he’s making for the season. If not, well, he just may find himself on a team like the Charlotte Hornets for the remainder of his NBA prime. Game 3 is technically the Sixers’ first ‘home’ game of the NBA Bubble, so who knows, maybe some home cooking is all it takes to bring this team back to life.