Philadelphia 76ers: Can Tobias Harris hold down the fort?

The Philadelphia 76ers have been playing down $128 million worth of talent, give or take.

With both Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid in healthy and safety protocol alongside Matisse Thybulle and Isaiah Joe, and Ben Simmons out for you know why, the super undermanned Sixers have largely held their own with makeshift starting fives versus some of the better teams the East has to offer, even if it hasn’t directly translated to wins.

In early November, that isn’t too big of a deal. Plenty of teams break out to early leads only to fall back to earth while others build momentum towards the playoffs; it’s the ebb and flow of an 82 game season. Eventually, the Sixers will get back to their winning ways, especially as the team becomes more and more healthy, but in the meantime, these unusual contests give Doc Rivers a unique opportunity to test his roster and see who can hang in an expanded role.

With Joel Embiid still about a week away from being ready to return, Tobias Harris has a golden opportunity to prove he can hold down the fort and expand his offense and defensive offerings for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Philadelphia 76ers are going to need Tobias Harris to put it all together.

Tobias Harris’ 2021-22 season has been unusual.

On one hand, he’s scoring, rebounding, and shooting right around where you’d expect him to be, ignoring his stats because of the limited sample size. He’s been a willing shooter, passing the ball well, and attacked the boards after shots, but when he’s off the court, the Philadelphia 76ers have actually performed better than when he’s in the game.

Don’t believe me? Well look, for a moment, at his +/-. You see, despite having a +/- per 100 possessions of +3.6 through his first 198 minutes of NBA action, his on-off rating is a -3.7, which ranks 11th on the team ahead of only Shake Milton, Paul Reed, Aaron Henry, and Jaden Springer, all of whom have played much of their minutes in losing efforts.

In layman’s terms? When Harris is off the court, the Sixers performed better than when he was on it through his six games of action.

But why? Is it because Harris would often take the ball at the top of the key from Tyrese Maxey and try to run the offense himself? Or is it because his shooting percentages were relatively low through his first six games of the season? Has Harris returned to his former blackhole ways once the ball goes into his hands?

Whatever the reason, Harris has a perfect opportunity to turn all of that around once he returns to the court against the Toronto Raptors and beyond, as he’ll instantly become the Sixers’ top offensive option.

Outside of Maxey, whose stats are artificially inflated by a 31 point performance versus the Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers didn’t have a single player averaging close to Harris’ 19.8 points per game since Embiid fell ill at the beginning of the week. While they’ve benefited from big performances by Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang, and yes, Maxey, none present the same offensive skill set as Harris, who can quite literally score from anywhere even if he doesn’t always want to.

Could Harris and Maxey get something going in the two-man game and form a pick-and-roll/pop offensive attack the likes of which the Sixers haven’t consistently run in some time? Last season, Harris hit 42 percent of his 2.4 catch-and-shoot 3 point attempts per game, so he could be a very effective weapon popping off a Maxey drive for an open shot. How about providing some mid-range offense around the charity stripe? DeMar DeRozan has found incredible success in an offense with relatively comparable pieces this season when tasked with fishing for ISO points. While Harris isn’t as efficient as DeRozan, he presents a similarly mismatch-y offensive weapon that can attack an area of the court that few try to mine for points.

Whatever Harris does, just stay out of the way of #FourthQuarterFurk, as he’s been killing it as a team’s quasi-closer.

Tobias Harris has all of the tools to be an incredible NBA player. He’s a borderline All-Star, an offensive player with no holes in his game, and a deceptively good defender who doesn’t get nearly the credit he deserves at that end of the court. If deployed correctly, he could elevate the Philadelphia 76ers’ ceiling notably, especially when compared to a rotation that costs $4 million less than Harris’ 2021-22 cap hit combined. That’s… wow. Whether it’s one, two, three, or basketball gods forbid four games without Joel Embiid, Harris needs to help hold down the fort and hopefully secure the Sixers a win or two before he returns.