Feels like most of the recent chatter has been about Jimmy Butler and not Tobias Harris, which I guess makes sense. Butler had a great postseason while Harris left something to be desired, and most of the early free agency rumors I see out there seem to deal more with the former and not the latter.

You probably caught the recent Butler tidbit via Brian Windhorst at The Hoop Collective, which went as follows:

“I’ve been talking to some executives this week and the executives, I think, now believe that the Sixers will [offer a max contract],” he said. “I don’t know about the fifth year, like, full guaranteed, but yeah.”

Alright. It’s vague, but it’s something to work from. A starting point.

Today the Cuz over at 97.5 the Fanatic offered this up:

Put me down in the group of people that thinks the Sixers’ best plan moving forward is to resign both Butler and Harris and run it back with the squad that got you within a quadruple doink of the Eastern Conference finals. Let’s not overlook what a full season with the group of Harris, Butler, Joel Embiid, and Ben Simmons would look like, as opposed to the 20-odd games that unit played together this past season.

I feel like Harris is being overlooked a bit here, probably because he averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists this postseason, down from the 18/8 he posted in the regular season.

And those numbers were a drop off from the 55 games he played for Los Angeles prior to the trade, numbers that looked like this:

The three-point shooting dipped from 43.4% in Los Angeles to 32.6% in Philadelphia. Tobias’ field goal percentage fell about three percentage points as well, despite taking a similar number of shots. He didn’t get to the foul line at the same rate and he didn’t hit as well once he got there.

Why?

Change of scenery? Different offensive system? Tweener combo forward adjustments?

At the time of the trade, I felt like Tobias Harris was a PERFECT fit for this offense, a contemporary stretch four who had improved his three point shooting drastically in recent seasons and a guy who embodied what Brett Brown was looking for from the power forward position. Here was a more mobile Dario Saric with a better handle and the ability to back down smaller guys on mismatches while defending at a capable level on the other end.

Remember, Harris was a borderline All-Star during his time with the Clippers, a guy enjoying a breakout season on the west coast. He averaged a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds while appearing in almost every article that listed ASG “snubs” from both conferences.

I asked him about that during exit interviews; i.e. what has to happen to take the next step, clear that hurdle, and play at an All-Star level for the entirety of the next season?

Harris:

Just continue to grow my game. I think I’ve put myself in a position every single year to get better. I believe I played at an All-Star level all year in L.A., whether or not you get the nod or not, it is what it is. But for me, I don’t base my level of, you know, identity, on being an All-Star or not. I know my game, I know how I play, I know the way I play. So for me, in terms of just growing my game, there’s things that I can continue to work on. I’m 26 years old. I just got done with my eighth season in the NBA. There’s a lot more growth to be made and I think that’s the best part about it. So, you know, I’ll sit down, and as I go into this offseason and plan a lot of different things that I know that can help my game and just help me reach the next level of play and help me be a better player for the team.

I feel very comfortable declaring that Tobias Harris has the chops to be an All-Star in this league. That’s not really much of a hot take, especially when he’s doing stuff like this:

His Clipper film was full of smart mismatch punishing, which you saw in Philly as well, but maybe not as frequently as you had hoped.

You also saw him attack close outs, like this:

And then he would show you his improvements as a catch and shoot floor spacer:

All of that was high-level stuff, and it’s why they gave up Landry Shamet and draft picks for him in the first place.

Among the problems I had with Tobias were:

  1. he seemed deferential at times while trying to find his place in the offense
  2. his shot was blocked at the rim way too frequently
  3. sometimes he would brilliantly attack mismatches and rotations, while other times he settled for tougher shots
  4. he’s a guy who can get to the foul line much more frequently than 3.3 times per game

This is just like, my opinion man, but I still love Tobias’ game. I keep hearing all of this talk about Butler, who was excellent in the postseason, but I feel like I know what Jimmy is at this point. I think what you see is what you get – a 29 year old elite closer and two-way stud. What you get with Harris is a guy who still has not hit his ceiling, and I really do think he has a lot more to give the Sixers, unless he signs elsewhere. That would be a shame, because I don’t think we saw the best of him in the short time he was here.

I’ll leave you with this: