76ers' Most Criticized Are Proving Their Value While Undermanned
Since coming into the NBA, Philadelphia 76ers veteran forward, Tobias Harris has been a frequent name floated around in the trade market. After the former 19th overall pick was traded four times in his first seven years in the league, Harris' fifth landing spot in 2019 became his last.
After signing a max contract during the summer of 2019, Harris hoped to find a long-term home with the Sixers. While Harris is in the midst of his fourth full season in Philadelphia, the sharpshooter's future was never certain.
In year 12, Harris continues to navigate through a season attempting to block out the noise as he was once again labeled as a potential trade chip for Philadelphia, according to a report from The Athletic's Shams Charania a few weeks back.
Along with the rumors comes scrutiny about Harris' value from spectators. Considering Harris gets paid All-Star money without an All-Star appearance, the bar of expectations based on salary alone tends to cloud judgment about Harris' importance in Philadelphia.
Going into the 2022-2023 NBA season, Harris was viewed as the Sixers' fourth scoring option behind Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey. While Harris started the year with a consistent stroke from deep, draining 41 percent of his threes in the team's first eight games, his scoring average was down to 13 points per game.
As injuries began to pile up for the Sixers, Harris moved up the pecking order on offense.
James Harden was the first star to go out as he suffered a tendon strain in his foot during the Sixers' November 2 matchup against the Washington Wizards.
Maxey was the second domino to fall, as he was diagnosed with a small fracture in his foot after the November 18 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In the same game Maxey left early with his new setback, Harris was on the bench dealing with hip soreness. The setback would also keep Harris off the court for the November 19 matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As Joel Embiid attempted to lead the Sixers to a shorthanded victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the big man suffered a mid-foot sprain. While Embiid finished the three-point loss hobbled, his diagnosis the following day guaranteed the All-Star would join the likings of Maxey and Harden on the injury report temporarily.
Questionable with hip soreness to start a new week of games, Tobias Harris faced a new challenge last Tuesday. Suddenly, he went from the fourth-scoring option in a star-studded starting five to leading a team full of reserves while battling a setback of his own.
"Before the game, I wasn't fully one-hundred percent," said Harris after Philadelphia's first matchup without Embiid, Maxey, and Harden against the Brooklyn Nets. "I wasn't allowing us to go out there with four starters on the bench."
Harris nearly became the fourth starter to fail to finish the matchup against Philadelphia's Atlantic Division rival. As he rolled his ankle in the third quarter of the matchup, Harris slowly walked back to the Sixers' locker room. Based on the eye test, it seemed unlikely Harris would return to close out the matchup against the Nets.
"I was in the training room, and Tobias had just rolled his ankle," recalled Sixers veteran Matisse Thybulle. "They're like 'OK, what do you wanna do?' he goes 'I'm going back out there!' and then he went out there and ended up carrying us to victory."
Harris finished his 33-minute shift against the Nets, draining 48 percent of his shots for 24 points. His late-game contributions following a worrisome ankle injury helped the Sixers pull off a remarkable nine-point upset against Brooklyn.
"It was crazy watching it because I saw him in the training room," Thybulle continued. "I saw how hurt he really was and to go out and have the game he had, and I think he had a couple of incredible dunks, and he hit a lot of shots. He carried us, literally."
The Sixers were set to take on the Charlotte Hornets on the road the following night. Before the Brooklyn matchup even concluded, it was already clear that Embiid, Harden, and Maxey would not make the trip to Charlotte to play. One would've assumed Harris might be in the same boat after battling hip and ankle soreness, but that wasn't the case.
"Over the course of my career, I always plan to play," Harris said after the victory over Brooklyn. "That's always my mindset and my mind frame."
Harris' 19 points in Charlotte weren't enough to help the Sixers win, but he helped the team bounce back two nights later when they kicked off a two-game set on the road against the Orlando Magic.
Granted, the Magic are among several of the Eastern Conference's rebuilding organizations, and they missed some key players, but the Sixers continued to miss their star trio, leaving Harris, Shake Milton, and others to carry Philadelphia to victory.
Harris checked into last Friday's game against Orlando to drain 48 percent of his shots for 23 points. He collected ten rebounds to notch his first double-double of the year in the eight-point victory over Orlando.
Two nights later, Harris tacked on another 25-point performance in the 30-point win against the Magic, as the Sixers collected their third win in four games without Embiid, Harden, and Maxey.
"Honestly, we feel great," said Harris on Sunday. "Like, the whole group, the energy, and the vibe is extremely positive. If I'm really being honest, I think all of that is a tribute to the way that we've been winning and everybody feeling themselves out there and everybody getting into a groove and a good rhythm. Those things make the whole group feel good about themselves. To be able to win seven out of nine with all of the injuries that we've had, it's a great feeling, but we've got to keep it up."
The Sixers got an essential reinforcement on Monday night when they faced the Atlanta Hawks. With Embiid feeling up for the challenge of making his return to the court after a four-game absence, he was cleared for action after being considered a game-time decision.
Many believed the team would revert to its old ways and force the ball into Embiid's hands, relying on the All-Star to take over offensively. But Tobias Harris surely didn't fade away in the big man's return to the floor.
"With guys out, the basketball reaches my hands a lot more throughout the offense, and for me, to be efficient, make the right plays, and continue to find the groove, those are all things I have in my game," Harris said on Monday night. "Now, with this type of opportunity, I look to continue to be steady with it and do what I can to help our team win."
The Sixers trailed by 14 points in the first quarter of Monday's game against Atlanta. As Embiid was slow to shake the rust after a week-long absence, Harris kept the Sixers afloat by knocking down four of his six shots for nine points in eight minutes.
The Sixers trailed the entire first half of Monday's game against Atlanta, but an impressive second-half showing by Embiid, Harris, and Milton helped the Sixers form a comeback and snag their fourth win in five games.
"They've been doing so good," Embiid said regarding the Sixers' performance led by Harris recently. "I think they've just been trusting each other. Even before I got hurt, I think the way we were playing, we were playing together, just moving the ball and making sure everybody touches the ball. Obviously, in the last four games, they've been playing on another level. Defensively and offensively, I think our offense has been so good because of our defense, so I think that's why we've been winning all those games."
The outside perception of Harris' true value to the Sixers has been questioned by many. If anybody had doubts about what his teammates think about that topic, they might have second thoughts after witnessing this recent stretch.
"Since the playoffs last season, Tobias has been an incredible asset to this team as far as doing the things that go relatively unnoticed but are necessary and create a foundation of what allows us to be successful," said Thybulle. "His ability to be that consistently I think, is a testament to him as a person and also a player. We've got James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid, and Tobias is doing — it's not even dirty work — it's just being super solid. That often goes unnoticed and especially on a team with a lot of talented players."
What do Doc Rivers and Tobias Harris have in common aside from the fact that they joined the Sixers following a stint with the Los Angeles Clippers? They have both found themselves on a hot seat nearly every season since they've represented the 76ers.
In April of the 2021-2022 NBA season, Rivers was a popular candidate to potentially replace now-former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, as rumors spread that Rivers' time in Philadelphia could be cut way short based on what his team does in the postseason.
As we know now, Rivers remained in Philadelphia after a second-round loss to the Miami Heat last April.
Fast forward to the start of his third season coaching the Sixers, and Rivers' future in Philadelphia once again became a hot topic as his team got off to an underwhelming start when healthy.
Before Philadelphia's first major injury this season, the Sixers were 4-5. For a team that mentioned it had goals to become the NBA's best defensive group on media day, the Sixers were failing miserably to accomplish that feat early on, as Tom Haberstroh pointed out.
Losing James Harden temporarily wasn't the end of the world for the Sixers, who had a thriving young guard in Maxey, who proved he could thrive without the ten-time All-Star next to him for more than half a season last year.
But when Maxey went down with his setback six games later, Rivers faced yet another significant challenge as his team struggled to hit its stride early on in the year.
"We got to plug in; we got to hold the fort," Rivers said ahead of Philly's November 19 matchup against Minnesota. "You know, this is a tough one because it's just our ball-handling is challenged a little bit. We'll find a way. We just have to find that way. Sometimes it's going to be game-to-game, and that's what we used to tell our guys. We're honest; I don't know how we're going to win the game, but we're going to win it. We talked about how we just have to search and find a way. Whatever works that night, and we go with it."
Rivers clearly wasn't grasping at straws with his message to the Sixers. Being around the NBA since the 80s, Rivers has been around long enough to know that injuries aren't an excuse to come up short, and he still had to search for ways to reverse the narrative surrounding his underperforming team.
"It just is what it is," he continued. "You know, it's the season, man. I've been around. No one feels sorry for you. So, I'm not going to feel sorry for us either. We just have to; we gotta find a way to win. I know that sounds nuts, but we just have to, and we'll figure it out."
Rivers instilled the next-man-up mentality into his players. The message that it's a "we season, not a me season" played a big part in his players' mindsets going into a stretch without Embiid, Harden, and Maxey on the floor.
Now three games above .500 for the first time this season, Joel Embiid offered a ringing endorsement for his teammates — and especially his coaching staff — as the Sixers picked up their seventh win in ten games while facing tons of adversity.
"It's a testament to our coaching staff," Embiid claimed.
"If you remember, in the beginning before the season, I said I wanted us to be the best defense in the league, which I think since I've come back from injury, I think we are the best defense in the league," Embiid continued. "That was the goal. Those first few games, we weren't playing well defensively, and then offensively, the ball was sticking too much. Obviously, injuries happened, and we had to make a lot of adjustments. Whether it's me becoming more of a playmaker, and then we got some guys that can handle and score the ball in Tobias, Shake, Tyrese before he got hurt, you know, Furk. I think it's all about us playing together. The coaching staff... Coach Doc and his staff, they've been getting everybody ready, just to make sure we come in and we do everything possible to win these games."
Defensively, the Sixers rank third overall, trailing just the Los Angeles Clippers and the Milwaukee Bucks, according to Basketball Reference. Offensively, they're slightly above the middle of the pack but finding ways to continue improving on a nightly basis.
"We have practice every day, and we have shootarounds before every game, which is good," Embiid finished. "That's what you need to be able to win. I think that goes into making sure everybody is ready, making sure everybody knows the plays, making sure we keep that cohesion where everybody is on the same page depending on whether you play or not. You still got to know what you got to do when you get on the floor."
While the Sixers have shown a lot of growth over the last few weeks missing key contributors, their recent surge is just a small sample size of what they can become. With 61 games left on the schedule, plus a potential playoff run, it's too early to define the team's identity.
But credit needs to be given where it's due individually. Rivers was somebody that many believed could become the first head coach to be relieved of his duties as the Sixers started the year off 1-4. Harris was once again a rumored trade piece, and even Shake Milton was out of his team's rotation.
Now, Harris is averaging 23 points, seven rebounds, and three assists while draining over 50 percent of his shots in the last five games. Rivers has coached the Sixers to an 8-4 record since the ten-time All-Star Harden first went down, and Milton is thriving just as he did in 2019-2020 when he earned himself a starting role for Philadelphia.
Those who faced critcism in Philadelphia early on have found a way to take full advantage of the opportunity to prove their value. The question now becomes can they remain consistent?
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
