There always seems to be an obstacle in the way for the Philadelphia 76ers. Whether it's injuries, or losing to a superior team, they've never made it very far in the playoffs. In this video, let's take a look at the biggest culprit - the contract of Tobias Harris, which really crippled the team for so many years.
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Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod
Basic Implosion by Kevin MacLeod
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Find all of his songs and download them for free here: http://incompetech.com
► Sources:
Stats and box-scores from Basketball-Reference.com, NBA.com, Statmuse.com, PBPstats.com
#nba #76ers #sixers
I make all kinds of NBA videos which include analysis, player stories, countdowns, and mysteries. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!
► X (Twitter): @AndyHoopsYT
► TikTok: @AndyHoopsYT
► Music:
Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod
Basic Implosion by Kevin MacLeod
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Find all of his songs and download them for free here: http://incompetech.com
► Sources:
Stats and box-scores from Basketball-Reference.com, NBA.com, Statmuse.com, PBPstats.com
#nba #76ers #sixers
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SportsTranscript
00:22During the Joel and Bede era, there always seems to be an obstacle in their way.
00:26You can point to the myriad of teams in the East who've given them trouble over the years.
00:32However, the biggest culprit lies within their own roster.
00:35In the 2019 offseason, the Sixers had a decision to make.
00:39Not only was this their most formidable roster around Joel and Bede,
00:43they had a choice to either keep Jimmy Butler or Tobias Harris.
00:47They chose the younger Tobias, signing him to a colossal 5-year, $180 million contract.
00:54That contract, when he signed it, put him as the 10th highest paid player in the entire league.
01:00Not only was he clearly not worth this much,
01:03but Tobias took up such a huge portion of the salary cap that it crippled the team permanently.
01:09The Sixers simply didn't have the space to build around and Bede any further.
01:13That's five years, five years, where the Sixers were severely handicapped.
01:18And in this league, if you even have one bad contract, your chances to compete for the title plummets.
01:24But what is it about Tobias Harris that makes him such a non-impactful player?
01:29How's going folks? My name's Andy, and today, let's take a detailed look at everything that's wrong with Tobias Harris.
01:38At a glance, Harris' regular season numbers don't look terrible.
01:42Over several years, he's consistently averaged like 16 to 19 points a game on average or above average efficiency,
01:49but it always seems like he has such little impact on the game.
01:53That's because he's not particularly good in any specific skill,
01:57and in the playoffs, even though he rarely ever sees a double team, he can hardly score in one-on
02:02-one situations.
02:04Take this play, for example.
02:07He has the much smaller Dante DiVincenzo guarding him.
02:10Harris has 4 or 5 inches and 20 to 30 pounds over him.
02:14And with his size and experience, this should be a major mismatch in favor of the Sixers.
02:20As you can tell, he can't capitalize.
02:23This is the epitome of what makes Tobias so ineffective.
02:29He's the same size as Aaron Gordon.
02:31And while Gordon always tries to punish his defender,
02:35if he sees a mismatch, he bullies his way to the basket.
02:38His size and strength gets into the paint.
02:42Harris cannot do the same.
02:44When Embiid sees double teams or when he lures the defense with his gravity,
02:48more often than not, the man they leave open is Harris.
02:52Yet, he cannot take advantage.
02:57The root of Tobias' problems stems from his lack of an offensive bag.
03:02Now, I heard people don't like the term bag, but it's fairly accurate when we're talking about him.
03:07For example, even a shot like this.
03:10You have Harris trying to post up the much shorter Josh Hart.
03:14While we all know Hart is a feisty defender,
03:17Harris' go-to move in every situation like this is a turnaround fadeaway.
03:22It goes in this time.
03:23But if you have a smaller guy on you,
03:25you'd expect your second highest paid player to take advantage by taking him to the rim.
03:30Even on this play right here.
03:33Harris is literally at the rim,
03:35but then he sees Josh Hart and immediately passes it out.
03:40If this was any other player at his size,
03:42they would try to dunk it or finish over Hart or muscle their way through.
03:47This is one of his biggest problems.
03:49Tobias actively avoids physical contact.
03:52And he's one of the softest players in the entire league,
03:55which also reflects in his free throw attempts too.
03:58For the amount of shots he takes, he certainly doesn't shoot many free throws.
04:02Look at this play right here.
04:10Now, we all know OG Ananobi is one of the league's best defenders.
04:14But with this much space,
04:16there's no way Harris should be pulling up with a hand in his face like this.
04:20He doesn't even consider bodying him up or trying to get a closer shot.
04:25There is a bright side though.
04:26For what it's worth,
04:27Tobias is actually very good at finishing at the basket.
04:31The issue is he has a hard time getting to the basket
04:34because he's simply not skilled enough to maneuver his way there.
04:37For the season, he actually hits 69% of his shots at the rim,
04:41but he only takes one-fourth of his shots from there.
04:44As opposed to around 45% of his shots from mid-range,
04:48an area of the floor that he's comfortable in and he's okay at hitting them.
04:52But when the defense gets tight in the playoffs,
04:55they're not the kind of shots the Sixers want him to take.
04:59Compared to other players with a similar build,
05:01you can tell their offense, their bag is far more polished than Tobias's.
05:07There's another problem with Harris that stuck with him for his entire career.
05:11He's not good off the ball.
05:14According to NBA.com's dashboard,
05:16he only shoots 37.6% off of catch and shoots,
05:20and 43% on pull-ups.
05:22Even then, he doesn't necessarily move off the ball that frequently either.
05:27Harris stands around a lot.
05:30During nights when his shot isn't falling, he doesn't do anything else.
05:34Even the opposing team is aware of his lack of movement.
05:37In this play here, Ananobi is sagging off him so much
05:41that he doesn't even provide any spacing for Embiid.
05:44With the amount of jump shots Tobias takes,
05:47you'd expect the other team to at least treat him like he's a threat.
05:50But they don't.
05:52They don't respect his shot.
05:53This might be because he gets scouted very well.
05:57Tobias shoots only 40% from corner threes.
06:00It might seem okay at a glance,
06:02but then you realize Tyrese Maxey shoots 55% from the corners.
06:06Nick Batum and Kyle Lowry both shoot 43%
06:09and provide more in other parts of the game.
06:11What's the point of putting Harris in the corner
06:13if he can't even do that better than his teammates?
06:17Perhaps it's an issue with coaching?
06:19Or maybe it's because the Sixers have given him so many chances
06:23to embrace a bigger role,
06:24but he's not capable of doing so.
06:27For example, in the two months Joel Embiid sat out due to injury,
06:31Harris did not even want a bigger role.
06:34He still put up his usual 16 to 17 points a game,
06:37and instead of elevating his own game and trying to take over,
06:41he deferred to Kelly Oubre.
06:43Oubre was the guy shouldering the increased burden instead,
06:47even though Harris is supposedly the more talented player.
06:50Harris was always the third option on his team,
06:53but even when Embiid went down,
06:55he still somehow remained the team's third option.
06:58There's always someone else stepping up in his place.
07:02You can point to his lack of aggression.
07:05I know it's cliche to say that,
07:07but Harris has never shown he wants it bad enough.
07:09Since he signed his colossal contract,
07:12he stopped improving.
07:13It's more common than you think.
07:15Some players don't want the spotlight,
07:17nor the recognition.
07:19They play for their next paycheck,
07:21and with this kind of money,
07:22it's no wonder Harris lost motivation over the years.
07:26We've talked about Harris and his limited scoring arsenal,
07:29but a player shouldn't be judged solely on that, right?
07:33There are other ways to impact the game,
07:35and considering the amount of money he makes,
07:37he's got to contribute in other ways.
07:39Except, he really doesn't.
07:42When his shot isn't falling,
07:44or when the defense figures out how to guard all three of his moves,
07:47he literally does not do anything else.
07:50When he sees his teammates get doubled,
07:52he can't even take advantage of that.
07:55When he gets the ball and needs to create a play,
07:58it always ends up in a contested jump shot.
08:01Most importantly, he's not a fantastic defender either.
08:05He's okay, he can handle guys of similar speed as him.
08:09But guards routinely abuse him,
08:11and he's not strong enough to guard any legitimate power forward.
08:14The Sixers don't trust him either,
08:16because most of the time,
08:17they stick him on the guy who's standing in the corner.
08:20Very rarely does he make an impact on defense,
08:23because he's not asked to do much in plays like this.
08:27A 35-year-old Nick Batum
08:29is a better defender than he is.
08:31The era of Tobias Harris has been polarizing,
08:35and he's aware of the criticism,
08:36as he hears it from fans all the time.
08:39However, it was this quote from the 2023 offseason
08:42that caught everyone's attention.
08:45Trade speculation, you know,
08:48casual Sixers fans,
08:49they'll trade me for a crumble cookie.
08:51But at the end of the day,
08:53you know, they have to realize like,
08:55you're not getting a 6'9 forward back
08:57who can, you know, damn near shoot 40% from three,
09:01guard other team's best player,
09:03shoot close-up drive,
09:05play 70-plus games a year.
09:08This led to Daryl Morey responding
09:10with this hilarious tweet.
09:11Had to check out the first crumble cookie store.
09:14Don't worry, Tobias.
09:15No casual fans in sight here.
09:17The fans are throwing him under the bus
09:19and using him as an excuse for the team's failures.
09:22Which, I think that's partly true.
09:25Throughout the years,
09:26the Sixers' struggles to get past the second round
09:28is not solely the fault of Harris.
09:30It's a combination of things,
09:32and beats untimely injuries.
09:34Seems like every year,
09:35he's never fully healthy for the playoffs.
09:38A lack of coaching during the Doc Rivers era
09:40held them back from their full potential.
09:43The Ben Simmons saga,
09:44where he looked completely disinterested.
09:47Harris and his contract
09:48certainly prevented them
09:50from building their team properly.
09:51But it's all of these reasons
09:53why the Sixers have not lived up
09:55to their expectations.
09:56However, with his contract to expire
09:58by the summer of 2024,
10:00that's one roadblock they finally got over.
10:03But what's in store for the future
10:05of the Philadelphia 76ers?
10:08Thank you all so much for watching.
10:10Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
10:12I hope y'all enjoyed the video.
10:13And of course, as always,
10:15I'll see you next time.
10:17Peace.
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