As Tobias Harris’s name revolves around trade rumors, we learned that a vet might prefer a bigger role in a ball game.

Tobias Harris had a lower season in 2021-2022. But he quit hard enough to leave us wondering what his future holds.

Reaching the year, a quarter of 6-8 jumps hit a number of roadblocks. He contracted a COVID case, suffered a hip injury and shoulder disease in another location. So that wasn’t the beginning he wanted.

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers told Harris in November that “at some point, your hip will feel great. You don’t have COVID. You won’t get the flu and you’ll run and just keep going there. team blockbuster, bringing one of the most ball-dominated players in NBA history to James Harden and asking Tobias to stay.

After talking to Doc from heart to heart, Harris had to try to capture Morey-Ball in flight, taking on the role of catching and hitting the attack and leaving more energy to the defensive side of the ball:

“I think the biggest adjustment for me was when,” Harris admitted in late April [coach Rivers and I] I actually sat down and talked and just talked really and he told me what he was going to do and how I could do it at a very high level to help the group. And from then on, I was basically at peace with it and never looked back on that time.

Harris showed a fine-tuned shooting profile with a lot of quick triples and close attacks, playing great basketball just in time:

He couldn’t slow down Jimmy Butler as quickly as he did against Pascal Siakam, but it was a really big order and not a stain on his resume. The Boston Celtics had historic defenses and didn’t do much better against Jimmy Buckets.

Butler hit an average of 27.5 lp, 7.5 strokes, 5.5 points, 1.7 sts, 44 free throws 0.605 ts% vs Philly.

And compared to the Boston round later, Butler scored an average of 25.6 lp, 7 strokes, 3.4 balls, 2 teaspoons, killing 54 free throws, a series of 0.582 TS. All of Boston’s wings and Defender of the Year finalists did only slightly better work than the beaten Sixers, even as Butler’s injuries increased.

However, as the Sixers missed their championship goal unfortunate, the defenses escaped from the double and triple team Embidi without paying, and as Harris still owes nearly $ 80 million over the next two seasons, he is on that Philadelphia team. is still a big question mark.

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Photo by Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images

Last week Keith Pompey The Philadelphia Inquirer updated it:

“The Sixers have publicly announced their intention to bring back their key players, including Harris. But privately, the team is once again trying to see what the market is for the fourth scorer after Embid, Harden and Maxey ….

The Sixers would like to get a third star to play with the perennial All-Stars Emblem and Harden. It would also allow Harris to be more involved in the team’s game plan. He has been the third or fourth choice throughout the Sixers term.

And the next day, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Reporter gave us a little more information to keep track of:

About Fischer:

“The Sixers look more than open for Harris to return next season. He has received commendable accolades from staff for his team-basedness and locker room, but Sixers is exploring ways to add to his list around Harden and Embid and rising combined guard Tire Maxey.

Should Harris stay in Philadelphia, it must be said that the man, who will soon be 30, will be in a great position to perform in an aspiring championship environment like Wiggins’ Golden State before his next contract. However, Harris has indicated that the veteran would like more ball opportunities in the Sixers attack, especially in the pick-and-play game.

It was easy to get lost at the head of every piece, in big ticket deals, in Harden’s likely election, and so on.

But it’s kind of a big deal, right? First, Pompey made it clear, and then Fischer’s update confirmed in principle: Harris’s camp seems dissatisfied with his recent three-role and D-role.

Harris has never enjoyed the freedom of attack at Clipper since he arrived in Philly. Obviously, the Sixers had the aspirations for the championship and Joel on the side of the emblem more than alive. Harris didn’t need to play too much ball.

For the Stat Muse, Harris scores an average of 17.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per 762 games. together Joel Embiid during his career, hitting the field with 48.3% in 34.2 minutes.

And he has thrown an average of 21.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 76 games for the 76ers. without Joel Embiid in his career, 33.6 minutes 49% hits.

He actually felt more comfortable attacking when Joel was out of line. But this is not a striking difference.

Here are some views on how to create a ball from previous playoffs:

Pick-and-roll ball handler is a Harris game reg. Seasonal Averages for NBA.com:

• 2018-2019: 5.1 holdings, 4.1 FGA, 0.99 PTS / holdings, 52.2 EFG%, 87th percentile
• 2019-2021: 3.3 holdings, 2.8 FGA, 0.85 PTS / holdings, 42.7 EFG%, 53.4 percentile
• 2020-2021: 4.4 ball possession, 3.7 FGA, 0.96 PTS / possession, 47.6 EFG%, 73rd percentile
• 2021-2022: 2.8 ball domains, 2.4 FGA, 1.06, PTS / baller, 53.4 EFG%, 90.5 percentile

Insulation:

• 2018-2019: 2.2 ball possession, 1.9 FGA, 0.99 PTS / possession, 48.1 EFG%, 76.5 percentile
• 2019-2020: 1.9 ball possession, 1.7 FGA, 0.81 PTS / ball, 38.3 EFG%, 41.3 percentile
• 2020-2021: 1.5 ball possession, 1.3 FGA, 1.08 PTS / possession, 57.5 EFG%, 86.3 percentile
• 2021-2022: 1.4, holdings 1.3 FGA, 0.84 PTS / hold, 41.3 EFG%, 40.6 percentile

2022 playoff pick and roll ball handler numbers

• 1.1 ball possession, (total 13) 0.9 FGA, 1.08 PTS / possession, 63.6 EFG%, 83.9 percentile

Contrasts with Tyrese Maxey’s 1.00 PTS / bowler (40 in total) and Harden’s 0.91 points (53 in total).

Maxey reached the 79.6th percentile, Harden 64.3.

2022 playoff isolation games per game

• 2021-2022 1.5 holdings, 1.3 FGA, 1.06 PTS / holdings, 63.3 EFG%, 73.2 percentile

Harris and Harden logged in 21 reg. season games together, resulting in +153.

His play-off heat card:

So looking at the numbers, it’s unreasonable to think that Harris deserves more of a ball-handling job. He’s not a deadly isolation player, but his percentiles as a pick-and-play ball handler are certainly certain, though it’s a smaller sample after Harden’s arrival and that’s the key.

The big question is: if he gets more opportunities, who gets less? Are these touches “produced”? Are you taking shots from Embbi? Are you asking Harden to stand out from the top three? Is Tyrese Maxey sacrificing? Jackson Frank and I talked about what this folder might look like in the last ten minutes. Don’t ignore Jackson’s complete thoughts, but the bottom line was that the other creator might be attacking or against the wings (as opposed to the high-screen spread two-man game we’re running with Harden and Joel). rotating protection, it can simply work as spurts. And we wanted the Sixers to be a little more creative in their attack to diversify their attack.

However, at first glance, there seems to be something wrong with the whole idea. It was one of the best balls in Harris’ career, do we really want to mess it up?

In a simpler world, the pick-and-play role of the Harden Emblem would be raised and emphasized, with finished snipers placed as far away from them as possible, providing space.

Harden scored an average of 7.6 points per game in the previous game. season as a PnR ball handler and I just don’t like the idea of ​​having fewer of them with Joel next season because it was one of the deadliest games in the sport.

(Harden-led PnRs) actually dropped to 4.4 points per game during the play-offs as the Sixers frustratedly walked away. (Some because of injuries and some because I still have no idea.)

So if Sixers already had an incentive to control Harris’s market temperature and now they have more information that he may not be thrilled to continue in this additional role, it may be a real possibility (even if we’re not involved in it). probably territory) it has traded.

I don’t know if there is any way to lure Sacramento Kings to something like …

But when Harris is here, I’m not out of the idea that he’ll get a few more opportunities per game.

We heard that Embbi may be working on his perimeter game this off-season. And his skills coach, Drew Hanlen, basically confirmed it. So maybe Harris has more options to create a paved floor. Maybe they’ll be able to perform a little more in non-embryo minutes. Basically, I’m open to it as long as it works and is effective and doesn’t hold anyone back. In fact, the idea of ​​Embid delegating more offensive workloads could be a great thing. Using the embolus more as a decoy during the year can really save some of its energy for protection and stretching. (And I wouldn’t mind if Embid and Harden participated in conservative load management programs next season, in which case there could be a lot of pick-and-play roles.)

Anyway, it’s an unexpected wrinkle, and you’re wondering if or how it could affect potential trade negotiations. It is likely that Harris will be in the first game of the season. And who knows, maybe some of his pick-and-roll carbonate presentation will increase its commercial value for Christmas anyway. Or he makes himself invaluable to this club, making a new move and forming his first star team.