Tobias Harris continues to do whatever is asked to help Sixers succeed
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have gone through plenty of transformations over recent years as they try and find the right mix around Joel Embiid in order to contend for a championship.
Tobias Harris, who was acquired at the 2019 trade deadline, has been along for the ride and he has had to change up his game and role plenty of times in order to fit on this roster. The veteran out of Tennessee went from having to be the No. 2 option to then being the No. 3 option to now he is the spot-up guy in the corner in order to help the offense flow.
In Monday’s win over the Toronto Raptors, Harris drilled five 3-pointers on seven attempts as he has mastered the art of being a catch-and-shoot guy within the offense. He has put in a ton of work over the summer and he has completely transformed his game in order to fit what the Sixers need at the moment on the offensive end of the floor.
“I know if you threw me out there two years ago, I wouldn’t be able to get going because that wasn’t a mentality for me of just catching and shooting really fast,” said Harris. “It’s part of it and at first, it was tough, but now I kinda have changed my mentality for it and said ‘If that’s the case and the situation, how do you be the best at that?’ That’s always my approach.”
Harris deserves a lot of credit. For most, they will point to his huge contract and say that this is exactly what he should be doing. However, that is not the easiest thing to do when throughout his NBA career, he was always involved in the offense as a go-to guy.
Now, playing next to Embiid and James Harden, this is what Harris has to do to help win games and he is thriving in his new role.
“You’re gonna be wide-open a lot of times because of double teams being caused by either me in the post or James and those are, I wouldn’t say easy shots, but he works on that every single day,” Embiid said of Harris. “They’re not easy shots, but those are the type of shots that he works on every day, so I’m just glad he’s ready and he’s stepping up.”
Harris has always been a guy who puts the team first before his own individual needs and the Sixers are benefiting from his sacrifice.
“After every game just figuring out ways to get better,” Harris added. “For me, that’s just the evolution and growth of me and my game.”
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