There are a few big construction changes that the Philadelphia 76ers are about to undergo in an effort to improve their title chances for the season resumption in Orlando. One of those big changes is moving Ben Simmons from the point guard spot to the team’s power forward spot and have him run a few different options from that spot.
Where does that leave Tobias Harris? The Sixers have been running Harris a bit out of position this season at the small forward spot as he is more of a natural power forward. He does have the ability to play both spots though and that is why he is so important to the team’s plans. The versatility is what is needed on this team.
“Tobias probably epitomizes what I think we have in a few of our players and just, versatility,” acknowledged coach Brett Brown on Tuesday. “He can go play a small forward, he can play a power forward, he’s big enough and strong enough sometimes when he gets switched out. We had him on (Serge) Ibaka in the Toronto series last year and so he is just skilled all over the place and I just highlighted the defensive side of it.”
This could be a product of having two elite defensive bigs in Joel Embiid and Al Horford behind him, but Harris does have a spectacular 103.9 defensive rating as a small forward which is good for the 94th percentile per Cleaning the Glass.
Offensively, he only has a 106.4 offensive rating as a small forward this season which is good for only the 19th percentile. With this new lineup configuration, Harris will still technically be the small forward with Simmons taking over at the 4. However, he still is a shooter that will play a huge factor in creating enough space on offense for this plan to work.
“You go to the offensive side of it and somebody’s going to match up with him when you put a certain lineup on the court that it’s easy to see how he can have a small guy on him and he can play bully ball and he can rise up and shoot a three,” Brown continued. “I think his improvement off a live-ball handle has improved a lot over our brief time together.”
Due to the aforementioned versatility, there will be times Harris will play some power forward. He has a 112.8 offensive rating as a power forward so that should help things moving forward as well. The Sixers are a team that, despite their offensive limitations and issues, can boast a lot of versatility and the ability to have a lot of other moving pieces. That, in turn, should help Brown and the team figure out their spacing issues.
“Take any of those things that I’ve said and now go back to spacing with Joel, yes in many ways. Tobias is a huge part of any success that we’re going to have and I think a large part has to do with just how multiskilled both sides of the ball that he is.”
Philadelphia has a lot of time to get ready for the season resumption in Orlando. They will put a lot of work with this new lineup configuration before their first scrimmage game on July 24 and the official restart on August 1. Harris will certainly factor into a lot of Brown’s game plan. [lawrence-related id=34631,34632,34612]