McCaffery: Not an All-Star, but Harris plays like one
The conversation was about the NBA All-Star Game, the weekend surrounding it, the novelty-act leadin games and the value and the meaning of it all to the 76ers.
Joel Embiid would be there, as a starter, even if he had just recently recovered from a season-threatening finger injury.
Ben Simmons would be there, as a backup, a designation that will further convince him that whatever his coaches have planned for the development of his personal game will be insignificant and thus comfortably dismissed.
Matisse Thybulle should have been there, in the Rising Stars event, because no matter what the statistics say, his sevenfoot wingspan, ability to block shots from behind and willingness to take on the top defensive assignments should have earned him the honor.
They all deserved to be in the discussion about the Feb. 16 opportunity to ruin, as it annually does, an otherwise beautiful sport.
And that’s when Brett Brown couldn’t resist it, not for one more second, that one topic that apparently will be trapped in mud, its wheels spinning, unable ever to move from where it has been stuck.
“Take a look at Tobias,” he said.
That one.
That topic.
Again.
That would be Tobias Harris, a player with star characteristics, a better player almost every year he has been in the NBA, an employee the 76ers deemed worthy of rewarding with a five-year, $180,000,000 contract last summer, and one who has given them a fine season in return.
He’s not going to be an All-Star. Something else new? For nine years, Harris has worked in the NBA, typically with consistent success, reluctant to take a night off. Since 2016, he has been among the NBA’s most reliable scorers, and this season has given the Sixers an average of 19.4 points per game. He makes big shots, has the respect of his coaches and teammates, often is mentioned in pregame conversations with opposing coaches, causes no clubhouse stress and has helped the Sixers stay on pace for 52 wins this season.
He won’t be an All-Star. “I think Tobias, probably, if our record was better, like that would be a no-brainer,” Brown said. “Look at the year that he has had. He deserves to be talked about in this conversation.”
That’s the issue: Harris is often in the conversation … up until that moment when he is asked to fly to the All-Star Game site, which this year will be Chicago. Last year, when he was averaging 19.3 points for the Clippers, he was crafting a reputation as one of the league’s best players. So when he was left off the All-Star roster, he was widely characterized as the No. 1 All-Star snub of 2019. Somebody has to be the annual Best Player Not Selected. So it was his turn, a one-time take-onefor-the-team quirk.
Surely, though, that was about to change. And when Harris and his expiring contract were traded to the Sixers at age 26, it would help make him more recognizable. When Harris became a freeagent at the end of last season, the Sixers paid it forward, giving him AllStar money without any All-Star appearance. Yet just as he was at 26, Harris was snubbed again at 27. Thus the question: Will it be any different when he is 28, 29, 30 or 31? Or are the Sixers paying that buck-eighty for a player just good enough to not be considered among the world’s finest players?
Either way, it’s not a crisis. If Tobias Harris plays an 83rd game during the season or if he doesn’t, it will not impact whether or not he swishes a gamewinning shot in Game 7 of a playoff game in May. Nor is he alone in being snubbed. Somehow, that game is going to proceed without Devin Booker or Bradley Beal. That’s odd. So there’s no sense being insulted.
Yet Harris, obviously aware that he is about to become closer to 30 than to 25, has deeply wanted to be designated as an All-Star, and he had some reason to believe he could finally break through this season. For one, he plays every game. Embiid has had loadmanaging nights off and recently needed nine games to recover from the finger injury. Though Simmons has better stats across the board, Harris has been more willing (isn’t everyone?) to attempt big shots in the fourth quarter.
The way the NBA works is that three stars are required for serious championship contention. Four would be preferable. But three would work. This season, no team will have more than two All-Stars, and the Sixers will be one of a half-dozen with two.
So, by default, whichever team wins the championship, its third “star” will not have been in the AllStar Game.
“I’d love to be an AllStar,” Harris has often said. “It’s a goal of mine as a player. I felt last year I was an All-Star in the beginning of the season, but it didn’t happen that way. But our team has a nice amount of talent. And I want to play at my best every single night to help us win games.”
He was paid $180,000,000 to help do that 82 times a year, and another 16 times in the playoffs. If he does, no one will have to be reminded to, as the man said, take a look at Tobias.