Los Angeles Clippers: Why Tobias Harris deserves to finally be an All-Star

Harris beats out some competition

While it should be made clear that pushing for Harris to be an All-Star starter is a stretch, he can definitely beat out some guys at or near his position for a reserve spot. While LeBron James will now take up a starting spot in the West, he’ll essentially be replacing Kawhi Leonard, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

As previously mentioned, Tobias Harris is a combo forward, meaning he can play at both the 3 and 4-spots. He’s seen more success at the power forward, however, and has outplayed some previous All-Star candidates at this position.

While he’s most certainly not taking a spot from Anthony Davis, you can easily make a case for him taking precedence over the likes of consistent All-Stars Draymond Green and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Green has consistently made the All-Star game with less-than-stellar stats because of the impact he has on the best team in the NBA. While the Golden State Warriors are finally starting to find their groove with the return of Stephen Curry, Green hasn’t played like an All-Star whatsoever. He’s currently averaging just 6.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.7 steals in 30.4 minutes per game, shooting an underwhelming 43.8 percent from the field and 22.6 percent from 3-point land.

While Green usually makes the team with a less-than-spectacular stat line, the Warriors haven’t been as dominant as they usually are, and he’s never averaged single digits in scoring for any of his All-Star seasons.

Harris beats him out stat-wise and the teams have very similar records, so it’d be hard to justify Green making the roster over Harris at this point. LaMarcus Aldridge has also been a consistent All-Star over the past couple of years, but Harris could beat him out as well.

While Aldridge is averaging an impressive 18.2 points and 9.7 rebounds in 32.9 minutes per game, the San Antonio Spurs sit at just 14-14 and 10th in the Western Conference. While the stats are definitely closer in this case, Tobias Harris ultimately has the edge due to team success.

Not only is Harris performing extremely well for one of the best teams in basketball, but he beats out a good amount of competition to this point. A lot can change over the coming months, but if this continues into February, Harris deserves to be a first-time All-Star.