Philadelphia 76ers: 3 goals for Tobias Harris going into 2020-21

Goal No. 2 for Tobias Harris: Get back to LA Clippers form

Tobias Harris had a phenomenal 87 game run with the LA Clippers. He shot 48.7 percent from the floor, 42.6 percent from 3-point range and averaged 20.3 points per game (with a season career-high of 20.9 points per game in 2018-19). When he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, a team without much ball movement or spacing, or any offensive philosophy to speak of, his production fell off.

In his season-plus with the Sixers, he’s shooting just 35.6 percent from 3-point range. Of course, some of this can be chalked up to noise and variance, but there’s no shortage of evidence surrounding the ineffectiveness of the Sixers offense under Brown.

With Doc Rivers in town, Tobias Harris has a new lease on life in Philadelphia. One of the ways this can manifest itself is in the pick and roll, where he was utilized with high volume in LA, and considerably less so with the Sixers. 26.6 percent of his total possessions were as the pick and roll ball-handler in his 2018-19 run with the Clippers, and he scored a glittering .993 points per possession, thanks largely to the spacing and movement they utilized.

This past season with the Sixers, only 17.5 percent of his possessions were in the pick and roll, and thanks to the stagnation presented by their offense, it was easier for defenses to make his life difficult and he scored just .861 points per possession.

Thanks to Rivers’ presence, there may be a path towards unlocking Tobias Harris in the pick and roll as the primary ball-handler.