Getty Tobias Harris #12 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers spent the summer upgrading their roster in a major way.
And despite all the jokes might be centered around Daryl Morey’s effort to bring a Rockets homecoming in Philadelphia, the additions of Danuel House Montrezl Harrell, and PJ Tucker should go a long way towards transforming the roster in a positive direction.
But it’s not just a shared background in Houston that unites a few Sixers. The same can be said of Harrell and Tobias Harris, who shared the court for roughly 87 games as Clippers in Los Angeles between 2017 and 2019.
And over the weekend, Harrell took to Twitter to call out his old LA partner.
“Aye @Tobias31 what’s your ole buddy,” tweeted Harrell. Harris responded with the ultimate hype-man response: “MY dog!!!!!,” tweeted the Sixers forward.
It helps that the two players have taken the court together. That background and chemistry simply can’t be replicated without reps and time together.
Unfortunately, Harrell’s history with another Sixer might be more of a cause for concern. Enter: Doc Rivers.
Doc Rivers Struggles With Backups That He ‘Trusts’
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers, for his much-celebrated career, has a serious problem. One that was covered recently by Dave Early of Liberty Ballers.
“Rivers has had this maddening flaw where he locks on to a backup veteran he trusts and he plays that guy throughout the regular season when it may work, and appears to help the team eke out a few extra wins, which carry important weight for the ultimate standings,” Early wrote on September 7.
The Sixers have seen this very problem over two seasons now. The names might change — DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, Paul Milsap — but the strategy remains the same. And yes, as Early puts it, those veterans might feast on a poor and inexperienced Thunder team in January. But come playoff time, Rivers struggles to adapt to the reality of higher caliber competition.
“But the opportunity cost is he then fails to tinker with lineups that have a better chance of succeeding in the playoffs, and costs his team chances to ramp up promising young players (see Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Terrence Mann, or Paul Reed),” argued Early.
Even more alarming, this problem has followed Rivers wherever he’s staked his coach’s tent. On one hand, it’s a scary observation because it clearly shows an unwillingness to adapt. But it’s scarier for a far more real reason: this has happened before between Harrell and Rivers.
Doc Rivers and Montrezl Harrell Have a Messy Background
Not only have Tobias Harris and Montrezl Harrell played together, but so too have Rivers and Harrell. Rivers coached the big man with the Clippers before Rivers joined Philadelphia.
And it was Rivers’ insistence on keeping Harrell in the game that might have gotten him fired. In the Clippers’ playoff series against the Nuggets in 2020 (Rivers’ last with the Clips), he was crushed for blowing a 3-1 series lead.
But a look under the hood reveals an even greater flaw: he overplayed the heck out of Harrell, to Los Angeles’ demise. When Harrell and Nuggets star Nikola Jokic shared the floor, Jokic feasted, to the point where Los Angeles had a negative-27 rating when the two players shared the floor.
But the Clippers had a younger option at center to throw at Jokic: Ivica Zubac. And when Zubac and Jokic went toe-to-toe, the Clippers’ net rating spiked to plus-8.8. Nonetheless, Rivers continued going to Harrell in crunch time.
It remains to be seen whether Rivers has learned from his time in Los Angeles. But if the same pattern repeats itself, it may not be long until Rivers finds himself on the hot seat.