March 01, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
Tobias Harris is struggling more than ever recently -- just when the Sixers have needed him most.
As the Sixers' season begins to wind down and the playoffs come into focus, it's time for another mailbag. Let's get to the questions.
From @SimpsonOnSixers: What is the Sixers' realistic solution to dealing with Tobias Harris in the playoffs? Benching is easier said than done because they've never done so before.
It is indeed correct that this issue is much more complex than just benching Harris and calling it a day. Like it or not, Harris has enough longevity and cache that it would be an extremely difficult decision to make, even in the final year of his now-infamous five-year, $180 million contract.
There is no question: if Harris fails to turn his season around in the very near future, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse will have to do some serious contemplating about how large of a role Harris can have in the postseason.
The important thing to keep in mind is that what matters much more than whether or not Harris starts are how many minutes he is actually playing per game and how frequently the offense is running through him. A reduction in role is long overdue for Harris at this point -- but removing him from the starting lineup while keeping his minutes in the 30s is nothing more than a symbolic decision. The team would be better off keeping him in the starting lineup and simply lessening his workload.
A move to the bench is not impossible, nor is it unjustifiable, but in today's NBA, there are plenty of reserves who play the same amount of minutes as starters on their teams.
What I'm getting at here is this: simply removing Harris from the starting lineup to quash concern and ease frustration is not enough. But as a starter or reserve, Harris simply cannot be trusted to see the floor or receive shot attempts as much as he is if he continues to play the way he has lately. That is the single most important thing for Nurse to recognize.
From @WillFagan5: Thoughts on the last two roster spots once Darius Bazley's 10-day contract is up?
Assuming Bazley is not inked to another contract, the Sixers will once again have two of their 15 NBA roster spots unclaimed. How they attempt to fill those two slots will be a pivotal storyline to follow between now and the end of the regular season.
The most obvious use of one of the spots is to convert two-way wing Ricky Council IV onto a standard NBA deal, preferably a long-term contract which locks him into the Sixers' bench for the foreseeable future. Council has arguably given the Sixers more production than any other two-way player in the franchise's history -- two-way deals were introduced in 2016-17, so this is a decent sample size by now -- and has obvious untapped potential. He has been a positive-impact rotation piece despite being a very shaky three-point shooter thanks to tremendous athleticism, energy and effort.
Once Council is converted to a standard NBA deal -- which should be a priority for Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and his front office -- the Sixers can scour the free agent and buyout market for a veteran who can fill the last roster spot. They will not find someone nearly as helpful and renowned as Kyle Lowry, but even in a down year for the open market, they can find someone who is at least theoretically capable of helping the team win in the regular season.
So, who could that be? One possible option has emerged in recent days...
From @wontonsouv: Are the Sixers signing Mike Muscala?
Let's be honest: more than for any tactical basketball reason, we all want the Sixers to sign Muscala so we can laugh when he knocks down a three off a drive and kick from Tyrese Maxey. His entire contribution to the Sixers franchise came in one shot that he made when he played for the Oklahoma City Thunder -- the game-winning triple which earned the Sixers the No. 21 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, a pick eventually used to select Maxey.
The former Sixer stretch big man was bought out this week, and reports indicate that he will soon sign with a playoff contender. Muscala-Maxey fan fiction dreams aside, there is some viability to the idea of Muscala returning to Philadelphia.
As the team continues to navigate life without Joel Embiid -- most likely for at least another month -- they need all of the help they can get at the center position. Paul Reed is already overextended as a starter. Mo Bamba has struggled mightily in the vast majority of his appearances, displaying little on-court value on either end of the floor. Nurse has recently gotten desperate, trying several different wings -- Harris, Nic Batum and KJ Martin, mostly -- as backup center options.
Muscala is not an actively good NBA player at this point, but he is probably at least a smidge better than Bamba. Though the difference is marginal, it would be meaningful to upgrade those 15 or so minutes per game -- even if those brief stints turn into DNP-CDs in the playoffs.
As the Sixers try to avoid falling out of the Eastern Conference's top six seeds and into the Play-In Tournament, every game will be under the microscope. If Muscala is capable of swinging one game from a loss to a win, just by being more valuable than Bamba, he is worth signing.
What is there to lose?
