Scott Skiles’ relationship with Tobias Harris made murky by “false narrative”
Moving Forward
For Harris, his experience was a strange one. He was a 19-year-old player of potential on a team that needed to win. He needed a situation like Orlando’s — one where winning was not necessarily the goal — to flourish. His time with Skiles this time around, should the Magic match and bring Harris back in restricted free agency, will be different.
To be sure, Skiles will put the focus back on winning and play players who can contribute to that goal.
“A lot of times an organization will talk about patience, but sometimes all of you [the media] make that very difficult,” Skiles said. “Patience means we have to play everybody all the time. What you have to do is develop them. Under the umbrella of developing guys is a bunch of things. Accountability is one of them. You are short changing guys if you think you can’t challenge them and they will rise to the challenge. Tobias is a guy that I know does that.”
Indeed, the Magic and their fans have learned in the past two and a half seasons that Harris is a guy who works hard, says the right things and does all he can to contribute to winning. His game still needs development, but he portrays the right attitude to accomplish this goal.
Maybe reuniting with Skiles and receiving the accountability he was not ready for early in his career now will transform him and push him to a new level.
That part of the relationship is generally what the Magic are hoping will happen throughout the roster.