Tobias Harris’ free agency pitch

The Paradigm Shift

The whole crux of the argument used in the infographic is that Tobias Harris is a perfect fit for the current NBA. He is a versatile forward capable of playing both forward positions, certainly on the offensive end. And the fact no one is talking about him is something the statistics and numbers say should not be happening.

So, he should have a strong market.

Certainly calling him the most underrated free agent in the NBA is trying to pump up conversation. Harris seems behind Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and even Tristan Thompson in the free agent pecking order as a power forward.

However, it seems pretty certain that Harris is the kind of power forward that is becoming vogue in the NBA at the moment. It is positional versatility that seems to be most important.

Most of Orlando’s 2015 season was spent trying to figure out exactly where Harris belongs in the grand scheme of things. And that never seemed to materialize clearly.

Harris spent most of 2015 at small forward but he played most of 2014 at power forward. The Magic just drafted Aaron Gordon who has much the same positional versatility to play both forward spots. It is undoubtedly something the NBA values.

That means Harris has to do everything both a small forward and a power forward must do.

As the infographic points out, Harris was in some solid statistical company. He was one of four players in the league to average at least 17 points per game, six rebounds per game and shoot 35 percent from beyond the arc.

Scoring was always something Harris could do, but his rebounding and shooting was a different matter. Harris’ rebounding actually took something of a dip in 2015 as he moved more to small forward. His defensive rebound rate dropped from 20.6 percent to 17.3 percent. He spent all his previous times in Orlando with a defensive rebound rate around 20 percent.

Certainly bringing in Dewayne Dedmon to gobble up more rebounds limited what he could do on the boards. There are only so many rebounds to go around. And being out of the power forward position, probably moved him away from the basket.

The other area where Harris continues to improve is his 3-point shooting. He went from 25.4 percent from beyond the arc in 2014 and 32.1 percent in his career to 36.4 percent in 2015. That is a drastic improvement.

And Harris seemed to get most of it from the most efficient areas. Harris was 46 for 103 (44.7 percent) on corner 3-pointers including an efficient 26 for 50 from the right corner.

Harris still has a lot of work to do though. Particularly with his shooting. He shot less than 40 percent on open jumpers. Even then, as the infographic notes, very few of Harris’ shots were open ones. A signal of the struggles for the Magic’s offense.

He put up the raw numbers to justify an investment from someone. There seems to be no doubt of that. And at 23, there is no reason to think he will not continue his improvement. He is not a finished product.

For a team like the Magic, it comes down to the dollars and cents.

Next: The Defense Issue