The Spurs’ big offseason addition, Tobias Harris, is a known commodity. The 15-year veteran entered the league as a 19-year-old and had a strong career playing for several teams, with varying levels of success. He was never an All-Star but had some standout individual years and rarely missed the playoffs late in his career. Anyone who follows the league is familiar with his game.
What’s not as clear is how he fits on the Spurs. The power forward spot was one of the weaknesses that were exposed in the postseason for San Antonio, so the addition makes sense at first glance, but there are specific areas in which Harris will help and others in which he might not.
Harris brings shot creation that none of the other forwards offer
One of the reasons Harris was a divisive player at his peak was that he was getting paid like a star without producing like one. He simply wasn’t able to handle the shot creation responsibilities of a top option at a high enough level. But that doesn’t mean he’s unable to get his shot when needed.
Harris had years in which over half of his shots were unassisted. He’s slowed down in Detroit, in part because of his age but also because he shared the floor with an elite creator who is also ball-dominant in Cade Cunningham, but still created over a third of his shots. As a comparison, Keldon Johnson posted a similar percentage, but Harrison Barnes and Carter Bryant created for themselves half as many times, and Julian Champagnie posted an even lower percentage of unassisted buckets. As for Johnson, the percentage of unassisted field goals cratered in the playoffs while Harris’ remained at around the same level. Harris’ efficiency in the postseason wasn’t great, but that was in part caused by a dip in his shooting percentage on open threes, which are normally assisted field goal attempts.
It’s not just that Harris can create for himself, but how he does it that could help the Spurs. The wrinkle that he offers the offense is his ability to post up. Harris went to work on the block a lot last season and was effective at it in the regular season. It’s a skill he developed over his career and one that he can use to punish the switches that come from his screening. For comparison, Keldon Johnson and Harrison Barnes finished a combined 42 possessions in the post last year. Harris ranked 19th in the league with 136 possessions, the same number as Victor Wembanyama. His fadeaway in the post and his touch on floaters and from the midrange allow him to get his shot up without having to challenge rim protectors constantly, something Johnson couldn’t do.
There are swings in efficiency between the regular season and the playoffs for Harris, so it would be foolish to rely on him to be one of the first options. The beauty of his fit with the Spurs is that he doesn’t have to be one, like he often needed to in Detroit. If he can continue to be effective attacking gaps and running the floor while also picking his spots well, Harris can offer lineups the right amount of shot creation while also taking advantage of the easy looks the guards and Wembanyama will get him.
On defense and the boards, Harris’ size is a skill in itself
The Spurs did a fantastic job of hiding their lack of size at the power forward spot for most of the season. Everyone who played was either 6’7” or 6’6”, which is not exceedingly small but also not big enough to handle traditional fours and dominate the glass. Yet somehow, San Antonio not only survived but thrived with smallish units. Now, they won’t have to.
Harris is 6’8” and heavier than any forward the Spurs had available last season or will have available this year. He’s a stout post defender, ranking in the 79th percentile, according to Synergy Sports data, and has the size to handle the type of player San Antonio had to scramble to defend. Despite the Pistons having an elite defender in Ausar Thompson, Harris was routinely assigned to guard the big power forwards like Julius Randle as well as some centers in specific matchups, and he was up to the task. In the playoffs, he had to defend Paolo Banchero and Evan Mobley, and while he didn’t stop them from scoring or assisting, he made things difficult for them by being physical and disruptive without constantly fouling, something that the Spurs always value.
As mentioned, the Spurs did a good job of hiding their lack of size as a team, but Harris’ big body allows him to naturally do things that smaller guys have to exert more effort to achieve, which should free up others to do what they do best. His rebounding is a good example. On a stacked Pistons team, he pulled down around the same share of available defensive rebounds as Keldon Johnson and did much better than Harrison Barnes. The only Spurs non-big who did better was Julian Champagnie, who made it one of his priorities to clean the defensive glass. On the offensive end, he did similarly to San Antonio’s perimeter-oriented forwards while trailing Keldon Johnson, who was given the green light to crash the glass, getting the best offensive numbers of his career by a huge margin.
Simply put, by doing what a power forward is expected to do, like guarding other big forwards and contributing on the boards, Harris will help the Spurs. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, Mitch Johnson will have the opportunity to have someone out there who is as big, heavy, and strong as the guys other teams have instead of having to ask more of smaller players.
The weaknesses and downsides are real, but manageable
There are a few ways in which Harris’ skill set makes him an awkward fit in some areas. The main one on offense is a decent but not great outside shot. Opponents routinely left Harris open in the playoffs, and he couldn’t make them pay. He’ll likely be guarded by a center who roams while Wembanyama has a power forward on him if they share the floor, just as it happened when Harrison Barnes was the starter. And while his offensive game is more well-rounded than Barnes’, it’s based on power, which is not of much use against a seven-footer.
On defense, Harris’ size and age conspire against him at the point of attack. He normally does a decent job on big ball handlers who try to attack him in isolation but can struggle to navigate screens at times. A bigger issue is how small ball handlers target him on pick-and-rolls to force the switch and get a mismatch. Harris is a smart veteran who tries to either steer them towards help or use his length to space them out, but can be hurt by pull-up threes. He’s just not as swithable as the best power forwards out there.
The good news is he doesn’t hesitate to shoot and has made open looks in the regular season and has had success even in the playoffs aside from last postseason. He’s aging, so he might be slowing down as a shooter, but it’s also possible he hits enough looks to make the defense pay attention to him.
Defensively, the Spurs have the ultimate weapon to mitigate the weaknesses of others: Victor Wembanyama. Harris should be able to play ball handlers closer because he has the best rim protector in the world behind him, and San Antonio has traditionally lived with conceding mid-range jumpers.
Tobias Harris is not a game-changer. He’s just a solid veteran. What makes him potentially impactful for the Spurs is that he brings a combination of skills and size that no one else on the roster has. There will be times when his weaknesses and limitations become evident, but San Antonio seems to have ways to mitigate them.
There might have been more exciting free agents out there, but Harris seems to be a great fit for a Spurs team that needed the specific talents and tools he brings to the table.
