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Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:10 pm
by Joe Berry
As Orlando restricted free agent Tobias Harris will pursue a maximum-level offer sheet on July 1 that the Magic possibly won’t match, the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics have emerged as leading candidates for the talented forward, league sources told RealGM.
Harris, 22, is among the top young players on the available market, and could be the most vulnerable restricted free agent to leave his team. Around the NBA, several teams are believed to be open to preparing a near-max contract for Harris — which could approach $15 million-plus per season, an area the Magic likely elect not to match given the course of extension talks last October and their current team salary structure.
For the Pistons, there is a vision of using Harris as a potential hybrid stretch-wing, capable of playing the small and power forward positions. Several NBA personnel told RealGM that Harris’ slashing and outside shooting will jibe instantly with Stan Van Gundy’s system.
In Orlando, Harris has maintained dialogue with Scott Skiles, his former coach, throughout the year, exchanging encouraging messages. Nevertheless, Orlando's desire to match a maximum-level offer sheet on Harris has been in question.
The two sides couldn’t reach an extension last offseason, Orlando sticking to offers below the $10-to-$11 million that Harris desired — and now promises to surpass. The Magic selected Mario Hezonja, 6-foot-8, with the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s NBA draft. Harris dealt with an ankle injury over a stretch of the season, giving the Magic reason to use him in a lesser role.
The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks have also been long known as interested teams for Harris.
Out of Tennessee in 2011, Harris went to the Milwaukee Bucks with the 19th overall pick in the NBA Draft. He spent two years with the Bucks before being dealt to Orlando in 2013. Over four NBA seasons, Harris has established himself as a tremendous citizen in the community, with a strong work ethic on the court shown in year-to-year leaps. He was drafted with star potential and has sought to reach the level through offseason training.
At 6-foot-8, Harris averaged 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 34.8 minutes in 68 games last season. He has made shooting improvements each season, a sign of growth every summer, and shot 36.4 percent from three-point range in 2014-15. Harris has career averages of 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/238420/Tobias-Harris-To-Pursue-Near-Max-Deal-With-Pistons-Celtics-Among-Leading-SuitorsI think this deserves its own thread. For a few months now i think Harris should be the no.1 target in free agency and it sounds like he is. The Magic just drafted his replacement in Hezonja, i think the chances the Magic won't match just went up a lot since yesterday.
These two articles explain why he's got a lot of upside and just being 22 - he improved every year in the league.
http://bballbreakdown.com/2015/02/11/the-future-is-bright-for-tobias-harris/http://www.basketballanalyticsbook.com/2015/05/06/the-nbas-most-underrated-player/He really improved his shot and has a playmaking ability that the Pistons lack other than our PGs. He would be a really good fit in SVG system i believe.
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2014-2015/player/1273/tobias-harris/shotchart/
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:15 pm
by pollack419
Love it. Great pair with Stanley what would our starting line up age be with stanly at sf and Tobias at pf?
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:17 pm
by Hotmayo
man. we gone be good
Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Sui...
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:20 pm
by ComboGuardCity
Jackson
KCP
Johnson
Harris
Drummond
That's what you call a balanced dangerous team.
Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:21 pm
by Kilo
Would folks here be willing to offer a top 20 protected future first in a S&T to guarantee we got him if he agreed to sign here (ie rather than signing him to a offersheet and see Orlando match)?
$14M would leave us with $6M to spend to find a couple back-up centers. Makes me think getting one in the draft ie Dakari Jones, would have made more sense right now.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:26 pm
by Kilo
NY seems to be linked to West and Monroe (could they afford both?), Boston linked to Monroe as well. Lakers need a center also. If Stan and Co make Toby their top priority and are at his place as soon as FA opens to woo him, I wonder if we could get him while others are shopping around for other players first.
I really like the flexibility he'd bring, starting SF until Johnson is ready, and then shifting over to PF with Ilyasova backing him up next season when Tolliver walks as a FA. Or we could let Ersan and his 8M go via the TO on his contract and keep Tolliver as Harris' primary back-up to have more money to spend in the cap exploding next off-season.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:28 pm
by Montanabadboy
Aww yeah, that's what I'm talking about. This would be absolutely the best case scenario for the offseason, IMHO. I would love this, and he would be perfect starting over SJ, then sliding to the 4 when SJ comes into the game. Great, now my hopes are all up
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:31 pm
by MotownMadness
I'm not gonna lie I've only seen him play 4-5 times but I've heard his game compared to a poor mans Melo. Does this sound about right?
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:33 pm
by E-Z
I'm sure Detroit could find something else to throw their money at. Or, I hope.
Not that he's bad. He'd probably fit in well with the Pistons. I'm not sure his desired contract would reflect his value to the team.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:40 pm
by rmfc
Montanabadboy wrote:Aww yeah, that's what I'm talking about. This would be absolutely the best case scenario for the offseason, IMHO. I would love this, and he would be perfect starting over SJ, then sliding to the 4 when SJ comes into the game. Great, now my hopes are all up
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:45 pm
by sc8581
I don't trust his shot enough to give him a max deal, especially since his defense leaves a lot to be desired. Career 32% from 3 people
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:45 pm
by Spider156
This is way too exciting. I'd rather have Harris than Monroe playing PF next to Dre. I can imagine him starting at SF over Johnson at first and Johnson slowly earning his minutes at SF and moving Harris to PF. If this is our big signing in FA we are good to go! We have star potential in every position with such a young team. It would be a definitely Playoff berth next season and contention would not be far away. The young core would be complete. I'm way too excited for free agency now.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:46 pm
by tradez401
MotownMadness wrote:I'm not gonna lie I've only seen him play 4-5 times but I've heard his game compared to a poor mans Melo. Does this sound about right?
hmm kinda i guess...def not a shooter that melo is but he could hit deep 2s/3s and hes a bully slasher in the paint like melo is...both not a great defender but harris can rebound pretty well and pass the ball too. i'd really like if we landed harris to play sf then shift him over to the 4 when stan johnsons ready SVG get it done.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:47 pm
by treefi
pollack419 wrote:Love it. Great pair with Stanley what would our starting line up age be with stanly at sf and Tobias at pf?
Didn't even think of that until now. Wow!
C - Andre Drummond (21)
PF - Tobias Harris (22)
SF - Stanley Johnson (19)
PG - Reggie Jackson (25)
SG - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (22)
With Jennings and Ilyasova expiring...
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:47 pm
by DETermination
I would be happy with this signing. I've liked Harris for a while and think he would be a great fit on this team.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:53 pm
by Piston Pete
treefi wrote:pollack419 wrote:Love it. Great pair with Stanley what would our starting line up age be with stanly at sf and Tobias at pf?
C - Andre Drummond (21)
PF - Tobias Harris (22)
SF - Stanley Johnson (19)
PG - Reggie Jackson (25)
SG - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (22)
With Jennings and Ilyasova expiring...
Nice!! Make it happen Stan!!
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:56 pm
by tradez401
to some of the posters thats questioning giving harris a near max deal u gotta think who else can we bring to detroit that has near star potential and thats 22yrs old with that amount of skills...im confident his shooting will get better over the years and this needs to happen unless we magically get kevin love/lma here.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:57 pm
by The Penguin
Kilo wrote:Would folks here be willing to offer a top 20 protected future first in a S&T to guarantee we got him if he agreed to sign here (ie rather than signing him to a offersheet and see Orlando match)?
$14M would leave us with $6M to spend to find a couple back-up centers. Makes me think getting one in the draft ie Dakari Jones, would have made more sense right now.
I'd absolutely give up a top 20 protected 1st for Orlando to not match.
Outside of the LMA pipe dream, Harris is likely the best case scenario for us in FA. His age fits perfectly with our core and his game is exactly what we need. He doesn't need to be a Curry level knock down shooter, he shot 36% from distance, he can't be left open which will continue to help Drummond get space inside to operate.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:58 pm
by Joe Berry
sc8581 wrote:I don't trust his shot enough to give him a max deal, especially since his defense leaves a lot to be desired. Career 32% from 3 people
He shot 54% from the right corner (26-48) and 40% from the left corner (20-49) last season.
Also this:
He really, really improved his shot and was often the only capable 3 pt shooter on the floor for the Magic.
Re: Tobias Harris To Pursue Near Max Deal With Pistons, Celtics Among Leading Suitors
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:00 pm
by The Penguin
tradez401 wrote:to some of the posters thats questioning giving harris a near max deal u gotta think who else can we bring to detroit that has near star potential and thats 22yrs old with that amount of skills...im confident his shooting will get better over the years and this needs to happen unless we magically get kevin love/lma here.
Not to mention the changing salary cap. In 2 years the MLE is expected to be in the $8 mil + range. A solid starter salary is likely starting at the $10-12 mil range. Harris would no doubt be a starter and a key member of our core, if we need a slight overpay to make it happen I can live with it.