Tobias Harris and Paul Reed were back in the building late Wednesday morning.
Once he wrapped up his post-shootaround routine, Harris stopped along a familiar baseline in Pistons gear.
A scrum of reporters were ready to ask about his first game as a road player at Wells Fargo Center since Nov. 1, 2018.
“It’s always good to be back. … I was here for a long time,” Harris said. “A lot of memories, a lot of experiences, so just kind of taking it all in and going through all that.”
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Harris was indeed stationed in Philadelphia for quite a while. After acquiring Harris, Mike Scott and Boban Marjanovic before the trade deadline, the Sixers signed Harris to a five-year, $180 million contract in the summer of 2019. Amid near-ceaseless Sixers drama — highly publicized trade requests, injury woes, bitter playoff endings — only Harris and superstar center Joel Embiid stayed on the team for the duration of that deal.
Though struck by rotten luck on occasion — everything from Kawhi Leonard’s quadruple-bouncing 2019 series-winner to fluky Embiid injuries — Harris and the Sixers were never quite good enough to break through the second round of the playoffs. Harris was scoreless last year in the Sixers’ tight Round 1, Game 6 loss to the Knicks.
“That’s the biggest disappointment,” he said. “High expectations for a very good group. Different coaching staffs, different rosters, but overall, I feel like we had enough talent to make something happen and have it come together. But that’s kind of the nature of sports sometimes.”
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Ultimately, Harris never rose to an All-Star level in Philadelphia or produced sufficiently relative to his contract. He averaged 17.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists over 378 regular-season games.
The 32-year-old took pride in generally being solid, available and professional in his approach.
“When I was a kid, if something didn’t work, I would jump to the next thing,” Harris said. “But you find a way to figure it out. It was the first thing in my life that I saw through for five years.
“I do think there is tremendous growth in that and in weathering the storm, finding ways to come through in some type of fashion and just really battling through it. For me, it’s honestly an experience that I wouldn’t trade.”
In contrast to Harris, Reed was often a clear fan favorite during his four seasons as a Sixer.
He went from the 58th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft to appearing in every Sixers game last season.
“Philly always has a place in my heart,” he said.
Reed’s one of many young players that Harris mentored during his Sixers years. Tyrese Maxey, Ricky Council IV and Matisse Thybulle are on the list, too.
“Those are the ones that I’ll never forget,” Harris said. “Just to see their growth and development, to see Tyrese have the success that he’s had … all the guys that I’ve just been able to give some type of influence to or give some type of experience and knowledge to, that’s been important to me.
“Seeing their success, that’s what a vet is for. I never took that job lightly, being an influence for the (up-and-coming) players in this league. I’m always happy to see that type of success.”
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