May 8—First and final thoughts ...
Tobias Harris' career with the 76ers is likely finished now that his five-year, $180 million contract has expired. Good guy off the court, big miss on it. Except in his final game, of course. Hard to miss big when you take only two shots.
The Sixers took a chance that Harris had the kind of character that would allow him to improve over his time here to justify a max deal. But he never did justify it, and when you're looking for reasons that he didn't, for insight into how the Sixers could miss so badly on such a big decision, it's worth considering something Dan Hurley, the coach of the University of Connecticut men's basketball team, said last month, just before the Huskies won their second straight national championship.
CBS's Jan Crawford asked Hurley how he managed to recruit players who buy into his old-school approach, who thrive amid his withering demands for toughness and excellence. No, Hurley wasn't talking about Harris, but he might as well have been.
"We spent a lot of time focusing on parents," Hurley said. "Are they going to be fans of their son, or are they going to be parents? Are they going to hold them accountable, have an expectation that when something goes wrong it's not the coach's fault, that their son's got to work harder, that he's got to do more, that he's got to earn his role? ...
"Have they played on seven different travel teams? Have they transferred to four or five different high schools? When you talk to the parents in the recruiting process, are they constantly complaining about the coaches after a bad game? They tell on themselves. They drop hints. You get the wrong kind of people in that inner circle around your players, they'll sink your program."
Harris began his high school career at Half Hollow Hills West on Long Island, then transferred to Long Island Lutheran, then transferred back to Half Hollow Hills West, then spent one year at the University of Tennessee before entering the NBA draft. He has played for five teams during his 13 years in the league. His younger brother Tyler played for three high schools during a three-year span. Their father, Torrel, who is now Tobias' agent, created an AAU team for his sons and had a tendency to complain to their coaches.
At Long Island Lutheran, for instance, "an ankle injury hindered Tobias' experience, and Torrel Harris clashed with the coach over Tyler's playing time," Scott Cacciola wrote in a 2011 profile of the Harris family for the Wall Street Journal. At Half Hollow Hills West, "Torrel ... often disagreed with head coach Bill Mitaritonna over how he ran the team and dismissed him as a 'schoolteacher.'"
Again, worth considering.
∗ The New York Knicks.
Sorry. Waiting to see how long it will take an NBA referee to call a foul on me just for mentioning them.
∗ Yeesh. Pat Riley covers the Miami Heat harder than most NBA media do.
∗ The anticipation around whether and when Matvei Michkov will leave Russia to begin his career with the Flyers will soon reach Waiting on Joel Embiid proportions. Relatively speaking, it may surpass the buildup for Embiid's arrival nearly a decade ago.
The Flyers have a smaller fan base than the Sixers do, but it is a more fervent fan base, and it has been dormant for years as the franchise has wallowed in irrelevance. Flyers zealots have been hungry to follow and celebrate a good team for a long time, and the team hasn't had a superstar — no, I don't mean Claude Giroux; I mean the kind whose name is familiar to the general public — since Eric Lindros. Michkov holds that promise.
∗ So ... Michkov's contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL expires in two years. Will he actually come to North America before then? Alexander Medvedev, the chairman of SKA St. Petersburg, told Russia's Match TV that the death of Michkov's father last year might make him more likely to leave. "It's hard to play psychologically, be it Sochi or Moscow, where everything reminds you of this loss," Medvedev said. "Maybe a change of environment will make it easier to adapt."
Maybe. But it's difficult to know how serious SKA St. Petersburg would be about accommodating Michkov's wishes — assuming he wants to get out of his contract early. Better for everyone to keep expectations tempered.
∗ Did you know the Eagles hired new offensive and defensive coordinators this offseason? Yep. It's true. Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. It's understandable if you'd forgotten, since no one has heard a public word from either of them since they joined the organization more than three months ago. Are the Eagles afraid of letting them talk? Shouldn't be. Both have been around the NFL block more than once. Weird.
∗ The Phillies' rotation has been the most remarkable aspect of the team's remarkable start. Among all 30 major-league teams entering Tuesday, the Phils' starters ranked first in innings pitched, first in walks-and-hits-per-innings average, second in earned-run average, and first in strikeouts. If Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez and Co. keep up this pace, they'll be the best starting staff in franchise history.
They won't be the most underrated, though. As beloved as the 1993 Phillies remain to this day for their outsized personalities, their throwback style, and their surprising run to the World Series, an often-overlooked strength of that team was the durability and overall quality of its rotation. Curt Schilling, Terry Mulholland, Tommy Greene, Danny Jackson, and Ben Rivera each made at least 28 starts; in fact, the Phillies played just 10 games that season that weren't started by one of those five pitchers. Different era, sure, but impressive nonetheless.
∗ During my most recent Saturday show with Glen Macnow on 94.1 WIP, a caller informed us that she has a friend named Sue who has a pet iguana named Sielski. Sue, if you're out there and you're reading this, I'm flattered. I think.
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