Tobias Harris

[Ozymandias]

Rumor swirling today the Kings are gonna be bidders...

He'd obviously cost a significant amount of $$$.

This type of move would have a major rammifications across the depth chart, this would slide Marvin to more 5, and means ultimately more small-ball.


Tobias Harris is as professional and as spotless as they come, he is like a choir boy type of nice guy personality, and i dont mean that in any negative way, of the list of NBA players you can be sure will keep their nose forever out of trouble, I'd say he's actually near the top. So basically he'd fit right in here.

What this would mean for the future of Harrison Barnes is up in the air... Harris is a nice match for our team in a lot of ways too, I think he'd give De'Aaron a nice dumpoff we dont currently have.

Turns 27 this summer.

 

[Ozymandias]

There is gonna be a bidding war on Harris this summer, no doubt about it. It's gonna be like 5 teams ready to hand him big $$$... so u can just throw any thoughts of a value-deal out the window --- this is not that type of situation..

 

[kingsboi]

I like Harris, I do. But, the Kings would have to significantly overpay to bring him on board and I don't know if I like that idea considering that Buddy will be up for an extension and then Fox as well. Bogdanovic too if the Kings choose to keep him. Either way, he won't come to Sacramento in my opinion, if anything, his agent will use the Kings as a team in the bidding war.

 

[macadocious]

Offering someone the max is not a bidding war.

 

[ESP47]

Probably an unpopular opinion but I'm not a huge fan of Tobias and definitely wouldn't give him the max. He's essentially Rudy Gay. The fit isn't great and the defense would be atrocious with him at the 4 and Bagley at the 5. He was 64th in the league in RPM which put him just behind WCS, Beli and Fox. Still good, but not max good IMO. His VORP was 1.8 which would have tied him for 4th on the team with Beli. He was also on 2 teams that were better than the Kings so his stats should have been better than that.

If Bagley was projected to be a good defensive center, I'd say go for it. You sign Harris and now you're putting all your eggs in that basket and that's too risky to me. I think you could get nearly the same type of success pairing Bagley with a good defensive center or an improved Giles without all the risk of possibly missing out on the playoffs or having a player with a max contract that doesn't fit.

 

[Ozymandias]

Offering someone the max is not a bidding war.

There's going to be a war over who gets the the winning bid. Harris is the type of guy teams will be trying to contact at 12:01.. Private jets will be ready

One team that I'd bet will be in is Utah. Their dream offseason is somehow adding Harris and Conley I think.

 

[SacTownKid]

Probably an unpopular opinion but I'm not a huge fan of Tobias and definitely wouldn't give him the max. He's essentially Rudy Gay. The fit isn't great and the defense would be atrocious with him at the 4 and Bagley at the 5. He was 64th in the league in RPM which put him just behind WCS, Beli and Fox. Still good, but not max good IMO. His VORP was 1.8 which would have tied him for 4th on the team with Beli. He was also on 2 teams that were better than the Kings so his stats should have been better than that.

If Bagley was projected to be a good defensive center, I'd say go for it. You sign Harris and now you're putting all your eggs in that basket and that's too risky to me. I think you could get nearly the same type of success pairing Bagley with a good defensive center or an improved Giles without all the risk of possibly missing out on the playoffs or having a player with a max contract that doesn't fit.

I think he very well could be. He's not only shown the potential as a switch defender but a shotblocker as well. I agree for the most part about Harris although talent is talent. He and Barnes look great on paper at the 3/4 but in the end he's mostly an offensive player. Even more so than Barnes who I think is a better all around defender. The question is with the big 3 in Fox, Buddy, and Bagley, how much offense can you expect Harris to give you? I think Philly is asking the same questions. They still have individual upside but it's going to be hard to full max two guys that are basically sharing an offensive role. Butler and Harris at 18 ppg at full max is hard to swallow unless you are a guaranteed title contender and they are clearly at best 3rd in the east right now.

 

[SacTownKid]

Offering someone the max is not a bidding war.

And with the Kings history they'd just be leverage ho's again anyway. haha.

 

[bajaden]

Rumor swirling today the Kings are gonna be bidders...

He'd obviously cost a significant amount of $$$.

This type of move would have a major rammifications across the depth chart, this would slide Marvin to more 5, and means ultimately more small-ball.


Tobias Harris is as professional and as spotless as they come, he is like a choir boy type of nice guy personality, and i dont mean that in any negative way, of the list of NBA players you can be sure will keep their nose forever out of trouble, I'd say he's actually near the top. So basically he'd fit right in here.

What this would mean for the future of Harrison Barnes is up in the air... Harris is a nice match for our team in a lot of ways too, I think he'd give De'Aaron a nice dumpoff we dont currently have.

Turns 27 this summer.

I think you answered your question about Barnes. Bagley slides to the 5, Harris moves into the 4, and Barnes stays at the 3. If Bagley can add about 10 or so pounds of muscle, I don't think he would be a liability at Center. He's certainly tall enough to match up with most centers in the NBA. He just needs more strength. Maybe that's what the Kings are thinking as well. It will be interesting to see what other teams think Harris is worth.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I don't think our odds are good. Was talking to someone elsewhere about this, they thought maybe Philly would go after Butler first and try and save a couple bucks with Harris. But a long shot.

 

[Smills91]

I'm okay with this.

Harris is one of the few difference makers that I think could be. A realistic shot at landing. Sign me up 8 days a week and thrice on Monday

 

[Ozymandias]

I think you answered your question about Barnes. Bagley slides to the 5, Harris moves into the 4, and Barnes stays at the 3. If Bagley can add about 10 or so pounds of muscle, I don't think he would be a liability at Center. He's certainly tall enough to match up with most centers in the NBA. He just needs more strength. Maybe that's what the Kings are thinking as well. It will be interesting to see what other teams think Harris is worth.

Oh yeah I guess I didn't make that clear. That exact scenario I believe is what the Kings would be hoping for, not swapping out Barnes for Harris....


If true, thats great news really cuz it means vivek is gonna open the checkbook. We certainly saved up some sort of warchest from last season. it's time to spend!


THE OTHER IMPLICATION HERE IS THAT WILLIE WOULD BE RESIGNED. Most likely, in this scenario! I think so anyways. You'd really want a C like willie who's fast and can pass like that with the Harris / Barnes / Marvin combo at forward, him being restricted allows the Kings to put in a big bid on a big fish right away, then they can retain him no matter what...

You'd think Giles minutes would get squeezed too from this, but tbh Giles has never demonstrated he can stay out of foul trouble, and he's here and cheap and they are committed to him long-term I believe so it's not a big rush.. Harry Giles is not better than Tobias Harris, i feel even silly even typing that.


That Harris and Barnes at F look would add us some help on the boards too! When you think about it, it adds some pressure for Fox and Buddy to keep the potato moving fast, and for the floor to be spaced, all at warp speed ---- and I think from what I saw last season they can handle it. So this could be a really nice move for matchups.


Also when u look at what the Warriors have done here, they never went crazy paying backup C's. so an investment into a player like harris could be wiser than some think. He is a safe high-class asset, even if it doesnt work out perfectly, teams wont hesistate to take on that deal....

 

[Gary]

Wouldn't we want to try to extend Barnes after this year rather than getting a guy like Harris? Not saying Barnes will sign with us, but if he does well this next year (if he stays with the Kings) shouldn't we try to re-sign him? While Harris is better I feel Barnes (this year) will fit with everyone playing here. He was starting to gel with Kings players at the end of last season.

Also, do you think we will extend WCS? I actually really like WCS and I wouldn't want a guy like Harris mean the end for Barnes and WCS.

 

[Gary]

I like Harris, I do. But, the Kings would have to significantly overpay to bring him on board and I don't know if I like that idea considering that Buddy will be up for an extension and then Fox as well. Bogdanovic too if the Kings choose to keep him. Either way, he won't come to Sacramento in my opinion, if anything, his agent will use the Kings as a team in the bidding war.

Not going to be a bidding war. Pretty much all the teams that can offer max contracts will end up doing so. Phily can give him the most money, then the Kings and a few other teams can offer max, and probably will.

 

[kingsfan1984]

Harris at the 4 would fit great with what we are trying to do. The playoffs have shown that that type of lineup is superior as you gain more than sacrifice with bagley at the 5 and harris at the 4. Barnes being a strong SF who can interchange with Harris is a solid combo. Think that is a playoff team if we can balance that bench and improve the backup point

 

[kingsboi]

Not going to be a bidding war. Pretty much all the teams that can offer max contracts will end up doing so. Phily can give him the most money, then the Kings and a few other teams can offer max, and probably will.

it will be a bidding war in terms of teams going the extra mile to sign him to entice him rather than having 3, 4 or 5 max offers and picking one

 

[Gary]

it will be a bidding war in terms of teams going the extra mile to sign him to entice him rather than having 3, 4 or 5 max offers and picking one

Well yah, there will be guarantees in the contracts. Maybe Sac will offer a car or a few Rolex watches? Who knows, but yah, you're right. There will be max offers and then perks in those max offers.

 

[ockingsfan]

Personally, I don’t think Tobias Harris is worth the max at $140 mil/ 4 years. That’s $35 million a year!

Once the Kings home grown all-stars Fox, Buddy and Bagley comes around to their 2nd contract time, the small market Kings will be squeezed to re-sign there own guys.

First off, signing Harris would push Bagley over to Center, which I think is not his optimal position. Our prized big man would struggle, especially on defense, at center.

I think it would be wiser to sign solid veteran players that compliment our current young stud core of Fox, Buddy and Bagley, without breaking the bank.

Using the money to improve the center position with a stretch 5, (I.e. Brook Lopez, Dedmon, or Thomas Bryant). Sign a quality backup point guard (I.e. Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers, or Jeremy Lin) and a solid back up small forward (I.e. James Ennis) would be a better use of our cap space. These deals would be smaller and shorter term and easier to move, if need be.

While other teams are concentrating their time and effort in signing these “Max” players to offer sheets at the start of Free agency, we should use the beginning of free agency to swoop in and sign a few good, solid vets that compliment our core players.

I say, get vets to help make our young guys better, while preserving our cap space, to re-sign our young stud core is the smarter play.

The Kings will not be ready to challenge for a championship for at least 3-4 years, we need to pace our salary cap to peak when the kids are ready to compete for championships.

 

[King Baller]

One question I have is why did the Clippers trade Tobias Harris? He sure appears to be an asset to a good NBA team.

But did the Jerry West influenced Clips choose to trade him for salary relieve to possibly sign another "Star"??

 

[Telemachus]

One question I have is why did the Clippers trade Tobias Harris? He sure appears to be an asset to a good NBA team.

But did the Jerry West influenced Clips choose to trade him for salary relieve to possibly sign another "Star"??

I believe they intend to go after KD or Kawhi.

 

[bajaden]

Wouldn't we want to try to extend Barnes after this year rather than getting a guy like Harris? Not saying Barnes will sign with us, but if he does well this next year (if he stays with the Kings) shouldn't we try to re-sign him? While Harris is better I feel Barnes (this year) will fit with everyone playing here. He was starting to gel with Kings players at the end of last season.

Also, do you think we will extend WCS? I actually really like WCS and I wouldn't want a guy like Harris mean the end for Barnes and WCS.

I don't think you have to make it into an either/or situation. We can sign Harris, and resign Barnes as well next off season if he opts in for next year. Willie is another matter. I don't think we sign Harris and resign Willie as well. That I think is an either/or situation. If we sign Harris, then were commiting to Bagley at center. That doesn't mean we don't sign a Koufos type as a bench player to throw against the bigger centers in the league if necessary.

It was suggested that we make Willie a restricted freeagent, go sign Harris, or whomever, and then come back an extend Willie. The problem with that scenario is that Willie as a restricted freeagent has about a 14 million dollar cap hold, making that money unusable capspace. The only way to access that money is to make Willie an unrestricted freeagent and relinquish our rights.

 

[bajaden]

Personally, I don’t think Tobias Harris is worth the max at $140 mil/ 4 years. That’s $35 million a year!

Once the Kings home grown all-stars Fox, Buddy and Bagley comes around to their 2nd contract time, the small market Kings will be squeezed to re-sign there own guys.

First off, signing Harris would push Bagley over to Center, which I think is not his optimal position. Our prized big man would struggle, especially on defense, at center.

I think it would be wiser to sign solid veteran players that compliment our current young stud core of Fox, Buddy and Bagley, without breaking the bank.

Using the money to improve the center position with a stretch 5, (I.e. Brook Lopez, Dedmon, or Thomas Bryant). Sign a quality backup point guard (I.e. Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers, or Jeremy Lin) and a solid back up small forward (I.e. James Ennis) would be a better use of our cap space. These deals would be smaller and shorter term and easier to move, if need be.

While other teams are concentrating their time and effort in signing these “Max” players to offer sheets at the start of Free agency, we should use the beginning of free agency to swoop in and sign a few good, solid vets that compliment our core players.

I say, get vets to help make our young guys better, while preserving our cap space, to re-sign our young stud core is the smarter play.

The Kings will not be ready to challenge for a championship for at least 3-4 years, we need to pace our salary cap to peak when the kids are ready to compete for championships.

You make a good argument, at least financially. I think the question is, from the Kings point of view is how do we take the next step forward? Who could we sign that would make an immediate impact on the team? Would replacing Willie with Dedmon, or Bryant guarantee us a spot in the playoffs? Maybe, maybe not. If Bagley were playing center, is he capable of putting up better numbers than Willie? That, I can almost guarantee. I see Bagley as an eventual 20/10 player, maybe even as soon as next season.

So, if you can move Bagley to the center position, and he improves across the board what Willie was putting up, and you can also slide Harris into the PF spot, are we a better team than last year? I don't think that's a maybe, I think that's a yes! I agree that it's an expensive yes, but you'll never win a championship without it being expensive. The trick is to spend the money on a winner, and not do what the Wiz have done.

Yes, we have the problem of resigning some of our young players after next season and the season after that, but we'll have a better idea of who and for how much we want to sign by then. Remember, we can always resign them. We have their Bird rights, we just have to pay the piper. Are the Warriors into the luxury tax? You betcha, and I don't hear ownership complaining. Winning cures everything!

 

[ockingsfan]

You make a good argument, at least financially. I think the question is, from the Kings point of view is how do we take the next step forward? Who could we sign that would make an immediate impact on the team? Would replacing Willie with Dedmon, or Bryant guarantee us a spot in the playoffs? Maybe, maybe not. If Bagley were playing center, is he capable of putting up better numbers than Willie? That, I can almost guarantee. I see Bagley as an eventual 20/10 player, maybe even as soon as next season.

So, if you can move Bagley to the center position, and he improves across the board what Willie was putting up, and you can also slide Harris into the PF spot, are we a better team than last year? I don't think that's a maybe, I think that's a yes! I agree that it's an expensive yes, but you'll never win a championship without it being expensive. The trick is to spend the money on a winner, and not do what the Wiz have done.

Yes, we have the problem of resigning some of our young players after next season and the season after that, but we'll have a better idea of who and for how much we want to sign by then. Remember, we can always resign them. We have their Bird rights, we just have to pay the piper. Are the Warriors into the luxury tax? You betcha, and I don't hear ownership complaining. Winning cures everything!

Well, GSW are in a big market Bay Area and their owner is super wealthy. For the small market Kings, I don’t think it would work out the same financially to make an outsider a max player.

Look, the GSW built their team with home grown talent and won a championship. They brought in exactly one big time free agent in that span and that was Kevin Durant. I don’t think Harris falls into that category of free agent.

I say build from within and sign or trade for a big time player when we are knocking on the door of a championship, but after we secure our own All Stars.

I feel if we “reach” to sign a “max” player, just to have a “max” player signed, it may cost us one of Fox, Buddy or Bagley in the end.

BTW, the Clippers actually got better after they traded away Tobias Harris, not worse. Also, philly never made that big jump after trading for Harris either.

 

[ESP47]

Well, GSW are in a big market Bay Area and their owner is super wealthy. For the small market Kings, I don’t think it would work out the same financially to make an outsider a max player.

Look, the GSW built their team with home grown talent and won a championship. They brought in exactly one big time free agent in that span and that was Kevin Durant. I don’t think Harris falls into that category of free agent.

I say build from within and sign or trade for a big time player when we are knocking on the door of a championship, but after we secure our own All Stars.

I feel if we “reach” to sign a “max” player, just to have a “max” player signed, it may cost us one of Fox, Buddy or Bagley in the end.

BTW, the Clippers actually got better after they traded away Tobias Harris, not worse. Also, philly never made that big jump after trading for Harris either.

I think Harris is overrated. Good player, sure. Not a max player. I'm not convinced adding him at the 4 with Bagley at the 5 is better than Bagley at the 4 and an inconsistent WCS at the 5 (or some other decent defensive center).

Harris and Bagley = Best offensive front court the Kings could put out there.
Harris and Bagley = Worst defensive front court the Kings could put out there.

Add Harris and you've devalued Buddy. Hield's shots will go down but he doesn't add defensive help on the court. The starting lineup defensively would not look very good.

Fox = good
Buddy = bad
Barnes = average
Harris = bad
Bagley = bad

It's just too lopsided of a starting lineup for my taste. I think you need to keep Bagley at the 4 and add a defensive minded center at the 5. There's only so many shots to go around. Look for Fox to take another step in his game. Bagley will obviously take another step. Buddy and Barnes should hold pat. Someone needs to play defense out there. If you're banking on Bagley becoming a good defensive center then you're betting against the house.

 

[OffTheWallJamal]

Hard pass.

 

[SacTownKid]

I think Harris is overrated. Good player, sure. Not a max player. I'm not convinced adding him at the 4 with Bagley at the 5 is better than Bagley at the 4 and an inconsistent WCS at the 5 (or some other decent defensive center).

Harris and Bagley = Best offensive front court the Kings could put out there.
Harris and Bagley = Worst defensive front court the Kings could put out there.

Add Harris and you've devalued Buddy. Hield's shots will go down but he doesn't add defensive help on the court. The starting lineup defensively would not look very good.

Fox = good
Buddy = bad
Barnes = average
Harris = bad
Bagley = bad

It's just too lopsided of a starting lineup for my taste. I think you need to keep Bagley at the 4 and add a defensive minded center at the 5. There's only so many shots to go around. Look for Fox to take another step in his game. Bagley will obviously take another step. Buddy and Barnes should hold pat. Someone needs to play defense out there. If you're banking on Bagley becoming a good defensive center then you're betting against the house.

Are you seeing what's happened to the center position in the playoffs? Look at Capela for example. You have to have skill at center and play small at some point if not for most of some games. I personally think that Bagley could very well be most prolific at center with his shot blocking and switch ability. Against the bigger, more physical C's, which the Kings do have a problem with at times, you can adjust but Bagley playing plenty of center is going to be mandatory IMO.

I do agree with most of what you say about Harris. It's tempting because on paper it looks great and paper does mean something. Harris, Barnes, and Bagley shouldn't be terrible defensively if used right though. Offensively the question comes in though as to who isn't earning their max deal. Re-signing players to max contracts that could never produce to that level is one thing when you're a contender but a total risk when you're not since someone is losing value from day 1 and will become increasingly hard to trade if need be.

 

[Gguod]

I think Harris is overrated. Good player, sure. Not a max player. I'm not convinced adding him at the 4 with Bagley at the 5 is better than Bagley at the 4 and an inconsistent WCS at the 5 (or some other decent defensive center).

Harris and Bagley = Best offensive front court the Kings could put out there.
Harris and Bagley = Worst defensive front court the Kings could put out there.

Add Harris and you've devalued Buddy. Hield's shots will go down but he doesn't add defensive help on the court. The starting lineup defensively would not look very good.

Fox = good
Buddy = bad
Barnes = average
Harris = bad
Bagley = bad

It's just too lopsided of a starting lineup for my taste. I think you need to keep Bagley at the 4 and add a defensive minded center at the 5. There's only so many shots to go around. Look for Fox to take another step in his game. Bagley will obviously take another step. Buddy and Barnes should hold pat. Someone needs to play defense out there. If you're banking on Bagley becoming a good defensive center then you're betting against the house.

Harris is probably not a "max level player" but I would say that Harris/Bagley frontcourt would be a big upgrade compared to Bagley/WCS.

The added spacing from WCS to Harris alone would make the offense much better. It would boost Fox's performance since the lane would be more open for drives and pick n roll game, Bagley wouldnt have a non shooting center clogging the lane for his drives and he would often be defended by a slower guy. Also the overall efficency would improve drastically since that lineup would generate and take way more (open) three pointers than Bagley/WCS lineup and the additional spacing should open the lane for shots closer to the rim instead of mid rangers.

Also I'm not worried on how many shots there are to go around since we clearly still need another offensive creator to produce even somewhat efficent offense in the half court. Bogi is not good enough as a secondary guy and Fox cannot be the only one that can operate pick n roll efficently and create quality shots for himself and others. That is if we want to be a serious contender in the playoffs.

Defense would most likely be worse with Harris compared to WCS but having Harris and Barnes at the forward spots and Bagley as a center would allow us to do more switching and imo in the playoffs you need to be able to switch a lot anyway. Also Walton liked to switch a lot with the Lakers and its one way to hide Bagleys weaknesses some on defense as a Center. Also I think the improvement on offense would be bigger than the decline on defense and imo that difference would just grow bigger in the playoffs.

I'm not sure wether offering Harris a max would be smart or not but the opportunities to add talent are limited for us. Currently this isnt a championship caliber team, even if Fox would take another leap and Bagley improved drastically from last season. We need playoff caliber all around wings (at least one productive guy like Harris/Middleton and at least one little cheaper guy for the bench), we need a real secondary ball handling creator (preferably reasonably close to all star level) and we need some depth. Getting those type of guys just often means offering max to a player like Harris that is not quite really "worth" the max.

If we can get those guys without giving that max, great but as long as we have this couple year window with Fox/Hield in rookie contracts, we have the possibility to get at least one guy like that in free agency. IMO at this moment that space is better used for slightly overpaying a productive playoff caliber wing rather than paying too much for an average center (WCS, Valanciunas, Deandre Jordan) that loses value in the playoffs and "saving" it for extending Fox&guys so that we dont have to pay luxury tax while simultaniously putting a cap to our ceiling. Whatever we do, we should use that space on players that will help us in the playoffs in couple of years when our cap window is closing.

 

[bajaden]

Are you seeing what's happened to the center position in the playoffs? Look at Capela for example. You have to have skill at center and play small at some point if not for most of some games. I personally think that Bagley could very well be most prolific at center with his shot blocking and switch ability. Against the bigger, more physical C's, which the Kings do have a problem with at times, you can adjust but Bagley playing plenty of center is going to be mandatory IMO.

I do agree with most of what you say about Harris. It's tempting because on paper it looks great and paper does mean something. Harris, Barnes, and Bagley shouldn't be terrible defensively if used right though. Offensively the question comes in though as to who isn't earning their max deal. Re-signing players to max contracts that could never produce to that level is one thing when you're a contender but a total risk when you're not since someone is losing value from day 1 and will become increasingly hard to trade if need be.

I'm not sure why Harris is suddenly being painted as a horrible defender (not you). He's not! No, he's certainly not a lock down defender, but he's been an above average defender for most of his career, at least to my eye he has. Assuming that Bagley, based on one year in the NBA where little emphasis was put on defense, and Harris, will be absolutely terrible on defense is nonsense. It will take time to get everyone on the same page, but our defense should improve this season.

In that interview with Bogi, he said that the Kings tried to keep things simple on defense, too simple in his mind. There were no complicated switching schemes you so commonly see in the NBA. He said the Kings wanted to let the players free and see what they could do, so that the next season they could come back and install a more complex defense based on that information. I'm paraphrasing here. Add in that Bagley was a rookie, and had never been asked to play serious defense before, it wasn't unexpected for him to struggle at times.

But to imply that what you've seen is what your going to get, is ridiculous. He has tremendous athletic ability, so there's no reason he can't become a good defender. He already had a better block rate per minute than Willie. He's already a better rebounder than Willie. His main weakness in my opinion is his lack of experience in a switching team defense. But it will come in time. For all you Doncic lovers out there, if you don't like Bagleys defense, go watch Doncic. Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Besides, I happen to like Doncic...

 

[ESP47]

Harris' defensive box plus/minus has been in the negative every year of his career. For a PG or a G it's not a huge deal but for a guy who plays the 3 and mainly the 4, it's bad.

He's way down the list, grouped in with Randle, Jabari Parker, Jerebko, PPat, Bagley etc.

I'm happy Bagley blocked shots at a decent rate but he wasn't a rim protector by any means. He looked his best defending further out from the basket. When placed in the pick and roll, he was utterly lost. Of course he's going to improve but his M.O. out of college was that he was a bad defender so I'm not going put my eggs in the "He's going to become a good defender because he's young right now" basket because that doesn't always work out. I saw nothing out of his defense at the 5 that tells me he's going to become a good defender. That's not to say he's not, I just didn't see the signs. Harry Giles showed signs defensively at the position but I didn't see it from Bagley.

Who knows, Harris could be a perfect fit and put the Kings firmly in the playoffs for the next few years or he could just be a very expensive player that has the Kings treading water due to no one being able to play defense. I personally would build the team differently because I didn't feel like the Kings weren't scoring enough points this year. I felt like they weren't keeping the opposition from scoring enough.

 

[Sactown ExPat]

Harris is probably not a "max level player" but I would say that Harris/Bagley frontcourt would be a big upgrade compared to Bagley/WCS.

The added spacing from WCS to Harris alone would make the offense much better. It would boost Fox's performance since the lane would be more open for drives and pick n roll game, Bagley wouldnt have a non shooting center clogging the lane for his drives and he would often be defended by a slower guy. Also the overall efficency would improve drastically since that lineup would generate and take way more (open) three pointers than Bagley/WCS lineup and the additional spacing should open the lane for shots closer to the rim instead of mid rangers.

Also I'm not worried on how many shots there are to go around since we clearly still need another offensive creator to produce even somewhat efficent offense in the half court. Bogi is not good enough as a secondary guy and Fox cannot be the only one that can operate pick n roll efficently and create quality shots for himself and others. That is if we want to be a serious contender in the playoffs.

Defense would most likely be worse with Harris compared to WCS but having Harris and Barnes at the forward spots and Bagley as a center would allow us to do more switching and imo in the playoffs you need to be able to switch a lot anyway. Also Walton liked to switch a lot with the Lakers and its one way to hide Bagleys weaknesses some on defense as a Center. Also I think the improvement on offense would be bigger than the decline on defense and imo that difference would just grow bigger in the playoffs.

I'm not sure wether offering Harris a max would be smart or not but the opportunities to add talent are limited for us. Currently this isnt a championship caliber team, even if Fox would take another leap and Bagley improved drastically from last season. We need playoff caliber all around wings (at least one productive guy like Harris/Middleton and at least one little cheaper guy for the bench), we need a real secondary ball handling creator (preferably reasonably close to all star level) and we need some depth. Getting those type of guys just often means offering max to a player like Harris that is not quite really "worth" the max.

If we can get those guys without giving that max, great but as long as we have this couple year window with Fox/Hield in rookie contracts, we have the possibility to get at least one guy like that in free agency. IMO at this moment that space is better used for slightly overpaying a productive playoff caliber wing rather than paying too much for an average center (WCS, Valanciunas, Deandre Jordan) that loses value in the playoffs and "saving" it for extending Fox&guys so that we dont have to pay luxury tax while simultaniously putting a cap to our ceiling. Whatever we do, we should use that space on players that will help us in the playoffs in couple of years when our cap window is closing.

I wish I could like this twice. My sentiments exactly. This is the summer for us to max a guy who puts us in the thick of the playoff seedings. Harris is (probably) that guy at the nexus of attainable and clearly an improvement.