Checkout this, if you're judging most of your opinion on stats. Orlando basketball isn't exactly a prime-time event, but i buy this guy's take. Well, most of it.
http://www.basketballanalyticsbook.com/2015/05/06/the-nbas-most-underrated-player/
No disrespect, but I don't put much weight in articles such as this.
Firstly, articles like this are often misleading - frequently using cherry-picked statistical numbers to single out certain players, and make them look like they belong within a very small elite group.
For example, in this article they claim that Harris is one of only 6 players averaged at least 15 points and 6 rebounds and shot 35% from three on at least 2 attempts.
But what about guys who averaged, say, 14.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 34.5% on 1.8 FGA? How much difference would it make to move the goalposts just that little (and probably statically insignificant) bit?
It's enough to double the list from 6, to 11:
* Chris Bosh
* Dirk Nowizki
* James Harden
* Jimmy Butler
* Kawhi Leonard
* Kevin Durant
* Kevin Love
* Lebron James
* Paul Millsap
* Rudy Gay
* Tobias Harris
Now what about those guys who are putting up stats at the specified rate, but just aren't getting the benefit of playing time like Harris is (he's on 36 MPG, largely thanks to being on a bad team)?
If we adjust the filters tho see who's averaging at least 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 35% 3PT on 2 or more three point attempts
per 36 minutes that initial list now is almost quadrupled, jumping from 6 to 21:
* Andrea Bargnani
* Charlie Villenueva
* Chris Bosh
* Dirk Nowizki
* Donatas Montiejunas
* Ersan Illyasova
* Kawhi Leonard
* Kelly Olynyk
* Kevin Durant
* Kevin Love
* Lebron James
* Luol Deng
* Marcus Morris
* Omri Casspi
* Paul George
* Paul Millsap
* Robert Covington
* Rudy Gay
* Serge Ibaka
* Shabazz Mohammed
* Tobias Harris
You can see now how quickly these things can escalate, and how the specific set of stats used for the filter were able to nicely put Harris up on a Podium that he may not necessarily be worthy of.
For example, lets see how many guys in the NBA averaged at least 13 points, at least 7.5 rebounds, at least 2 assists, max 2 turnovers and max 3 fouls while shooting 70% FT. None of those stats are particular standout, so you think it'd be a pretty big list, right?
Only 6 guys:
Anthony Davis
Enes Kanter
Jared Sullinger
Kevin Love
LaMarcus Aldridge
Tim Duncan
Does this list do anything to convince you that Sully and Kanter are in any shape or form on the level of Anthony Davis, Kevin Love, LMA or Timmy D? Of course not...but that's what this particular selection of stats willtell you.
For the record, I'm not trying to be a smarty pants here - just trying to demonstrate how easy it can be to make almost any player stand out just by cherry picking certain stats.
To me the important factor to remember here is that basketball has one goal, to outscore your opponent. Your ability to score must be great than their ability to stop you from scoring, and vice-versa.
That mean ultimately there are only two factors that really matter in basketball:
* Offense
* Defense
All other sub categories of stats ultimately contribute to one of these two categories.
Now Harris is, statistically, a very poor defensive player (the entire team's defense suffers significantly when he steps on) so the only way it becomes worthwhile to put him on the court is if he can have such a huge impact offensively that your team's offense improves at least as much as(if not more than) it's defense drops off. This is exactly what happens with Isaiah Thomas, which is why we can justifying putting him on the court even despite his defensive woes.
Unfortunately for Tobias Harris, it's hard to argue that this is the case, and here are some reasons why:
1) He's averaging 17 points per 36 (Avery Bradley numbers) which tells me that his outright ability to put puts on the board is not especially outstanding. Especially considering he's one of the primary scoring options on a pretty poor lottery team.
2) In terms of scoring efficiency average of 1.22 points per FGA puts him dead in between Jae Crowder (0.16) and Brandon Bass (1.28). This tells me efficiency as a scorer merely 'OK' and certainly not fantastic. Guys who shoot threes or get to the line at a very high level (and of course, guys who do both) tend to have the good scoring efficiency numbers because they earn a free bonus point with every 3PT / FT they make and hence they can put a significant number of points on the board without having to take a whole lot of shots. Harris' scoring efficiency number indicates that he's not really either of those three guys.
3) Offensive RPM can help to identify the little things a guy does to help his team that you don't necessarily see in the regular stats. Things like diving for loose balls (generating extra possessions), making many good hockey passes (pass that leads to an assist) setting great screens to get teammates open, etc. Harris' Offensive RPM is -0.3 which tells me that when he gets on the floor for his team, their offense actually gets slightly WORSE. Not by a large margin mind you, and you may even be able to argue that it's negligible...but the fact is he doesn't make the team any better.
So looking at all of he above, we can see that:
a) Harris makes his team worse defensively (and significantly so) when he gets on the court
b) Harris doesn't score at a spectacular rate
c) Harris doesn't score with spectacular efficiency
d) Harris doesn't make his team better offensively when he gets on the court
I think point A and D are the key ones here, because there are cases of guys who actually make their teams better on offense when they step on the court, despite the fact that they don't score a huge amount of points. Some examples are DeAndre Jordan, Draymond Green, Matt Barnes and Zaza Pachilia - all have positive Offensive RPM figures despite not being known as being especially skilled scorers.