The Career of Barry Harris

[brutusbrutus]

March:

March started off well for Barry with a win and a couple of good performances, then the team lost a series of winnable games and the moral was back down to nothing.

At this point the veteran players were leaving practice as the coaching staff desperately yelled at the younger players. The truth was that the veterans with the large contracts were mostly the problem with the team. Even the normally affable Carl Landry was desperate to leave Philadelphia for greener pastures or even retirement.

Then in the middle of the month back and forth game broke out between the Magic and the 76ers. The 76ers needed the win badly, simply for self-esteem reasons but the Magic were still in the playoff hunt, so both teams game it their all. Barry Harris ended up scoring 14 of his 38 points in the 4th quarter to lead the 76ers to victory.

This was the peak of Barry Harris' rookie campaign, it felt good to win one for once. This game also endeared Barry to the few loyal 76er fans. After this game Barry found himself being approached for autographs more often.

[brutusbrutus]

The rest of the season.

As the season progressed only one more game was won. It was a good thing that it was won too, because if it was not won the 76ers of 2016 would have been the worst team of all time. 10 wins is all the team got all year.

It was a disaster of a season, literally no one lived up to expectations except for Barry Harris. For the young players the year was a step back, for the veterans almost accross the board they had career worst years.

It was humiliating to be on a team that was so bad. Barry knew he had to work on his defense tremendously. In college Barry had been an adequate defender but he was eaten alive in his rookie season. Barry's lack of touches as a spot up shooter early in the season did allow him to develop some effective isolation moves on the fly and his ball handling had progressed tremendously.

It really wasn't an optimal start to his career but, he did win the starting job and he was a fan favorite and when it was all said and done the top scorer on the team. Barry was the best player on one of the worst teams in NBA history.

[brutusbrutus]

In a shocking upset the Charlotte Hornets defeated the Miami Heat then went on to defeat Sacramento in the NBA finals. The team was led by a young core of Michael-Kidd-Gilchrest, Kemba Walker and dominant young center Shantay Green.

Barry was runner up for rookie of the year behind Cordell Samnick who led the Milwaukee Bucks at PG. Samnick averaged 12.2 points per game and 6.5 assists along with 4.1 rebounds.

Kevin Durant averaged 35.1 points per game and won the MVP award.

The defensive player of the year was Anthony Davis who contributed 3.9 blocks per game on top of his 20.1 points per game and his 10.5 rebounds per game.

The sixth-man of the year was Paul George who averaged 14.9 points off the bench.

The coach of the year was Eric Spoelstra who coached the Heat to 69 wins.

In the draft lottery the 76ers got the no. 1 pick. Barry was there opening the envelope.

[brutusbrutus]

As soon as the finals were over the entire coaching staff and front office of the Philadelphia 76ers was let go.

The front office was filled with with a 42 year old named Roger Bishop, who previously worked for the Kings front office. Roger vowed to change the team and strengthen it before the start of the season.

The new head coach was Andrew Frasers, who previously worked as a head coach at Cal Berkley, and who had transformed the team into an elite college basketball team.

The new assistant coaches were Heath Perry, Chris Jent and Jake Bryson.

Heath Perry immediately spoke with Barry Harris telling Barry that he would not be traded and that he saw flashes of Ray Allen in Harris' game.

[brutusbrutus]

Draft

The team told Barry that draft night would be "very busy" and asked him what he thought of the projected no. 1 pick Clarence Wesby Wesby had played with Barry for one year at Louisville, Wesby had just finished a historically good college season and had been the no. 2 scorer at Louisville as a freshman behind Barry.

Barry was visibly excited, Wesby was everything the current starting SF was not, a team player, with an incredible work ethic. Most of all however Wesby had top notch athleticism, he possessed a 40" vertical leap and could run the court with anyone. In college Barry witnessed Wesby practice FTs everyday. Entering college Wesby was a 50% FT shooter, he recently finished his sophmore season shooting 74%. Barry knew that Wesby had the willingless to learn combined with outstanding athleticism, that would make him a star.

Things were looking up for the 76ers.

[brutusbrutus]

Draft Pt. 2

The 76ers had the 1st and 18th pick in the draft going into draft day.

After Clarence Wesby was drafted No. 1, Ryan Marshall was promptly traded for the no. 16th pick and cash considerations.

Then Rodney Stuckey was traded for Jose Calderon and a 2nd round pick.

Then Carl Landry and cash considerations were traded for Amir Johnson

For the 16th pick the 76ers drafted Rodney Ivener, a raw but talented centerm known for being unpolished offensively but with high upside defensively.

Nathan Miller was drafted at no. 18 playing PF Miller stretched the floor with a solid jumpshot, but rebounded poorly for his size.

With pick no. 52 SF Dahntay Driggers was drafted, he was a good scorer in pick-and-roll situations, and had range in college, but he possessed little upside at 23.

Overall most publications gave the 76ers high marks for their drafts and trades.

Barry soon after had lunch with the no. 1 overall pick Clarence Wesby both young men were happy to be teammates, things were looking up.

[brutusbrutus]

The Summer League

In contrast to the previous season's summer league the mood was relaxed, there was no pressure to win. Yet the team was much stronger 9 players from the 76ers main team, many of which who were rotation players were on the summer league squad.

PG Alexander Smith - Tough young PG who didn't get much playing time in his rookie season.
SG Barry Harris - Leading scorer for the 76ers last year and subject of this dynasty.
SF Clarence Wesby - No. 1 overall draft pick.
SF Dahntay Driggers - 2nd round pick looking for playing time and a long nba career.
PF Stephan Young - Raw athletic PF who made very small strides last year
PF Nathan Miller - Rookie finesse PF.
C Tony Poole - Tough interior player, slightly undersized for the C position, yet too slow for the PF position.
C Brian Giles - Big shooting C with not a lot of endurance.
C Rodney Ivener - Raw C with an inside presence on defense, but nothing much else... yet.

[brutusbrutus]

Summer League Part II

The 76ers did not disapoint in the summer league, they lost only their first game and dominated all other games. Wesby was by far the leading scorer on the team. Harris was given plenty of rest after having some minor back-spasms that were probably the result of working out too much and acted as a player coach for his friend Wesby.

The entire team was given the opportunity to bond, in Las Vegas and everyone seemed to get along and have a good time.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

[brutusbrutus]

Free Agency/Off-Season acquisitions

Reggie Williams was acquired for one season at 4 million. Williams played well for the Knicks last year, backing up Carmello Anthony after seeing his career dwindle, four million is a big payday for this journeyman.

Corey Brewer was also acquired for 7 million per year for two years with a team option for a third year. Brewer would play backup for Harris and fill out the bench nicely.

Undrafted rookie swingman Lavar Carson was also signed, mostly to use in practice as his defense was very polished, although nothing else about his game was.

[brutusbrutus]

The Off-Season

Barry moved in with his brother into a luxury apartment in Philadelphia.

After being encouraged to get a twitter by his teammates he did. BarryHarris4@twitter was not particularly active but he did make some tweets shouting out to some teammates and talking about some RPG videogames he enjoyed.

Barry also quietly started a small charity to help people with spinal cord injuries and officially made his brother his agent.

This is what the apartment looks like.