Danny Green provides new insight on Tobias Harris’ frustrations with 76ers fans

On Monday against the Rockets, Tobias Harris was spotted getting visibly frustrated with the Sixers faithful at Wells Fargo Center. Harris, who in the win over the Rockets scored just 14 points shooting an abysmal 6-of-15 from the floor, was caught yelling at the fans to not cheer for him making a shot.
This sparked a debate around the same dumb topic of Philly fans booing players, and also showed that Tobias Harris is softer than I previously thought.
While Tobias Harris hasn’t come out and made any direct comments after seemingly chirping the fans, another Sixer has decided to speak up on the issue. Danny Green came out to share some light on Tobias’ mental state with the fans booing him.
Green made it a point to say the criticism is “getting to him” and that Harris “does not deserve the disrespect he’s gotten this far from our home court or our fans.” To hear the full clip from Danny Green’s comments on the 97.5 Fanatic check the tweet below.
Now before I go on the same stupid tirade about how booing players is not a bad thing and athletes that play here need to stop getting so butthurt about it, let me remind you of some other comments Danny Green has made in the past on this issue.
Back in early July after the 76ers embarrassed the entire city of Philadelphia by losing to the Hawks in the post-season, Danny Green came out and made it clear he didn’t appreciate the fans booing the team.
Then as Ben Simmons began to distance himself from the team, Green once again came out to not only praise what Ben does as a player, but clap back at the criticisms against him. Green would go on to say people just “rag on him” and “talk about how bad he is.”
Uh, yea Danny did you expect us to just let Tobias Harris or Ben Simmons off the hook again after that series against the Hawks? I certainly didn’t. You expect me to be okay with plays like this?
Before I break down each episode of a Philly athlete responding to the boos of fans, let me re-state my opinion on the still very stupid debate around booing players. Any person you see on Twitter or any social media calling for Philadelphia sports fans to stop booing players is a coward that doesn’t even comprehend the concept.
Many of those people probably assume that the boos are some form of pure hatred for our own players. They enjoy taking the viewpoint that we as Philly fans boo our players the same way we boo opposing teams players, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
In reality, we boo our own players simply to voice our displeasure with the product on the court, field, or ice. Philadelphia isn’t a soft sports city. The fans aren’t here to pat you on your back like a dad after their son strikes out for the fifth time in a row in Little League.
These athletes are being paid millions of dollars to perform and when they don’t we let them know. At our core, we have undying sport for our athletes, Tobias Harris included. I personally want nothing more than for Harris to shut up my boos so I can cheer again.
Play like this again Tobias and you won’t hear another boo at Wells Fargo Center.
It is all in the mentality a specific Philly athlete brings to the boos. For awhile I thought Tobias Harris understood that, but these recent outbursts are changing my opinion. This is an issue I hate revisiting and I know it won’t be the last time I have to deal with it either.
Nowadays it seems like every Philly athlete has gotten all salty about the fans booing players. Luckily that gives us a sample size to judge good and bad reactions to this Philly-type of criticism. On one hand you have guys like Joel Embiid and Bryce Harper.
Joel Embiid came out on multiple occasions during his struggles and set the burden on himself, understanding the fans at their core just want him to be great. Bryce Harper also shared a similar sediment when the Phillies struggled, and never once clapped back at the fans for showing their displeasure with the team’s struggles.
On the other side, you have guys like Ben Simmons. Ben of all people has understood both sides of 76ers fans. Simmons has gotten everything from ear-piercing cheers for made threes, to encouraging cheers when shooting playoff free throws, to deserved boo’s for plays shown above.
Yet, his baby mentality spun the criticism into something it wasn’t and hasn’t suited up for the 76ers all season. I mean, listen to this crowd and tell me Philly didn’t back Ben Simmons.
In some ways, I want this to be a direct letter to Tobias Harris. This is where you define yourself among the Philly athletes. Do you want to go down the route of Ben and Danny and incorrectly conceptualize the boos of fans as just pure hatred? Or do you want to be rational like Embiid and understand that we only boo to help encourage you to shut us up with the play we expect of a 30+ million dollar player.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron.