The Detroit Pistons needed a hard look in the mirror after a disappointing 2016-17 season coming after a year of ending a playoff drought by managing to sneak in as the last seed in the East. The trio of Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, and Tobias Harris are making a collective salary of $56 million this season and they needed something to prove for it.
Salaries were high, yet there was nothing to show for it but a 37-45 record that saw them out of the playoff picture.
“When we were in L.A. (working out together before training camp), we went to dinner and we said, the season we had, if you call it straight, if you looked at us like a stock, everybody’s stock was down,” said Harris, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com. “Because we didn’t win.”
Having assessed it honestly, the coaching staff took a hard look at the numbers, seeing how Harris had scored a team-high 16.1 points per game and shot a more-than-solid 48 percent from the field through 82 games of the season, yet only took 13.1 shot attempts per game — a mistake they wouldn't repeat.
Avery Bradley's addition has proved pivotal at both ends — an excellent defender with an ever-improving three-point acumen that has cashed in big for the 14-8 Pistons, who sit at a strong fourth place in the East after finishing 10th last season.
Harris is now leading the team in scoring once again, but doing so at a 19.3 points-per-game clip with a couple more shots per game added to his nightly allocation. This freedom has reflected in his improving three-point shot, a glistening 46.6 percent from beyond to go along his 89 percent clip from the foul line.
The Long Island native ranks in the top 40 in offensive rating (109.1) and effective field goal percentage (.575), along with 14th in true shooting percentage (.601), already boasting three 30-point games to his name in the young season.
“A lot of that is determined just by the way we’re playing offensively,” Harris said. “It’s kind of like, at times, you’re going to have to choose who you want to give up, really. There’s some games where I can see it more often, but there’s other games where I feel like that teams are focusing in. I just kind of tell Reggie, bring it over to my side off of Andre and let’s just see what they do.”
Follow Us
Subscribe
