Detroit Pistons: Upend Celtics, put the East on alert

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AUBURN HILLS, MI – DECEMBER 23: Tobias Harris #34 of the Detroit Pistons reacts while playing the Golden State Warriors at the Palace of Auburn Hills on December 23, 2016 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

The Reluctant All-Star

Of everyone on Detroit’s roster, no one has raised more eyebrows than Tobias Harris. Still only 25, Harris looks like he’s finally figured out how to balance all the different fun things he’s capable of doing on the court. The team has a 107.4 net rating when he’s on and caves to 100.6 when he’s off – the biggest differential of any Detroit starter.

(It should also be noted that by the same metric, the team is a mammoth 17.3 points per 100 possessions better defensively when Harris is off the court, but the starting lineup in general has struggled mightily on defense. We’ll get back to this in a bit.)

So where has Harris improved? He’s basically become Klay Thompson on offense. Harris is taking 42.6 percent of his shots from deep, the highest rate of his career by far, and he’s canning 47.5 percent of them – tops in the league amongst players who’ve attempted at least six deep balls per game, one spot ahead of Thompson.

Is Harris going to keep draining threes so efficiently at such a high volume? We’re a quarter of the way into the season, so it’s not like this is an insufficient sample size.

There’s also a chance he gets even better. Harris is shooting a career worst 46 percent on 2-pointers. Given that he’s replaced a lot of the long twos he used to take with threes, that number should creep back up to his career average of 51%. If that happens, there’s a good chance that both Harris and the Detroit offense will have staying power throughout the season.

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