Anthony Tolliver returned to the Detroit Pistons for the 2017-18 season, and while the team may have had a disappointing year he was one of the bright spots.
During his first sting with the Detroit Pistons that started back in December 2014 after being traded for Tony Mitchell, Anthony Tolliver quickly won over fans with how much hustle, heart and leadership he showed on and off the court.
After a couple of season with the Pistons, he signed with the Sacramento Kings in the 2016 offseason, seeing a bump in minutes and production.
However, after just a year with the team he was waived and within a month Stan Van Gundy was signing him to a new deal with the Pistons.
Van Gundy’s tenure as President of Basketball Operations has been a rollercoaster but his faith in Tolliver has been one of his best decisions.
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For a man who is just a tick under 33 years of age, Tolliver looked incredible in a Detroit Pistons uniform this season.
His raw averages don’t look overly impressive – he averaged 8.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 22.2 minutes per game.
These are solid numbers for a bench player in their mid-30s, but nothing to write home about.
When you consider that he averaged the second-most points for his career and set career highs in both three-point and field goal percentage, they become a whole lot more impressive.
This season he was knocking down three-pointers at a 43.6 percent clip.
To put into perspective how ridiculous this is, he finished the season sixth in the entire league for three-point shooting.
He finished ahead of Steph Curry (obviously Curry shoots a lot more threes) and only a handful of spots behind Klay Thompson.
This is elite territory to find yourself in.
Tolliver, in his 10th season of NBA basketball, is still improving and shows no signs of slowing down.
He’s rebounding the ball just as well as he ever has, he moves around the court like somebody much younger and his shot has been steadily improving over the last five seasons.
Stan Van Gundy looked to improve his team’s outside shooting drastically in the offseason and Tolliver, alongside a healthy Reggie Bullock and rookie Luke Kennard is a huge reason why the Pistons finished fifth in team three-point percentage.
It’s not just shooting that Tolliver brings to the table though.
There are a multitude of tiny but extremely important things that he brings to the table that don’t show up on stat sheets or make the highlight reels.
He does the things that turn a player into a coach’s favourite.
Hustle has become such a nebulous and overused word in NBA circles, but Tolliver is the very definition of it.
Nobody will ever claim that Tolliver is the most talented or most athletically gifted, but you know every single night you’re going to get maximum effort out of him.
In each of the 79 games he played this season (a new career-high) he was playing with heart and endeavour.
Tolliver isn’t exactly a good defender, but a lot of the time you wouldn’t know it purely based on how hard he plays.
Having a 32-year-old in his 10th professional season still hounding and harassing opposing offensive players is incredible as it can set a perfect example for the locker room.
When one of the oldest players on the team is never taking a play off that leaves the younger talent no excuses to give their all on the defensive side, even if they aren’t the best or most talented.
Despite being a mostly under the radar and unheralded player this season, Tolliver still had his standout moments.
In fact, there were multiple games where his hot hand was the reason the Pistons walked away with a win.
Tolliver’s most eye-catching performance of the season came against the Chicago Bulls on March 24.
He put up 25 points (equal season-high), shot 6 of 12 from the three-point line and pulled in 6 rebounds in just 25 minutes of play.
The Pistons would defeat the Bulls by 22 points and keep their faint playoff hopes alive.
Not long after on the 4th of April he put up 25 points again, but this time shot an absurd 7 of 8 from long distance, but unfortunately, the Pistons fell to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tolliver enters this offseason as a free agent with his one-year contract set to expire.
Stan Van Gundy is a massive fan and Detroit has been a perfect fit in the close-to three seasons he’s spent here, however after the way he’s played this season offers are sure to come in from a number of teams.
Tolliver has gone on record and stated that his heart is in Detroit and that he considers it the place he calls home, but the call of a bigger payday, as well as the potential to play for a contender at this stage of his career, might be the ultimate trump card.
If the 2017-18 season is to be Tolliver’s last it will be remembered fondly by fans and he will without a doubt always be remembered as a cult-favorite.
Anthony Tolliver 2017-18 Season Grade:
A