Grading Pistons' free agent signings so far this season

The Detroit Pistons didn’t make drastic offseason moves, instead choosing to supplement their young core with veterans that can actually play. 

They traded for Tim Hardaway Jr, signed Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley in free agency and retained their own free agent, Simone Fontecchio. 

The moves have paid off in two ways, as the Pistons are winning more games and the young players are developing with better players around them. 

It doesn’t hurt to have a coach that is awake on the bench. 

The Pistons didn’t make any long-term commitments to their free-agent signings and THJ is on an expiring deal, so these were short-term solutions as Trajan Langdon tries to figure out exactly what he has in his young core. 

The offseason moves have paid off overall so far, but it’s a mixed bag of grades for the free-agent signings. 

Tobias Harris 

For the most part, Harris is providing exactly what Langdon expected when he signed him to a two-year deal. 

Harris provides 14 points per game, has added over seven rebounds per and has generally been a steady presence. He’s been good around the rim, is a solid leader and mentor and is teaching these young players how to be a professional by example. 

But he’s not shot the ball particularly well yet, hitting just 44.4 percent of his shots overall and 31 percent from long range, both well below his career averages. Even his 78 percent from the free-throw line is below where he usually is, as he has hit 83 percent from his career. 

There doesn’t seem to be a big drop off physically, so you have to hope Harris gets back to where he has been for most of his career as a shooter. 

He’s been particularly bad in one area that he is usually great, and that’s the mid-range. Harris is only hitting 39 percent of shots between 10-14 feet and just 31 percent of shots between 15-19 feet, down from 50.4 percent and 43 percent, respectively, just last season. 

He’s still trying to navigate playing with Cade Cunningham, who also likes to work in the mid-range, so these are more numbers I expect to go up. 

Harris hasn’t been great, but he hasn’t been terrible either and I do expect him to get back to his career norms at some point. 

Grade: C+ 

Simone Fontecchio 

Fontecchio is coming off toe surgery and it has clearly bothered him early on in the season. 

His shooting numbers are way down from the 16 games he played with Detroit last year, though last night’s outburst did bump him up to 40 percent overall and 35.9 percent from 3-point range, so he is getting better. 

When he’s not shooting or making 3-pointers, he hasn’t provided much else in terms of transition offense or off-the-dribble takes as he often did last season. Fontecchio is taking fewer than half the shots he took last season and a higher percentage of them have been 3-pointers. 

Hopefully, last night will get him going, and I do think some slack has to be given as he tries to find a new role after coming off a toe surgery. 

I’m not too worried about Fontecchio, but he hasn’t been good so far. 

Grade: C- 

Malik Beasley 

Beasley has been one of the best surprises of the season, and is a guy the Pistons should try to retain if they don’t end up trading him at the deadline. 

There will be plenty of teams calling, as Beasley has been a 3-point machine this season, hitting 38 percent on over nine attempts per game. He is currently 4th in the NBA in total 3-point makes, impressive considering he’s mostly come off the bench. 

He’s providing the advertised space with his shooting, but I’ve also been impressed with Beasley’s leadership and defensive effort. 

He plays loose and with a little swagger that the Pistons were lacking and he’s providing an example most of the time with his effort on defense. Don’t get it twisted, Beasley is not a great defender by any means, but he’s smart and he tries. 

He’s scoring over 15 per game, though it would be nice to see him make more than 70 percent of his free throws. 

At $6 million this season, Beasley has been one of the best value deals in the league and it's shocking in retrospect that a contender didn't snatch him up.

Grade: A