3 Traits Tobias Harris brings the Pistons have desperately missed

When the Detroit Pistons signed Tobias Harris to a two-year deal in free agency, the move got mixed reviews from pundits and experts. 

Some felt the Pistons reached and overpaid for a guy who is not really going to move the needle for them, while others saw the Harris signing as a nice veteran addition on a short-term contract that gives some leadership and balance to a young team. 

Harris is not in his prime, and even when he was, he wasn’t an All-Star, so it’s not like this signing in itself will bring the Pistons closer to contention, but Harris does bring some qualities the Pistons have long been lacking. 

Tobias Harris is a consistent shooter 

NBA players don’t come much more consistent than Harris, a steady scoring threat his entire career who is pretty much guaranteed to get you 15-18 points per night. 

He’s a 47.8 career shooter from the field and over 35 percent from 3-point range and you can pretty much bank on those numbers. 

In his best season from the field, Harris shot 51 percent and he’s never been lower than 45, so you know you are getting shooting consistency in that range. 

Harris is also going to give you 35-40 percent from 3-point range (hopefully on more attempts next season), so is a consistent presence for a team that has been anything but in the last four seasons. 

Tobias Harris is durable 

In each of the last four seasons, we’ve had to cringe while watching the Detroit Pistons put out lineups late in the season that would get run off the court in a G-League game. 

Last year it was early injuries to veterans like Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic that unraveled their season before it really even got started. 

Harris is a guy who has consistently been durable and is likely to give you 70+ games played every season. He’s played all 82 games twice in his career and has played 70, 74 and 73 in the last three, making him an Iron Man by recent Pistons’ standards. 

This was clearly a point of emphasis for Trajan Langdon this summer, as all of the guys he added are players who rarely miss games. 

Tobias Harris brings stability to the Pistons 

This trait goes along with the first two, but Harris will be a stabilizing force for the Pistons in several ways. 

He’s not a rah rah guy who is going to get in people’s faces on the court, but he’s a very good veteran mentor who stays calm, has been in every situation and will embrace the role. 

The Pistons have also turned the ball over a ton over the last few seasons, something Harris will help with, as he has a low turnover rate of just 8.2 percent, a great number for his usage. 

It’s around half of Cade Cunningham’s, and just for reference, Jalen Duren has a 19.4 turnover percentage and Draymond Green is at 15.5 percent. 

Harris is a guy you can pencil into the lineup every night who will make shots, not turn the ball over much and provide a calming veteran presence for a team that desperately needed all three.