Tobias Harris' fatal flaw may force franchise-altering change for the Pistons

In many ways, Tobias Harris has been the perfect player for the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs, but he can’t hit a 3-point shot and it’s killing their offense. 

Harris has averaged 20 per game in this series, providing more than enough total points for Detroit to be successful. Harris isn’t the reason the Pistons are losing, but he is one of the reasons their offense has failed to generate many points. 

The Pistons are trying to run with an unconventional starting five for the modern NBA, with two guys who can't shoot, which relies on Harris (or someone) to hit a 3-point shot. 

Harris is just 3-of-21 from long range in this series and most of them have been wide-open corner threes that the Magic are perfectly happy to let him shoot, and his inability to hit them has allowed Orlando to stifle the Pistons’ offense. 

Having two non-shooters means Tobias Harris must hit shots 

A lot has been made of the Pistons’ inability to score in the paint, particularly Jalen Duren, who has crashed into bodies every time he’s touched the ball and has had limited impact, especially on offense. 

Duren has coughed up copious turnovers in every game, partially because the Magic are able to throw an extra body or two at him with impunity. 

The Magic are just packing the paint and daring the Pistons to shoot, which is made easy when the Pistons have Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren on the floor, as neither of them can shoot. 

The Pistons have gotten away with having two non-shooters in the lineup all season, but things are different in the playoffs when teams have extra time and games to plan how to stop it. 

We see Jalen Suggs playing free safety and coming up with a lot of steals and deflections because he can just leave Thompson alone. 

It leaves an opening for the Pistons, which is in the corner, but they’ve been unable to make the Magic pay for loading the paint and doubling off Ausar, and a lot of that comes back to Harris, who is shooting 14 percent from long range in this series. 

The Pistons may have to make a change 

In recent years, we’ve seen teams with non-shooters get exposed in the playoffs, as it is far easier to defend 5-on-4. It can only work offensively if you have shooters around them, and the Pistons don’t. 

They have a couple of choices here: Trade one of Jalen Duren or Ausar Thompson. Personally, I wouldn’t move Thompson for almost anyone, so I do think it’s possible that the Pistons flip Duren in a sign-and –trade and go with a center by committee approach where at least one of the guys can shoot. 

The other option is to let Harris walk this summer (or relegate him to a bench role on a minimum deal) and replace him with a shooter. If the Pistons had a real stretch four taking these open 3-point shots, it wouldn’t be so easy to leave them alone in the corner to crowd the lane. 

Something has to give, but for the purposes of this series, things could change quickly if Harris can start knocking down open 3’s to force the Magic to adjust, but the way things have gone so far, I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

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