For all the questions marks surrounding the Pistons offseason, one thing should be abundantly clear: they need to re-sign Tobias Harris on an affordable contract. Detroit might be tempted to search elsewhere for a more volatile secondary scorer, but Harris' steady presence has filled in that role for the last two postseasons. Even if the Pistons would like to have younger players step up to fill in some of his role, Uncle T still deserves another run in Detroit and has plenty left to give the Pistons.
Tobias Harris is an incredible fit with the Pistons
Throughout this year's playoff run, Harris provided a necessary veteran presence to keep the offense humming. On a team without much spacing, he was still able to thrive as an isolation scorer in the post and midrange. He stepped up compared to the regular season, increasing his scoring from 13 points per game to 18 points per game in the playoffs - including 8 straight 20-point outings.
Harris is such a great fit for the Pistons because he's able to get his shot off against practically any level of defense, as long as he has a favorable matchup. So when playoff defenses ramp up the intensity and the Pistons don't have the shooting to make them pay, they can still dump it into Harris for a tough basket. On many other modern NBA teams, only the stars would get to take the sort of tough shots Harris loves, but he gets the opportunity to display his full scoring arsenal in Detroit.
He even helps hide some of the Pistons' other weaknesses, such as Ausar Thompson's offensive flaws. Since Harris can bully smaller players in the post, teams are practically forced to put a real power forward on him. This small wrinkle often takes away from their ability to have a big man roam off Thompson and pack the paint.
Harris should be willing to take a fair deal
On other teams, Harris would honestly not look as good. He's not the best spot-up three-point shooter, which is a role he would have to take on in most offenses. Even though his percentages from outside have looked solid since arriving in Detroit, Harris doesn't take threes at a high enough volume to be a truly threatening shooter.
He's also previously experienced the pain of being on teams where he was a poor fit, but compensated handsomely. All indications show that Harris has been happier in Detroit than his previous stint with the 76ers, where he had a maximum contract but struggled in his supporting role. Re-signing with the Pistons on a discounted rate would make sure he never gets back to his 76ers situation.
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