Pistons' Tobias Harris impresses in preseason debut vs. Suns
10/12/2024 08:18 AM
The Detroit Pistons have been putting together an impressive preseason showing including their 109-91 win against the Phoenix Suns. Friday night’s matchup featured the preseason debut of forward Tobias Harris. The presence of the 14-year veteran left quite an impression after helping improve the Pistons to 2-1 in exhibition action.
Harris scored 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes for Detroit. Twenty of those points came in the first half, which carried early momentum for the Pistons. He was also impactful defensively, leading to transition scoring opportunities.
One of the biggest off-season plans for Detroit’s front off-season was acquiring experienced talent to help complement their young core. Signing Harris to a two-year agreement this summer was one of those priorities.
After missing the first two preseason games due to COVID, Detroit’s veteran forward played like a seamless fit. Harris showed off his multidimensional scoring prowess with off-ball catch-and-shoot looks, creating his midrange pull-ups, and even scoring in fast break situations.
The Pistons have been in search of a versatile scoring forward who fits Harris’ role over the past few years. During practice this past Wednesday, he spoke on the benefits of his play style and how it can help the team.
"For a guy like myself, being able to catch and shoot, being able to find passing lanes for different guys for open looks and being aggressive and using my size and speed to punish the little guys, or blow by slower forwards, that's been the name of the game my whole career," Harris said Wednesday, per Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press. "Obviously for us, it's just figuring out different guys, personnel-wise on the floor, how they complement each other, and how we can make the game easy for each other."
Cade Cunningham finishes with near triple-double
The most dominant performance on the floor came from Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham. After struggling to find an offensive rhythm in the first two preseason games, Cunningham bounced back by almost recording a triple-double on the road against Phoenix.
Cunningham finished the night leading all players with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists in 30 minutes of play. There were no signs of inefficiency as he knocked down 10-16 field goals for Detroit. Cunningham is also displaying an improvement in his ball-handling by only surrendering two turnovers to the Suns.
The newly acquired veterans are already generating a promising glimpse of the Pistons’ offensive production. The shooters are opening up better scoring lanes for Cunningham and have created space allowing him to play in the post more often.
Detroit’s spacing is also doing wonders for starting backcourt partner Jaden Ivey. The 6-4 shooting guard finished with 16 points for the Pistons and utilized his breakaway speed at will against the Suns.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has kept his word by staggering the starting guards with the backup unit. This creates more time for each player to work on-ball reps as the primary decision-maker. They also have taken advantage of opportunities to establish their chemistry on the floor together. Bickerstaff spoke on the importance of chemistry during Media Day before the preseason began.
“They really understand and will keep getting better at how to play off of one another. Also with how to set each other up,” Bickerstaff explained. “They’re different in their game but the same big guy has to make decisions on a play-by-play. Whether he’s dealing with Cade using his size and shiftiness, or J.I. using that speed. I think it makes defenses have to make some tough decisions and we look forward to keep developing it.”
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