Evaluating the Piston’s free agent signings so far this season

The Detroit Pistons are in the postseason race after years of being bottom-dwellers. As of now, the Pistons have had their best win percentage and net rating since 2019, when they made the playoffs.

After last season’s 14-68 season, the Pistons have relied on their young core as well as new free-agent signings to make them more competitive. Here’s an evaluation of the Pistons’ free agency additions so far.

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Tobias Harris

The Detroit Pistons signed Tobias Harris as a veteran leader who can be used as a complementary wing to open up the offense for the Pistons’ young core. While there have been no question marks about the Veteran’s leadership, he has unfortunately been in a shooting slump of sorts to start the season. 

Harris is currently scoring 13.4 points per game, his lowest since 2012-13, on a career-low 44 percent field goal percentage. A 38 percent 3-point shooter on healthy volume in his last four seasons, Harris has shot just 31 percent from 3-point range this season. His shooting has taken a fall in various facets. The 32-year-old has made only 33 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts after being at above 37 percent in his previous two seasons. Harris has made a shockingly low 29 percent of his 83 three-point attempts when he has been “open” or “wide open” according to NBA stats. For reference, Harris made more than 37 percent of such attempts in the last two seasons.

While a decline for a player in his mid-30s isn’t unheard of, Harris’ shooting woes look more temporary than permanent. Another encouraging sign for Harris and the Pistons is that despite the veteran’s shooting woes, the Pistons have still been a better team with Harris on the court than off it (-0.63 Net Rating with Harris On the court vs -1.97 with Harris on the bench according to PBP Stats).

Malik Beasley

The Detroit Pistons signed Malik Beasley to add much-needed shooting to their roster this off-season. Beasley has delivered on the promise, making a career-high 3.6 3-pointers per game on almost 40 percent efficiency. Most notably, Beasley has knocked down his catch-and-shoot threes at 43.6 percent while being among the leaders in makes. 

Beasley has not had a consistent rotation role, coming in and out of the starting lineup at various junctures of this season. However, he’s made his minutes count with the Pistons outscoring their opponents by 3.3 points per 100 possessions while the team has a net rating of -9.5 when the guard is on the bench (PBP). 

Beasley has seemingly combined high shooting efficiency with increased volume on a team that needs his scoring skillset.