Detroit Pistons: Takeaways from season’s first weekend road trip

2. The Weekend Warrior MVP: Tobias Harris

My favorite plot so far during the early portion of the Pistons season is the changes on offense. Instead of running straight pick and roll for four quarters, the Pistons are adding a lot of different sets to the offense. One wrinkle that the Pistons are showing is more “Horns” sets.

The idea of horns is to have two players on the high post, where you can use an on-ball screen or initiate the offense on a pass with one of the high post players.

The Pistons are running these sets more and using Tobias Harris as an igniter to run this offense. Harris can get isolations with a lot of cuts and off-ball screens. They also use him as the ball handler for dribble handoffs, which creates another way to have him roll to the basket or pop out for jump shots. Furthermore, this can create mismatches where Harris goes against a guard with a size advantage.

With a new focus to call more plays for Harris, he is taking advantage. He is shooting 55.8% from the floor and 47% from three. The biggest takeaway is how easy Harris is getting these shots. Harris is getting a lot of isolation situations, but it is within the offense. The offensive sets are getting him mismatches and creating easy looks for him. I also see a bigger focus attacking the rim from Harris. With his length and touch, he can get in the paint and finish around the bucket.