It's mid-November & the Detroit Pistons are just 2 games behind BOS for 1st place.
A 10-3 record, with key wins over Minnesota, Golden State & Milwaukee, is impressive to say the least for Stan Van Gundy's bunch. Despite a homerun signing* in free agency (this past summer), DET's relied heavily upon internal improvement & continuity to turn things around.
You can't go far discussing DET's improvement without mentioning Tobias Harris, who's gotten much better as a shooter & go-to scorer. Harris, a matchup problem hybrid four w/ nice iso & mid post abilities, currently has a (shooting slash) line of 48/50/91 - placing him amongst the league's elite snipers early on.
Small sample size but T. Harris has nailed multiple threes in 9 straight games, is much more aggressive (and confident) from beyond the arc.
And looking past the numbers, Harris is coming into his own as a scorer capable of 20+ pts despite teams game planning against him. DET has a very solid starting five but doesn't feature many players able to consistently generate their own looks - Harris's next step is to translate his physicality & isolation instincts into more dimes & free throws.
Harris is avg. just 1.4 apg and has only gotten to the line 21 times all season - to crossover into Top DOG territory, these two areas must be prioritized moving forward. It's a good sign, however, that DET is out to such a hot start & Harris still hasn't put a cap on his potential.
All-Star in 2018? It's looking like a possibility if the Pistons stay very competitive.
Playoffs in 2018? It's looking like a lock.
*main transactions: trading Marc. Morris (BOS) for A. Bradley, letting K. Caldwell-Pope (LAL) walk