When no one believed in the Pistons last summer, Tobias Harris did. Through the pall of perpetual losing, Harris saw promise. He even plotted a path to the playoffs, distant as they appeared. In his initial conversations with the Pistons, "that was one of the things that me, Trajan (Langdon) and my dad kind of joked about, like, this isn’t a rebuild," Harris said Thursday. He came back to help bring them back.
"That was said early on: This is not a rebuild. It’s coming into a situation with a lot of great young talent," he said. "Obviously you don’t throw out too many expectations that early, but me personally, my goal was to make the playoffs with this group and do whatever I can to help the team in any type of way."
Maybe not anymore, but this was a rebuild when Langdon took over for Troy Weaver. The problem wasn't really the pillars in place, but Weaver's failure to properly brace them. Langdon saw a roster that lacked spacing and shooting around its centerpiece Cade Cunningham, and a team low on belief after a 28-game losing streak led to the worst season in franchise history. One of his first moves was to sign Harris to a two-year, $52 million deal.
"Early on, the first day of training camp, I knew the talent level was here," said Harris. "I think I saw more in guys than they might have seen in themselves. I know that being in this league for this time, it just takes a couple guys to get influenced by the winning bug and really enjoy that, and see where that goes.
"I think we’re a testament to that this whole year. This team is resilient. We’ve got a lot of guys who have been written off through their whole career, and it’s a group that’s eager to win and showcase what we can do."
There's no better stage than the playoffs. The Pistons will step into the national spotlight Saturday night against the Knicks, at Madison Square Garden. It's been a long time since they were part of the show, which is part of the reason Harris chose to return. His first stint with the Pistons lasted two short years before he was packaged to LA in the Blake Griffin trade, but Detroit "always had a place in my heart," he said.
Harris, 32, met his wife here. Did a lot of growing up here. And got his first taste of the playoffs here when he arrived at the age of 23 at the 2016 trade deadline and felt the city rally behind its basketball team. The Pistons were swept by LeBron and the Cavs, who went on to win it all, but the experience gave Harris a window into what it would look like to win in Detroit.
The Pistons lost their way over the next several seasons, hamstrung by the Griffin trade and other poor basketball decisions. General managers and head coaches went up in smoke. Owner Tom Gores threw checks onto the fire. Harris made a name and a lot of money for himself with the 76ers, a key cog on five playoff teams. Monty Williams came to Detroit to water a young crop of players and instead watched them rot.
J.B. Bickerstaff has been a breath of fresh air. He arrived last summer and talked about -- excuse the term -- restoring the Pistons to their "rough-and-rugged" roots. He brought up the Bad Boys and the Goin' to Work crew. He said the Pistons would reconnect with their fans by playing selfless, physical, hard-edged basketball that's "not just about me-me-me." He vowed that they would defend. They have been one of the best defensive teams in the NBA since the new year.
Bickerstaff leaned on Harris, even as more of an offensive player, to help set the tone for the team. They had a conversation before the season "about what Tobias' role was going to be," said Bickerstaff, "how important he was going to be," how his value extended beyond the floor. Bickerstaff came away from the conversation knowing that Harris was a player he could trust, "and that's what matters most," he said.
"Those are the type of people you need to have in your locker room as a coach, people who will stand on their word, and that’s who Tobias is. And that’s who he’s been his entire career. I can tell Tobias anything and I know that he’s going to carry it out to the best of his ability and he’ll never be one of those guys who goes into the locker room and says anything different than what our purpose of the group is," Bickerstaff said. "He’s that trustworthy and dependable."
One of the Bad Boys, Isiah Thomas, was praising Bickerstaff this week for reinvigorating the Pistons when he said, "Let’s give Tobias a lot of credit, because Tobias understood the culture of Detroit and what wins and what we were about. So from a messaging standpoint, he was able to reinforce in the locker room what Coach Bickerstaff was talking about."
Harris took his role seriously. He made it clear to his teammates that the ethos of the Pistons is "heart and soul. It's working your tail off, playing basketball the right way, and just feeding off your teammates and doing it together," he said. "That was Coach’s message from day one." It meant even more when echoed by Harris, the most experienced player on the roster.
Harris and Thomas got to know each other during Harris' first run with the Pistons, and they've kept in touch since. Whenever they see cross paths at different events around the league or within Detroit, "it's all love," Harris said. Asked about Thomas' endorsement, Harris smiled and said, "From a legend, somebody who’s built this organization to where it is, the history, the class, the professionalism behind it, that means a lot to hear."
"And that is something that I’m always about, is making sure these guys understand that we’re basketball players, we represent ourselves on and off that floor, we represent our team, our organization, and we represent our city as a group," Harris said. "This organization has a lot of tradition, and the biggest thing is just respecting the game and playing the game the right way.
"I think this whole team has a lot of guys who have embraced that, really guys who have found their role and found their, kind of, basketball ego in who they are as players."
Not to discount his contributions on the court, Harris started 73 games for the Pistons this season and averaged 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds. He shot well enough alongside fellow vets Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. to open the floor for Cunningham, who broke through with an All-NBA-caliber season. It might say something that the Pistons were 40-33 when Harris played, 4-5 when he didn't.
It might say even more that, by the measure of win shares, Harris had a bigger impact defensively than offensively for the first time in his career. He didn't just embrace Bickerstaff's message. He embodied it.
"More so than anything, I look for the respect and love of my teammates and everyone I’m around on a day-to-day basis because there are my brothers, this is the organization I’m with, and this is the goal we set from day one of me joining here," Harris said. "To see all that come together in a full-circle moment, it’s awesome to be back in the playoffs with this group, with this city, for our fans.
"This is what I signed up for and here we are, so let’s make the best of it."