WASHINGTON — Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t expect forward Tobias Harris, a trade deadline acquisition, to make such a seamless transition into the rotation.
“You always think it’s going to be really hard and even set you back a little bit. That’s what I expected,” Van Gundy said Monday before the Pistons played the Washington Wizards in an important game concerning the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Since moving the 23-year-old, 6-9 Harris into the starting lineup, the Pistons are 7-3 and have moved into position to make the playoffs as the seventh or eighth seed. Before Monday’s game, the Pistons were in eighth place just ahead of Chicago and right behind Indiana.