Detroit Pistons: Injuries Force Signing of Justin Harper

Justin Harper will be signed to a 10-day contract with the Detroit Pistons due to a loss of depth at the forward position from injuries. Add in the nullified trade with the Houston Rockets and the depth shrinks even more.

The Detroit Pistons will sign forward Justin Harper to a 10-day contract, according to The Vertical‘s Shams Charania. The injuries of Anthony Tolliver and Stanley Johnson forced head coach Stan Van Gundy’s hand in adding a forward.

Tolliver, who was starting at power forward for the Pistons, suffered a right knee sprain in Sunday’s contest against the New Orleans Pelicans. The injury will keep him out two to four weeks, according to NBA.com‘s Keith Langlois.

Johnson left Monday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the fourth quarter. The original diagnosis is a right shoulder sprain, but he is due for further examination on Tuesday, according to NBA.com‘s Langlois.

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The Pistons announced prior to Monday’s game that their trade with the Houston Rockets to acquire forward Donatas Motiejunas and guard Marcus Thornton would be rescinded due to a failed physical.

Following the trade with the Orlando Magic that sent forward Ersan Ilyasova away, the Pistons are down to Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock at the forward position.

The injuries couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Pistons, who just ended a five-game losing streak on Monday night by beating the East-leading Cavs. With a 28-29 record, the Pistons are two games out of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and could fall further with the lack of depth.

Harper, 26, has spent this season with the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders. The 6-foot-10 forward is a University of Richmond product and was selected in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Cavs. Harper was selected to the 2016 NBA D-League All-Star game.

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What can be expected of Harper? He’s a face-up shooter that is shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from three-point range in 34 games for the D-Fenders this season. He’s averaging 14.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season.

Harper didn’t develop his three-point shot until his senior season at Richmond. His percentage spiked to 10.4 percent better than his junior year’s three-point percentage. He has proven to be a contributor on the offensive end, but needs to improve defensively.

In his final two seasons as a Spider, in which he averaged 25.0 minutes or more per game, he had 6.8 offensive win shares compared to 4.1 defensive win shares.

Harper certainly fits what Van Gundy looks for in a power forward, and it’s possible that he gets significant time if Johnson were to miss several games. He gives the Pistons the best fit at power forward behind Morris and Harris due to his size and face-up abilities on the offensive end.

While Aron Baynes can play power forward, he isn’t the athletic shooter that Van Gundy’s offenses have had in the past.

Harper is going to have to compete Bullock for playing time. Bullock has played in 19 games this season and is an abysmal 1-for-19 (.053) from the field. The biggest position battle will be between Bullock and Harper.

The reason why is that Steve Blake will have to backup point guard Reggie Jackson and Hilliard will have to backup shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Morris and Harris likely won’t both be able to start due to the lack of scoring from the second unit. One of the two will have to be the go-to-guy offensively for the second unit.

If Johnson is going to miss an extended period of time, the door opens for Harper to take advantage of his 10-day contract. The lack of depth at the forward positions is going to give Harper an opportunity to showcase his skills, and if he exceeds expectations than he may earn himself a new contract.

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There is no predicting what Van Gundy is going to do with his lineups. In fact, it may be determined by the seriousness of Johnson’s shoulder injury. If the Pistons are going to win, they’re going to need to trust Harper’s abilities since he may be the best fit at power forward off the bench.