Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

Give the Pistons high marks for a deal that sends out spare parts to land a promising young player.

So give the team an A for landing Magic forward Tobias Harris on Tuesday to kick off the frenzy before Thursday’s 3p.m. trade deadline.

Harris was acquired for power forward Ersan Ilyasova and the expiring contract of point guard Brandon Jennings. The fact that Ilyasova was obtained from the Bucks last off-season for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams is where a case can be made Pistons president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy and his front office turned spare parts and the final two months of Jennings’ Pistons career into Harris.

But the deal does come with questions.

Why is the Magic moving on from the promising 23-year-old just a few months after handing Harris a four-year, $64-million deal?

Why is Harris on his third team in five seasons?

What is his best position — power forward or small forward?

But those questions won’t be answered today.

They won’t be answered Friday when the Pistons return to the playing floor at the Washington Wizards.

Despite the questions, it’s fair to say the Pistons have upgraded their talent base.

General manager Jeff Bower said the deal was the result of ongoing conversations with the Magic.

“We’ve had discussions with Orlando on a number of different topics,” Bower said during a conference call. “Eventually this got to a point where it seemed like it may be something that met the objectives for both of us, so over the last few days it intensified obviously to get to this point, but we had been in talks for little over a week on a couple of other things as well.”

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Longtime attraction

The Pistons were interested in Harris last off-season.

But he was a restricted free agent, meaning the Magic had the right of first refusal if a team signed Harris to an offer sheet.

The Pistons didn’t want to risk tying up cap space while the Magic used the entire time period before matching the offer sheet. Harris ultimately re-signed with the Magic.

“We feel that (his prior performances) showed us a variety of skills that can help a team in numerous ways,” Bower said. “We also think that his play and the projection of his performance over the next five years is on a steady incline based on what we’re seeing and think that he has a lot of room to grow as a player and we really like that this is a move that can be looked at as a long-term move that will fit with our core group of players and we’ll be able to keep them together with contract certainty.”

The acquisition satisfies two stated goals of Van Gundy.

First, if the Pistons were to do a deal, they wanted a player back with multiple years left on his contract. Van Gundy also said he didn’t want to sell any young assets.

Jennings, 26, is in the final year of the three-year, $24-million contract he signed in the summer of 2013 when he was acquired from the Bucks. He will be an unrestricted free agent this off-season and is still trying to return to form after a ruptured Achilles ended his 2014-15 season.

Ilyasova, 28, was acquired last off-season from the Bucks. Only $400,000 of $8.4 million is guaranteed for the 2016-17 season so the Magic is creating cap space.

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Harris’ impact

Bower said Harris could play either forward spot, but most scouts view him as strictly a power forward. He will likely replace Ilyasova in the playing rotation — although holdover Anthony Tolliver could move into the starting lineup initially while Harris gets acclimated.

He brings a 6-foot-9, 235-pound presence to the rotation and is an athletic upgrade over Ilyasova.

He can beat power forwards off the dribble. His rebounding percentages are similar to Ilyasova’s — although the presence of Andre Drummond snatching up rebounds probably hindered Ilyasova.

But why is Harris on the move again? The Magic picked him up from the Bucks at the 2013 trade deadline.

In an era of teams wanting great ball movement, Harris is a ball stopper. He has also gained a reputation of being a shoot-first guy.

And when you consider Van Gundy has harped on the Pistons’ defense for the past month, you really can’t see Harris helping there.

But he is young and one person who knows Harris says he means well.

“I can tell you that Tobias is an outstanding guy,” the person texted the Free Press. “You guys are going to like (him) in the media. He works extremely hard.”

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Going forward

Harris joins Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Marcus Morris and Stanley Johnson as part of the Pistons’ young collection of talent. Morris is the oldest at 26.

With the salary cap possibly rising past $90 million this off-season, Harris is on the books for only $17.2 million next year.

The number drops to $16 million the following season; it’s $14.8 million for the final season of his deal in 2018-19.

“There were things in it that we felt were favorable and fit within our cap structure strategy that we really liked,” Bower said of Harris’ contract.

The Harris acquisition cuts into the Pistons’ available cap space this summer; they will have roughly $15 million to spend in free agency or help facilitate trades.

But before that comes, the Pistons will try to make a push to end their playoff drought at six seasons. They are ninth in the Eastern Conference with a 27-27 record — a half-game behind the Charlotte Hornets for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We get the added benefit of having him available to us for the stretch run this year,” Bower said.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.