Maybe it’s because Marcus Morris feels the unmistakable vibe of his beloved hometown Philadelphia in Detroit. Maybe it’s because he’d never developed a bond of trust with another NBA head coach as he has with Stan Van Gundy. Maybe it’s because the connection to his Pistons teammates is stronger than he’s experienced since leaving college.

Probably – almost surely – it is the combination of all of those things that has Morris in the best frame of mind to start a season of his six-year NBA career.

“For sure. Most comfortable I’ve been. The most confident I’ve been since I’ve been in the league. I’m just trusting in my work, trusting in Stan Van Gundy. He’s been straight up and down with me since I’ve been here and I’ve been straight up and down with him.”

There’s no mystery why Morris and Van Gundy hold each other in high regard. Neither has a phony fiber in their makeup. Everything Van Gundy told Morris when he was at his lowest – upon news he was being traded from Phoenix and separated from twin brother Markieff in July 2015 – has proven true.

Everything Van Gundy asks of him – nothing more than hard work, team above self and accountability, really – Morris has delivered. Now he’s asking one more thing from Morris: leadership.

Again, no argument will be forthcoming from a player Van Gundy calls one of the most professional he’s encountered in his two decades in the NBA.

“I definitely take what Stan is saying, that I have to really step into the forefront and show that I’m one of the guys that’s going to be a leader of this team. I really show by my work for the most part. I come in and I grind every day – ‘Yes, coach; no, coach.’ I go back to when you do things the right way, I feel like great things happen for you. I respect the game of basketball. I try to lead by example, but I definitely understand where he’s at when he says he wants me to be more vocal, wants me to call out guys a little more, and I’m willing to do it.

“Whatever it takes for the Detroit Pistons to be in the playoffs next year, that’s what I’m willing to do.”

Morris doesn’t anticipate any issues leading this group of Pistons. He feels surrounded by players who embody the things he most values.

“It’s definitely a unique situation,” he said. “First of all, it’s Detroit. For a guy like me, that’s the perfect fit. We know that we need to come hard, but guys are willing to jell with each other, willing to talk, willing to go out and have dinner and really become a team. I think it hurt us all that we got swept last year. We all come back with a chip on our shoulder. This year, with the stakes a little higher, guys are maturing and understanding what’s at stake.”

The bonding process was furthered by a week the team spent together recently in Malibu, near Pistons owner Tom Gores’ home base, in Southern California. They spent their days in workouts and team-building exercises and their nights enjoying each other’s company.

“Amazing,” Morris called it. “We did a lot of team bonding, a lot of the Army thing. It was amazing. The owner showed us a great time. I have never been a part of something like that with any team in the NBA.” When I told him that Darrun Hilliard said it was one of the top five weeks of his life, Morris said, “Me, too, and I’m way older than Darrun. Top five. “

Actually, he’s not way older, though having turned 27 earlier this month Morris is the oldest starter on the team and much closer in age to the oldest on the roster (Aron Baynes, 29) than to the youngest (Henry Ellenson, 19).

“That is crazy. I was just talking to Rook (Ellenson) before our workout started and I told him I had to go do some grownup stuff” – treatment for his body. “I said, ‘You’ve got a long time before you do that.’ I remember when I was his age, I could stay out there and do this all day long. Now, I can feel it. It takes a toll on you.”

Van Gundy hopes to scale back minutes for Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this year, each of whom were among the league leaders in time logged last season. If Morris had played his normal minutes instead of sitting out the regular-season finale as Van Gundy rested his starters at Cleveland, as did the Cavs with their playoff matchup already determined, he would have finished with the third-most total minutes of any player in the league.

Morris is OK with that, too, predicting a big year for Stanley Johnson and understanding the greater depth created by the off-season additions of Ish Smith, Jon Leuer, Boban Marjanovic and Ellenson. He senses a hunger in his teammates, many of them with a few laps around the NBA on their resumes but still the bulk of their careers ahead of them. For all the ups and downs it took for him to get to this point, he wouldn’t trade any of it.

“I’m happy I went through the things I did to get to the point I am now,” he said. “These opportunities don’t come a lot. I’m one of the guys that’s going to seize the opportunity. I’m blessed to be here today and blessed to be around these guys and blessed Stan gave me the opportunity to come in here and play right away. Blessed to be here.”