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Camp Qs: Who’ll emerge in a 4-man race to be Pistons floor general?

(Editor’s note: Pistons.com today continues a five-part series on the key questions to be addressed in Pistons training camp with a look at who will emerge from the positional battle at point guard and whether rookie Spencer Dinwiddie becomes a factor. Coming Friday: Can the Pistons start developing the chemistry in training camp that eluded them last season?)

A decade ago, power forward was the most stocked position in the NBA. In the Western Conference alone, you had Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Pao Gasol, Tim Duncan and Amare Stoudemire. Rasheed Wallace had just left to come East and complete the Pistons’ 2004 NBA championship puzzle, where he had to battle players like Jermaine O’Neal in Indiana and Kenyon Martin in New Jersey. Chris Bosh had already announced himself as a future star in Toronto, too.

Today, point guard is the NBA’s dominant position, reflecting not only the depth of talent among modern-day point guards but also the influence they exert as the game has evolved to become more fluid and perimeter oriented. Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, John Wall, Stephen Curry, Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Ricky Rubio, Ty Lawson and Kyle Lowry are among the many who present matchup problems across the league.

After signing Josh Smith in free agency in July 2013, then-Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars decided he needed to upgrade the position to make a credible playoff push. So he swapped two-year veteran Brandon Knight to Milwaukee for four-year vet Brandon Jennings, who certainly seemed on track to become a top-10 point guard not so long ago. Who could forget the 55 points he scored in his seventh NBA game less than five years ago?

And Jennings, despite missing nearly all of the preseason with a broken jaw, got off to a strong start in Detroit. When the Pistons played their best basketball of the season last December, including road wins at red-hot Indiana and Miami, Jennings averaged 18.9 points and 8.4 assists in 17 games.

But as their season began spinning out of control in January, Jennings’ play gradually deteriorated. Over the season’s final 24 games, he averaged 12.2 points and 6.8 assists and saw his 3-point percentage sink to .287. He admitted the firing of Maurice Cheeks just before the February All-Star break affected him and called it the worst of his five NBA seasons.

He’ll find a vastly different environment awaiting him when training camp opens next week. Stan Van Gundy’s playbook will place Jennings in a more structured offense, perhaps more similar to what he experienced under Scott Skiles early in his Milwaukee days. Upon being hired in Detroit, Van Gundy remarked that Jennings’ good games were often flawed by four or five poor decisions and said it was the job of the coaching staff to put him in positions to succeed and help him become more judicious in his choices.

To be sure, Van Gundy has alternatives at the ready. D.J. Augustin played superbly upon having his career rescued by Chicago last season after Toronto waived him. He averaged 14.9 points and 5.0 assists in starter’s minutes (30 per game) while shooting 41 percent from the 3-point line. Van Gundy remembers the pick-and-roll acumen of Augustin in his early years with Charlotte and was further attracted to him by the way he operated Tom Thibodeau’s offense in Chicago.

Jennings, who comes to camp having added noticeable bulk to his sinewy frame that can’t help but aid him on defense and in absorbing contact on penetration, will have to play well and prove a trustworthy caretaker of the ball to secure his status as the incumbent.

And then there’s Will Bynum, never one to be written off. Bynum, now the longest-tenured Piston with six seasons under his belt, comes to camp leaner after altering his diet. He’s focused on being a defensive hound and emerging as a team leader. His proven chemistry with Andre Drummond on pick-and-roll plays alone will make Bynum a candidate to carve out a role.

Beyond the three veterans – all of whom give up size to the vast majority of those accomplished point guards enumerated above – there’s rookie Spencer Dinwiddie. He isn’t likely to appear in the preseason as he continues his rehabilitation from January ACL reconstruction, but Van Gundy is genuinely enthused by Dinwiddie’s makeup and size.

At 6-foot-6, not only will Dinwiddie have passing lanes available to him the others won’t, his length would give Van Gundy the flexibility to cross-match in the backcourt. That would be especially true when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – whose quickness and size can disrupt opposing point guards as they attempt to get their team into sets – is in the lineup at shooting guard.

They’re all just different enough that Van Gundy will have options to help the Pistons hold their own against the cream of the league’s deep point guard crop. But it’s difficult to keep four players at one position sharp enough to be reliable contributors. Van Gundy will have to sort a few things out at point guard in training camp and the seven-game preseason schedule.