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Pistons off-season moves won’t be as plentiful, but every bit as critical in sustaining progress

Whenever Stan Van Gundy was prodded into discussing the progress the Pistons have made on his watch, he’d quickly tack on a caveat that went something like, “… but we have a long, long, long way to go.”

It wasn’t false modesty and neither was it a coach’s typical indulgence in eternal pessimism. It was just Van Gundy realism. He’ll admit satisfaction in taking the Pistons from 29 wins to 44 and the playoffs in two seasons, but always end that thought by pointing out he wasn’t brought on board by Tom Gores with a goal of sneaking in the playoff field.

The objective remains unchanged: to start every season with a legitimate shot at contending for the title with any luck on the injury front.

And so you can be assured that they’re already back to work out at 6 Championship Drive, plotting paths along the three courses for bettering the roster: the draft, free agency, trade.

Here’s a quick look at what comes next for the Pistons as they attempt to upgrade a roster already radically churned by Van Gundy and general manager Jeff Bower:

  • The draft – The Pistons will have the 18th pick in the first round. They could trade the pick, of course, and already did once. It came back to them when the decision was made to rescind the Donatas Motiejunas trade with Houston over concerns for the future of his back.

    It’s worth remembering what Van Gundy said in Washington on the morning of Feb. 19 – the day after making the trade for Motiejunas, before it was called off – when he was asked about a willingness to surrender the No. 1 pick.

    “Two things. I think, No. 1, what we perceived as the depth of the draft and us not really having a need for another 18- or 19-year-old guy. We’re young as it is.”

    Now, that doesn’t mean they’re going to throw that pick away. It’s maybe 50-50 that you wind up with a player at 18 who can grow into the type of building block the Pistons have in their recent draft picks – Stanley Johnson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond – but Tobias Harris went 19th in 2011, five spots ahead of Reggie Jackson. Chances are there will be a player or two like that still on the board at 18.

    But the Pistons have already put their cards on the table here: They’re willing to deal. And NBA teams certainly haven’t forgotten that the Pistons dealt the pick two months ago. They’ll be calling to see if they’re willing to do so again.

    One more possibility: There are several international prospects considered first-round talents this year. The Pistons have a strong European scouting presence. It wouldn’t be a shocker if they took an international player and let him ripen overseas for a year or two.

  • Trade – The Pistons made their moves ahead of and very early in free agency last year, trading expiring contracts to Milwaukee for Ersan Ilyasova in May and then – hours after free agency started July 1 and seeing Danny Green and DeMarre Carrol strike quick agreements – adding Marcus Morris and Reggie Bullock from Phoenix.

    Van Gundy has said the lessons of his first two stabs at free agency are that the trade route is again the more likely avenue for the Pistons to make their bigger moves.

    The question becomes how the Pistons approach the trade market now. They’ve been focused on acquiring young assets. Might they be at the point where they’d now consider actually dealing some of those young assets? Perhaps combining two of them for an upgrade? Or dealing one of them, now that the framework of their team is in place, for a more specific fit?

  • Free agency – The Pistons figure to have somewhere around $16 million in cap space this summer. They could create more without drastic moves before that time. It’s conceivable they could have enough cap space to make a run at an elite free agent.

    But would they?

    There are two clear roster needs: a more conventional power forward and a backup point guard.

    The question is if the Pistons decide to divide their free-agent cash over two or three players or chase one big fish and fill other roster holes with cap exceptions. The 44-win season and a playoff appearance should make the Pistons more appealing to free agents, but Van Gundy isn’t going to go into July 1 banking on the fact he’ll have his calls returned first by the most desirable stars available.

And, chances are, there are possibilities within each of those three areas that Van Gundy and Bower are already exploring. They’ve proven in their two years that a fear of moves backfiring that paralyzes some front offices isn’t in their DNA. They know the roster, vastly improved, isn’t complete. The days of the 50 percent roster overhauls might be behind them, but there will be no less work – and maybe more – in trying to improve a roster that’s already light years ahead of where it was in May 2014. Stay tuned. It’s going to be another interesting off-season.