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Practice minutes will set Pistons rotation and final roster spot, Van Gundy says

The only real roster question for the Pistons is whether it’s Lorenzo Brown or Ray McCallum Jr. for the 15th and final spot. The starting five returns intact. Stan Van Gundy landed the two key pieces he needed for his bench in the first 48 hours of free agency.

That’s another way of saying there isn’t exactly a laundry list of questions to be addressed between Tuesday’s launch of training camp and the Oct. 26 season opener at Toronto.

But Van Gundy feels an urgency to maximize every minute of practice time available, not least because he knows for the Pistons to reach their goals – encapsulated neatly in their team mantra of “why not us?” that emerged from their initial team meeting – he needs to determine which groups of players form the most effective units and combinations within those units.

That’s the priority, which means players who don’t enter camp with a place in Van Gundy’s rotation as he envisions it are going to have to scrap for minutes in practices.

“I know coaches will always come in and say every position is open. And it is – theoretically,” Van Gundy said. “Somebody can change your mind.”

But he knows the identity of nine players he fully expects to be in the rotation when the season opens against the Raptors. It’s his five returning starters (Andre Drummond, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson) plus the two holdover staples from last year’s bench (Stanley Johnson and Aron Baynes) and those two key free agents (Ish Smith and Jon Leuer).

The intrigue starts there. Van Gundy was comfortable with a nine-man rotation most of last season. But Reggie Bullock and Darrun Hilliard are going to get looks to see if what they offer – Bullock’s shooting, Hilliard’s playmaking potential off the dribble – can enhance the second unit without carving too deeply into the minutes that would otherwise go to Caldwell-Pope, Johnson, Morris or Harris. To a fair degree, even Bullock and Hilliard are going to need to log the bulk of their work in practices.

“I’m going into camp (knowing the identity of the top) nine, 10, 11 guys. I do. At least, in my mind. Now, change my mind out here. You all get your opportunities. But, quite honestly, a lot of those guys are going to have to get their opportunities in practice because we’ve only got six exhibition games. I’m going to play the guys I intend to play. The battle for that third point guard spot, that’s going to be out here. I’ll give them each significant minutes probably one time in the preseason. I can’t play them every night. I need Reggie and Ish to get their minutes.”

Nobody gets to see practices except Van Gundy, his coaches, support staff and front-office personnel. Those practice minutes are going to determine how Van Gundy sets his rotation, how deep he goes into his bench and who wins the battle for the last roster spot. They’ve had years with far more questions to address, but for a team that expects to be playing deep into next spring those are all important issues.