Zoo Crew II

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The Zoo Crew, as Chauncey Billups spontaneously dubbed the Pistons’ bench after one especially impressive December showing last season, should be an even more popular attraction this time around.

Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo have a full season under their belts and appeared much more confident and assured players during their time together in the Las Vegas Summer League.

Antonio McDyess, after one season as a starter following three coming off the Pistons’ bench, will return to a reserve role, where his scoring punch will nicely complement a unit that relied mostly on its athleticism to create scoring chances.

Whoever winds up taking McDyess’ place in the starting lineup – and Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Kwame Brown all will probably be given opportunities to pair with Rasheed Wallace throughout the preseason – will still leave the bench with three more than capable frontcourt rotation pieces.

Beyond those five, the Pistons have a few new faces in rookie Walter Sharpe and free-agent guard Will Bynum and two familiar faces, Walter Herrmann and Cheikh Samb.

It adds up to the deepest and most versatile roster the Pistons have featured since the Wallace trade midway through the 2003-04 season gave them a formidable bench that included Mike James, Lindsey Hunter, Corliss Williamson and Mehmet Okur.

“There will be a good balance on our bench,” Pistons vice president Scott Perry said. “When you talk about those younger players, what a difference a year can make. When you talk about a full NBA season, 100-plus games with the preseason and the playoffs, those guys … Rodney played when the playoffs came, Arron played throughout the season. Even just sitting and watching and being around the game is going to help them and give them more confidence coming into the season. When they come off the bench and get the opportunity to play night in and night out, they’re going to be better prepared.”

Because the Pistons have so many players capable of playing more than one position, the lineup possibilities are virtually limitless.

First-year coach Michael Curry has proclaimed Stuckey a “sixth starter” and said during last week’s Pistons media tour that he would see about 30 minutes a game. Afflalo averaged 13 minutes as a rookie and has drawn effusive praise from Curry. Their increased roles mean Rip Hamilton might spend as much as a third of his minutes at small forward, where Afflalo is also an option in relief of Prince.

The average age of Johnson (21), Stuckey (22), Afflalo (22), Maxiell (25) and Brown (26) is 23.3, which is another reason it makes sense to move one of the young big men into the starting lineup and add McDyess’ experience to the bench.

Though the Pistons have not found enough minutes to play five big men in the past, Perry thinks Curry will make it happen this year.

“All five of those guys are going to get opportunities to play and get minutes,” he said. “That’s just going to make us better as we progress throughout the season and into the playoffs. The confidence level the coaches will have in all five of those guys playing up front and the confidence they’ll have among one another, I think that will be invaluable. I’m just looking forward to seeing how all of that goes.

“We’ve got the right combination of age and experience and youth to allow that to happen. If you had all five young guys, it would probably be tough to play all five. But having a mix of youth and veterans, there’s enough minutes and there’s a need to be able to change things up and play five guys.”

Though there probably won’t be many opportunities for Bynum, the Pistons like his defensive quickness and tenacity and the fact he’s a change-of-pace guard who could wind up filling a role similar to the one Lindsey Hunter has played in the past.

Herrmann has something of an unorthodox playing style, but the Pistons think he has more to offer than he was able to show last season. He has very good shooting range and brings an element of toughness to the table while providing another option at small forward, especially in defending against taller players at that position.

Samb was bumped to No. 6 big man by the acquisition of Brown, but Joe Dumars always maintained Samb would have a two-year indoctrination before being expected to join the rotation. If injury were to strike the frontcourt, Curry feels Samb would be ready to fill in as needed.

Sharpe is a raw prospect, but has the offensive tools and size to provide matchup problems at small forward when he adapts to playing on the perimeter and comes to grips with the speed of the NBA game.