Most NBA general managers would choose what’s behind Door No. 1, because what’s behind Door No. 2 is far more likely to get them fired.

That’s just the nature of the business, a climate created wholly by impulsive, impatient and fundamentally weak ownership.

Joe Dumars has told me repeatedly that it amazes him how so many in his shoes are so risk-averse, but before he goes too far down that road he checks himself and adds this: It takes ownership with backbone to stand behind management’s inevitable personnel misses.

Pistons owner William Davidson built a business colossus on the simplest of tenets, one of them being to hire good people and get out of their way. Dumars’ first lieutenant, Pistons vice president of basketball John Hammond, has worked for other NBA organizations and frequently reminds Dumars how good they have it here.

Dumars would have a tough time working for most of those other organizations because Davidson’s swing-for-the-fences mentality fits his own perfectly. But if you think the risk-taking GM is rare, how about coaches? Hard to blame them, because the life expectancy of the NBA coach is shrinking faster than the polar ice cap. Coaches are far more apt to stick with a veteran player who gives him a “5” performance every night than a 22-year-old who gives him an “8” one night and a “2” the next.

Which brings us to how Dumars’ off-season blueprint will be executed by Flip Saunders, about to enter his third season since taking over for Larry Brown.

Dumars was emphatic after the Pistons lost to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals that Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson would be given the chance to sink or swim on their own merits this season. He didn’t mince words in contending that it was time for reduced roles for at least some of his veterans. And the performance of Rodney Stuckey for certain and Arron Afflalo to a lesser extent in the Las Vegas Summer League convinced Dumars and Hammond that the draft yielded fruit ripe for the picking.

So those young players plus free-agent signee Jarvis Hayes will hit training camp in less than a month encouraged in a way the Pistons’ projected reserves haven’t been in several years that they’ll be given breathing room this season.

And you know what? That could become every bit as liberating for Saunders the coach as it’s been for Dumars the president. What it could do is allow Saunders – universally recognized as one of the brightest offensive minds in basketball – to integrate endless possibilities into his already bulging playbook.

How might that translate into practice? Here’s just one possible example: Let’s say camp opens with the same starting five as last season, a pretty safe bet as we sit here today. That means Nazr Mohammed and Rasheed Wallace up front with Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups on the perimeter.

But what if Jason Maxiell or – gulp! – Amir Johnson clearly outperforms Mohammed? Would Saunders tinker with the possibilities presented by a lineup that would nominally include Wallace as the center?

(Can’t provide a link, but check out the ESPN The Magazine piece on Amir Johnson in the current issue. It quotes various anonymous NBA people as basically saying the kid is the second coming of Kevin Garnett, which might be laying it on a little thick but speaks to the buzz he’s created since taking the D-League by storm last winter.)

It might take some coaxing with Wallace, whose game has moved farther and farther from the basket since he first arrived in Detroit during the 2004 championship run. But Maxiell is far more comfortable operating around the rim and so is Johnson, to a lesser degree. Rasheed might still have to guard the other team’s post player in such a configuration, but chances are he’s going to be doing that more than anyone else on the roster most nights, anyway.

What if Stuckey carries his eye-opening summer play into training camp? On nights when overmatched opponents try to throw the Pistons off by going small, would Saunders at least temporarily counter with a lineup that swings Hamilton down to Prince’s small forward position and Prince across the lane to power forward? With Hayes another intriguing possibility? Or even Afflalo?

The point is that Dumars’ convictions and off-season maneuverings have outfitted Saunders with a flexible lineup rich in possibilites, tools a coach who rose to prominence on the promise of his creativity figures to embrace.