Competition Crunch

Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum at point guard. Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon at shooting guard. Tayshaun Prince at small forward, backed by Hamilton, who’ll need to steal some minutes there to clear enough time for Gordon to make the impact the Pistons expect. Charlie Villanueva and Jason Maxiell at power forward. Kwame Brown and Chris Wilcox at center. And both power positions backed by Ben Wallace.

That doesn’t leave a very wide opening for even one of Austin Daye, DaJuan Summers and Jonas Jerebko to crack the rotation, never mind all three of them. Yet the Pistons continue to be encouraged by what they see of them through the first three days and five practices of training camp.

“They’re getting an understanding of what it is to be in the NBA and it’s not that they’ve looked out of place, but it’s an adjustment,” John Kuester said after Wednesday’s lengthy solo practice following two consecutive twice-daily sessions. “Each one of them has moments when they do something outstanding. But when you have some of these veterans that play consistently all the time, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Kuester, true to Dumars’ vision, said he’s been giving all three minutes at both spots, though Daye and Summers both said they were getting longer looks at small forward and Jerebko said the bulk of his time has been spent at power forward, which jibes with how the three were used in Summer League play.

That makes their learning curve even steeper, because in Kuester’s system, while power forward and center are virtually interchangeable offensively, power forward and small forward are not.

“I’m using them in both spots,” Kuester said. “That’s hard, because the four position is a little bit different than the three. … But they’ve done a real nice job of learning what I want to get accomplished.”

The usual suspects that bedevil rookies – consistency and defense – are the things Kuester it looking most intently at in the development of each. If a coach can’t trust that his rookie won’t be an immediate defensive target, or he can’t be sure of their ability to comprehend the playbook and execute it the same way every time, they go to the back of the line.

None of the three, at least, appear overwhelmed by anything they’ve seen so far.

“I almost thought I was going to feel like that,” Jerebko said, “but after this – I’ve been working out here for a month, so it’s not much different. It’s just a little longer. It’s been going good.”

“I think I’ve played well,” Daye said. “They’re put me out there with the second team and I’ve played well. My main thing, when I came into camp, was to make good decisions and not turn the ball over. I try to count my turnovers each day and try to eliminate them.”

“It’s more intense,” Summers said. “Days are longer. You’ve got to focus in. Things are coming at you faster. You’ve got to learn faster. I think that’s probably the biggest difference. I think I’ve been doing pretty well, being attentive, paying attention to what’s going on and asking the veterans if I miss something to just stay on board.”

Kuester said all three will get opportunities to play during preseason games – the opener is Monday vs. Miami at The Palace – but he and his staff have yet to discuss even a loose blueprint for minutes distribution. He anticipates doing that over the weekend. The reality is the rookies will be auditioning not just in preseason games, but in every practice from now throughout the regular season, to fill whatever need the Pistons might have beyond what their 10 veterans ahead of them can supply.

“Competition is great,” Kuester said. “Any time you can have competition, especially with the way these guys take so much pride in what they’re doing, it’s healthy. It’s made our practices very good.”