(Editor’s note: Pistons.com concludes a five-part series examining the top five storylines of training camp, which gets under way later this month. Today: A smorgasbord of lesser issues for Stan Van Gundy to address.)
Stan Van Gundy had more daunting challenges in his first two seasons as Pistons coach than he’ll face when he gathers the Pistons for training camp in a little more than two weeks. But nothing he decided in his first camp would have transformed the 29-win bunch he inherited into an instant playoff contender.
So the relatively fewer questions facing him today are ones with greater consequences awaiting the franchise. We’ve tackled the larger ones already: whether he’ll tinker with his starting lineup to achieve better balance between units; how much greater a role Stanley Johnson is ready to assume in his second season; the decision to expand the rotation past nine and the battle Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock figure to wage for that potential 10th spot; and how much improved Andre Drummond returns as a foul shooter and what the options are in the alternative.
Beyond that, there will be a handful of relatively lesser decisions awaiting Van Gundy, his coaches and front-office staff as they prepare the Pistons to top last season’s 44-win campaign and playoff appearance.
Here are four of them: