With Pistons training camp around the corner, 5 things to watch

The holdovers from the regular-season roster who experienced a taste of Casey’s offense in Summer League – Luke Kennard and Henry Ellenson –consistently described it as “more open” with a heavy emphasis on spacing. Rookie Khyri Thomas was already conditioned to sprinting the floor in transition to set up shop for a corner three.

Casey has spoken about the need to shoot significantly more 3-pointers than the 29 a game the Pistons took last season, which was easily a franchise record. He’s specifically talked about Griffin taking more threes. How Casey structures the offense to both create more threes and make the best use of Griffin’s inside-outside potency will go a long way toward shaping their direction.

The strongest argument would be for Johnson and Bullock to start, though any combination of the three is reasonable and, in fact, you’ll see iterations with every possible combination of their utilization at various points of games.

If Casey places the highest premium on putting the most shooting on the floor during the minutes Drummond and Griffin spend together, then the case would be made for Bullock and Kennard.

But that keeps Johnson on the bench to start halves when, presumably, the opposition’s best wing scorers – the guy Johnson should be guarding – will be on the floor. And bringing Kennard off the bench allows Casey to put the ball in his hands more than he’d see it with minutes overlapping Griffin and Jackson’s more closely.

The contenders for backup minutes are Leuer, Henry Ellenson and Zaza Pachulia. With Johnson’s ability to guard many power forwards – Glenn Robinson III fits that profile to some degree, too – Casey could get away with using only one of the three in select games if he chooses. Or, given Casey’s history of liberal use of his bench in Toronto, he could use all three in some games to produce matchup advantages.

Leuer and Ellenson can play either frontcourt spot and, with Casey’s desire to up 3-point attempts, Ellenson in particular brings intrigue as a center – provided his Summer League 3-point struggles are ironed out as he becomes more comfortable with adjustments to his shooting form.

Their common calling cards are toughness, strength and defensive mindsets. Thomas has more to offer as a perimeter shooter, Brown has a little more size, playmaking instincts and rebounding. There’s no obvious opening for them, but injuries have a way of creating those openings. And which one gets the first crack at playing time might depend on who gets injured – Brown would be more likely to take minutes if Johnson or Glenn Robinson were injured, for example – but it also will have something to do with which one takes advantage of their opportunities in camp.

The Pistons need them to emerge into consistent contributors. They need them to close the gap between what they bring to the equation every night and what Griffin, Drummond and Jackson contribute. Bullock became a consistent force after moving into the starting lineup full-time in December. Now it’s time for Johnson, Ellenson, Kennard and Robinson to take that step. Training camp will be the first indicator of where they are in that progression.