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Make no mistake, the Detroit Pistons might not be title contenders this season, but they are beginning to gather assets, and seem to be on the right path to contend in the Eastern Conference. Detroit used their Amnesty exemption to jettison Richard Hamilton, opening up an opportunity for rookie Brandon Knight to work his way into a key rotation role for the Pistons, but do the pieces in Detroit fit?

At a glance the Pistons look like a team with a great deal of redundancy, specifically in the backcourt and on the wings. Rodney Stuckey, Brandon Knight, Will Bynum, and even Ben Gordon are all rather similar players that might not complement each other as well one would like. New head coach Lawrence Frank will have a difficult task in finding different ways to get Knight, Stuckey, Bynum, Gordon, and Tayshaun Prince established in coherent offensive groove, as they all like to shoot as their primary option on offense.

Rick Osentoski—US Presswire

Every member of the Pistons’ backcourt likes to dominate the ball, and aside from Gordon, none are much of mid or long-range shooters. Bynum shot just 32% from beyond the arc, and Stuckey just 28.9%. Knight hit some big shots while Kentucky, but he wasn’t known as a consistent enough shooter to be moved to the off guard position. Alas, the Pistons’ problems remain the same as they were heading into the offseason; they are loaded on the wings and don’t really have an effective low post presence to balance out their roster. Greg Monroe — who is a phenomenal passer — seems to be much more comfortable from the high post, but lacks some of the athletic ability to set up on the blocks, and consistently be effective.

Most would consider last season to be an aberration in Detroit; the team was for sale, there was a minor player mutiny, and Joe Dumars was handcuffed by the uncertain economic future of the franchise.

This season, however, there seems to be much more optimism, and even if some of the pieces might not be the best fit, there is certainly some hope Frank has this Pistons team on the right path. The Detroit coaching staff will continue to try and figure out which guard combination works best. However, as Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News writes, that even with roster pieces that might not complement each other, Frank doesn’t want constrain players like Knight or Stuckey into traditional roles.

“You don’t pigeonhole guys,” Frank said. “You put them in the best position to be successful. The way we play, the ball has to move. We’ll have different people as decision makers.”

Currently there are few teams — Houston, Cleveland, Atlanta, Charlotte, and perhaps Milwaukee — who could be in the market for a bigger combo guard with either more draft pieces, or current players that might help Joe Dumars build a more congruent team.