Five Reasons to Feel Positive about the Detroit Pistons

Instead of giving big-money contracts to a couple players, the Pistons can now fill in the gaps as necessary to find players to suit up alongside Monroe, Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey and Andre Drummond.

3. Tom Gores

When longtime owner Bill Davidson died in 2009, the franchise was immediately thrown into disarray. Davidson’s widow said clearly that she wasn’t interested in retaining the team, but it took her years to find a buyer during the recession. The purse strings were closed, and the team was unable to make any moves to fix its imbalanced roster.

Eventually, billionaire Michigan native Tom Gores purchased the team and has somewhat quietly put his stamp on the franchise. He has poured millions of dollars into revamping the Palace of Auburn Hills, but more importantly has revamped things behind the scenes as well.

While retaining GM Joe Dumars, Gores has brought in additional personnel that specialize in advanced metrics. He hired Ken Catanella as director of basketball operations and head of the organization’s analytics efforts. Also hired was “stats guru” Charlie Klask , formerly of the Orlando Magic.

A team in Detroit – a relatively small market with cold weather – never will attract the top-tier free agents. That means it is incumbent upon the team to draft well, invest smartly, and look for every advantage it can on the court.

4. Lawrence Frank

This is certainly grading on a curve. Frank didn’t have a great record in his first season in Detroit and left a somewhat questionable legacy in New Jersey. But already he has shown he is light years ahead of previous regimes.

Flip Saunders might have been a disappointment for a team with championship aspirations. Subsequent coaches Michael Curry and John Kuester were abject disasters.

On the other hand, Frank talks the talk, seems to have a grasp on Xs and Os and has the respect of the players. Long story short, I don’t think there are going to be any team-wide mutinies under Frank’s watch anytime soon.

5. Young supporting cast

It’s easy to be excited by an obvious talent like Monroe. His young teammates, while not as skilled, still give you a lot of reasons to be excited for their futures.

Stuckey might have shown he won’t be the point guard of the future in Detroit but also has shown he can be the shooting guard of the present. He bulls his way into the lane, gets to the line and scores points, with last year being his most efficient offensive season to date. In fact, he has shown incremental improvement every season, and nobody would be surprised to see that trend continue in 2012-13.

Brandon Knight did not have a good rookie season and might never be a great point guard. But he has shown great athletic abilities, a long-range shot and a work ethic that might rival Ben Wallace’s. It wouldn’t be fair to expect him to be a star point guard, but he has shown skills comparable to Jason Terry, and that would be an extremely valuable commodity. At only 21, he still has a lot of room to grow.

Finally, there is Drummond. He had perhaps the most natural talent after Anthony Davis in last year’s draft. But he is as raw as they come and there is no telling what his future holds. Still, his natural gifts indicate that at the very least he will be a quality defensive presence. In other words, he could be the shot-blocking, athletic, rebounding complement to Monroe.

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Sean Corp is a contributor to Detroit Bad Boys, SBNation’s blog dedicated to the Detroit Pistons. You can follow him on Twitter.