Are the Pistons back in contention or finding a different way to maintain the status quo? Active isn’t even close to describing the Pistons offseason. Heading into free agency, the Pistons were one of the few teams with a plethora of cap space. Free agent forward Charlie Villanueva agreed to a five-year contract at approximately $35 million. Prior to that, The Pistons and guard Ben Gordon agreed on a five-year contract worth $50 million. In the 2009 draft, Detroit selected Gonzaga forward Austin Daye with the 15th pick, and Georgetown forward DaJuan Summers in the second round. For frontcourt depth, Chris Wilcox signed a two-year, $6 million deal, and Ben Wallace for the veteran’s minimum of $1.3 million. That’s a lot of spending, and on top of the new faces on the court, there are a couple on the bench.

The Pistons hired John Kuester as their new head coach, signing a deal for two-year with a team option for a third season. Kuester will be paid $1.5 million per season, and becomes the fourth coach since 2005 to man the helm. The Pistons also brought in tenured coach Brian Hill as an assistant for head coach John Kuester. Hill, once upon a time, took the Shaq/Penny Hardaway Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in the 90’s, and has 36 years of coaching experience. While always challenging to be a new head coach in the NBA, the extreme personalities of Rasheed Wallace and Allen Iverson have now departed. Kuester’s biggest challenge will be figuring out how to play the current roster.

The team’s core will be Villanueva, Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, and Jason Maxiell. The 5 spot on paper will be a rotation of Kwame Brown, Wilcox, and occasionally Ben Wallace. Wallace is more of a mentor to the youth at this point in his career, and will be more of a locker room presence than a day to day contributor. Daye figures to learn a lot in his first year, and will see limited minutes as he spells Prince who will still see 35 or more minutes per game. The most intriguing storyline in Detroit will be the guard minutes. Stuckey, the incumbent starter, hasn’t proven he can be a floor general after Chauncey Billups’ departure, but has the talent to become a quality starter. Distributing the ball to Hamilton & Gordon will be his biggest challenge, as each member of that duo will need to get a lot of shots. Gordonwas considered by most to be a questionable signing, as Hamilton has been the Pistons starting and clutch shooting guard for the past seven seasons. It’s unsure if Hamilton will be moved as a result of the Gordon signing, as he recently signed a hefty $34 million dollar extension through 2013. The Pistons need to sort out all of these issues in order to improve on their 39 win season. Detroit has reloaded, and now it’s time to go back to work.

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