Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

LAS VEGAS -- The Detroit Pistons didn’t make a big splash in free agency, but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Stanley Johnson -- both members of the USA Select Team training this week at UNLV -- said that they are looking forward to playing with the three new faces.

“We’ve made some good pickups in free agency, so I can’t want to get back and see what we got,” Caldwell-Pope said this week.

Caldwell-Pope, the Pistons starting shooting guard, thinks point guard Ish Smith, power forward Jon Leuer and center Boban Marjanovic can help the bench, which was a team weakness last season.

Johnson figures to be the sixth man next season. With Smith pushing the pace, it could make Johnson more effective with the second unit.

But it’s also apparent that Johnson has heard coach Stan Van Gundy saying that the biggest key for the Pistons is for the returning players to improve.

“I think we added some great pieces to our team,” Johnson said. "Like Stan said before … a lot of our improvement would be going toward the in-house stuff. So I think, between me and Pope and Marcus (Morris) and Andre (Drummond), I think we made a lot of improvement with our team, in-house.

“On paper, you won’t be able to see until the seasons starts, but I think we’re a team that’s going to be really competitive in the NBA, in general, and not just in the Eastern Conference. We’re focused.”

Pistons' Stanley Johnson shares special bond with TNT’s Kenny Smith

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.