AUBURN HILLS -- Detroit Pistons fans want more of Andre Drummond, whether starting or off the bench, and they're getting it, at the price of a delicate balancing act whose name is Greg Monroe.

The Pistons have done little in a 7-15 start to dispel that they're headed for another draft lottery pick, so if the season is going nowhere, prevailing public theory holds that the only way to steer is toward the future. Now, Lawrence Frank isn't ready to take that detour yet, because the coach approach is that you use your preferred rotation until such point that playoffs are a mathematical impossibility, then look at different mixes.

The season ends in April but if the Pistons don't start playing better quickly, that tinkering could begin in March.

Meantime, the most-awaited transformation is Drummond's elevation to starting center, or at least into regular work nights of 22-25 minutes, which are two separate issues, either of which comes attendant with a stumbling block bigger than Jason Maxiell's elevated level of play, even bigger than Drummond's own steady personal development.

It is the impact the change will have on Monroe.

The presumptive move at some point this season is to make Drummond the starting center, supplanting Monroe, who would shift to power forward, with Maxiell going to the bench.

It makes sense for both Drummond and the team's future direction. The big-man pairing looks inevitable. And Maxiell isn't under contract beyond this season, although the Pistons very well may pursue re-upping him as a reserve.

The problem is that Monroe is only beginning to establish himself as one of the Eastern Conference's top centers and the Pistons already have earmarked his replacement. Drummond certainly can't shift to power forward. If they're going to play together, it has to be Monroe who switches.

It won't be that easy, even if Monroe has a body more befitting a power forward than a center. He'll be called upon to guard quicker players who sometimes use the entire perimeter. Monroe isn't a premier defensive player in the first place. Put him alongside Drummond and teams will get a range shooter in the game faster than you can say, "stretch-four."

And for everything Drummond brings on the defensive end, he still finds himself out of position too often there, and his only offensive threat is when he catches down low for a dunk or creates his own points via rebounding, at which he excels.

Nevertheless, his great plays are spectacular and certainly the time has come to find a way to increase Drummond's playing time by paring a few minutes from Maxiell and/or Charlie Villanueva.

Again, that means more of Monroe at power forward, where he might excel, given time. He already has a mid-range jumper and can operate as a high-post offensive hub. But he has proven himself at center and surely will have times when he grows frustrated with subjugating some of his own positional improvement for a teammate's untapped well of potential.

Frank called the evolution "bit by bit" because Monroe is still learning to play center, much less a new position.

"This is a challenge every single night," Frank said. "As you can see, there are no easy games, in a sense, from Greg's standpoint. Greg's still a young player as well. This is year three for him. So he's still a developing player and learning and growing."

Monroe's lack of comfort with the rotation pattern is clear. If Drummond plays, say, 24 minutes per game, that either limits Monroe to 24 minutes or shifts him to power forward for eight to nine minutes.

The latter is the direction of the future but it's causing some predictable confusion now, and with the bulk of focus falling upon Drummond's development rather than his own work in progress, Monroe said after Friday's loss to the Chicago Bulls that he's "just not in the position that I'm normally in to be successful."

The next night, Monroe had another 11-point game -- his average for the last seven games, entering night's matchup with the 76ers in Philadelphia -- in a win over Cleveland.

The long-term overhaul will take time.

Frank, who has ultimate control over when it happens, offered some words of encouragement for impatient fans who want more of Drummond and Monroe together.

"It's trying to find how it works, and the rhythm, especially offensively, because at times you're taking guys a little bit out of comfort," he said. "But just over time, we'll get better and better at it."

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