Beyond quintessential point guard instincts on a 6-foot-6 frame, what Stan Van Gundy loved most about Spencer Dinwiddie in taking him with the first draft pick he exercised as Pistons decision-maker was the confidence he exuded.

Now Dinwiddie is working to make Van Gundy as confident in his point guard as the second-year player is in himself.

The timing just happened to be right as I asked Dinwiddie about the opportunity presented to him by Brandon Jennings’ uncertain status – and the pickle the Pistons are in as they determine whether they need to add another point guard in free agency to guard against an unfavorable turn in Jennings’ recovery – that Van Gundy walked past.

“I would love to show my man, Mr. Van Gundy, that I deserve all the backup minutes behind Reggie (Jackson),” Dinwiddie opened as Van Gundy grinned broadly and kept on walking. “I would love to also slow I’m at a point where I can play with Reggie. I would love to get to that place where he has that much confidence in me, where I’m not just getting Reggie’s backup minutes, I’m also playing with him in spurts. I’m just evolving more as a player and becoming that type of guy that I was seen as before the injury.”

The injury – a torn ACL suffered in January 2014, ending his junior season at Colorado – cost Dinwiddie draft position and all of a rookie’s normal summer workout and conditioning routine. That meant not playing in Orlando’s Summer League a year ago, too. Dinwiddie was in street clothes as teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, coming off an uneven rookie year, took an assertive step forward that carried over into his second NBA season.

“And they said the year before, (Andre Drummond) had a really good Summer League,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s my first, but I’m still looking to have a really good Summer League and instill confidence in my regime.”

He didn’t get much playing time as a rookie until Jennings went down in a Jan. 24 game at Milwaukee, but Dinwiddie showed enough to make the Pistons believe they got it right with the 38th pick. Dinwiddie led all rookies in assists-to-turnovers ratio and put up 8.2 assists per 36 minutes. The glaring black mark on his stat line was shooting – and particularly 3-point shooting, where Dinwiddie made only 18 percent.

“It surprised me,” said Dinwiddie, a confident shooter who hit 41 percent from the arc from the shorter college line in his last season at Colorado and took nearly half his shots from distance. “I took some tough shots, but I wasn’t ready to shoot all the time. It’s one of those things. The oh-for-ones stack up. Oh-for-ones, oh-for-twos, they stack up. At the beginning of the season I was getting the oh-for-ones. You put 10 of those together, it’s oh-for-10. Then you get a 1-for-2 and you’re like, it’s cool; it’s really not.”

So two things – shooting and conditioning – have dominated Dinwiddie’s summer workout regimen at his home base outside Los Angeles. The injury and rehabilitation, he feels, robbed him of being in the type of condition he wanted last season and that contributed to other shortcomings, perhaps, including shooting.

One area where Van Gundy constantly prodded Dinwiddie as a rookie was to be more aware of pushing the pace. As a rookie with so many thoughts bubbling in his brain, it was a little more difficult to play at the higher speed Van Gundy coveted.

“When you get to a point of stop trying to not mess up and just playing basketball, you’ve got that base of comfortability,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s just something you’ve got to do. When you get in there, you’ve got to be cognizant of it and just do it, really.”

Dinwiddie knows consistent production is ultimately what wins a coach’s confidence, but showing flashes – especially given the handicaps Dinwiddie faced – were enough as a rookie for Van Gundy to consider Dinwiddie a part of the future.

His flashes included big games against two of the NBA’s elite point guards, Derrick Rose and John Wall. In the game after the Pistons traded D.J. Augustin as part of the package for Jackson – and with Jackson unable to suit up yet – Dinwiddie logged a season-high 31 minutes, 12 points and nine assists in a win over Chicago in which the Pistons were 19 points better than the Bulls with Dinwiddie on the floor.

A week later in a loss at Washington, Dinwiddie led a huge comeback with a season-high 20 points and eight assists. And in a rematch with the Bulls, another Pistons win, Dinwiddie recorded his first double-double with 10 points and 10 assists.

“It just solidified my thought process,” he said. “When you’re out there and you finally get to play extended minutes and you do well, it reaffirms your confidence. But it’s not easy, not playing well.”

But it beats not playing at all. Dinwiddie is slogging through two-a-day practices this week, a grind for even gym rats, but he wouldn’t trade places with where he was a year ago – when he’d get scolded for attempting a dunk shot when Pistons trainers would turn their backs – for anything.

“Way better,” he said. “Waaay better. Not even close.”