“We spent a lot of time last year with having to shuffle in a lot of different players. In Year 1 of a system, it’s really hard to get into the graduate level details of the jobs. So kind of going through the end-of-year cutups and you come to the realization we spent so much more time last year on coaching players on what to do and not enough time on how to do it, and that’s usually typical of a Year 1.

“We’re looking forward to having guys that are experienced in the system. We have a much better sense of who we are and what our skill set is what we want to get done. The nice thing is you don’t reset it back to Year 1. You have a little bit of momentum and you’ve built a pretty solid foundation with the guys you’re going to have back.”

Now Pettine has a few new pieces to add to that foundation.

“Free agency is a small market. There is not a ton of players in that market. But I think it’s a tool that can help us with our roster,” Gutekunst said at the combine. “I think you have to be careful, because certainly the amount of money that these guys are making in free agency can hinder you down the way. It’s a tool.