Detroit Pistons: Who is winning the battle for the back end of the rotation?

The Detroit Pistons finished their perfect defeated preseason, dropping their fourth in a row to the Memphis Grizzlies last night.

Wins and losses aren’t important in the preseason, but the Pistons didn’t look great, though they did have some nice moments in the finale.

The team still has a ton of question marks around the starting lineup and rotation, especially after Marvin Bagley III went out with an injured knee.

With Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel and Hamidou Diallo all banged up and possibly missing the start of the season, someone is going to have to pick up those minutes in the 10-man rotation.

It may change from night to night depending on matchups, but who is currently winning the battle for the back end of the rotation?

Detroit Pistons rotation: Which two-way guy will get a shot?

Stanley Umude, Jules Bernard and Buddy Boeheim

All three of these guys played sparingly in preseason and will not be on the roster for the start of the year unless 3-4 more guys go down with injury.

All of them need reps and will get them in the G-League. Umude was the best of the three but none of them did much in their limited run.

Kevin Knox

Knox got his first action last night and played 18.5 minutes against the Grizzlies, scoring 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting overall.

We got a glimpse of what Knox can do for this team, which is to provide some outside shooting, as he hit 3-of-6 from long range. Knox has always been a streaky shooter, but if he can consistently knock them down, he has a chance to make this rotation even if everyone is healthy, as Detroit is desperate for shooting.

Braxton Key

Braxton Key played in all four preseason games and averaged 17.5 minutes off the bench. Key is not spectacular by any means, but he is solid in pretty much every area of the game and is a more versatile defender than Knox.

Key averaged six points and four rebounds in the preseason and knocked down 50 percent of his 3-point attempts, though he only took 1.5 per game on average. If Key can continue to hold his own on defense and knock down shots, he’ll be the frontrunner for early minutes if all of these guys are still out.

Key is a glue guy who always seems to be in the right place, though he is not great at any one thing.

If the Detroit Pistons still have several players injured in the first few games of the season, I think we’ll see both Key and Knox depending on the matchup and what they need at the moment. If Knox can hit shots though, he could work his way into the rotation even after all of the regulars get back.