The former top 10 pick from Minnesota last played in 18 games for Portland last season, after being traded from Houston after just 11 days. Plenty of moving around for the 23-year old from Niagara Falls, New York, especially after a terrific rookie season in 2010 that saw him average 13.5 points, 4.4 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and shoot 42% from the field (35.8% from the three-point line).

Despite being picked immediately by the Timberwolves after the much-hyped Ricky Rubi0 (who didn’t make his way to the NBA until last season), Flynn made plenty of fans forget about the Spanish sensation by earning All-NBA Rookie Second Team with his solid rookie season.

The next offseason, however, he had hip surgery to fix a nagging injury and never truly recovered. After playing in and starting 81 of 81 games in his rookie year, he played in 53 the next season, started just 18 and saw his averages drop across the board. He quickly became the talk of trade rumors; a swap with the Rockets came to fruition on draft day 2011, as Flynn and Donatas Motiejunas were sent to Houston for Brad Miller and draft picks. He was traded one more time, to Portland, last season.

Needless to say, Flynn has plenty going against him as he enters training camp with Detroit. The biggest obstacle is the maxed out roster, which his former teammate Williams is trying to crack as well; there will have to be cuts or trades for either of them to make it. The nagging hip injury is also a problem, as it’s just one more thing that he’ll have to prove is behind him.

Not all is negative with Flynn, though. Being just 23 years old, he still likely has plenty of untapped potential. The Pistons aren’t the model of stability that they used to be, but they’re surely more organized than Houston and Minnesota. Flynn could simply need the spotlight taken off of him to truly blossom as a back-up, pass-first point guard – something that the team lacks. Will Bynum is the team’s only reserve point guard, and he’s never been one to create much offensively, so adding an athletic guard like Flynn could upgrade the team.

And those nagging injuries? Pistons fans have seen players come back from ailments (see: Antonio McDyess, Chris Webber) and have success with the team. While it’s no guarantee that Flynn will magically be healed, he surely has just as much, if not more, talent and offers more to the team than several of the current bench players.

It might be a long shot for Flynn to crack the roster, and it’ll take some roster maneuvering from Joe Dumars to make it happen, but if he can recapture some of his rookie season mojo, the team might just have someone to spell Brandon Knight.

Brandon Knight

The former Kentucky Wildcat firmly established himself as the team’s future point guard just six games into the 2011 season, moving Rodney Stuckey to his more natural shooting guard spot. For a first year guard, especially one who had just one year of college and no real rookie training camp, he has shown a great deal of leadership in his short time as a Piston. His numbers last season (12.8 points, 3.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds) were good enough for a NBA All-Rookie First Team nod, and his potential can only grow after a full summer of official workouts with his teammates. His shooting numbers (41.5% overall and 38% from three-point range) aren’t quite what most fans would like to see, but for a first-year guard, they are pretty respectable. As a true point guard, however, Knight must do better than last season. He averaged 2.6 turnovers to his 3.8 assists, for an assist-to-turnover ratio of just 1.47; if the team hopes to continue improving, they’ll need the 20-year old to let plays develop rather than force the issue. He’ll need to continue improving these aspects of his game in the next few years, but again, actual training with teammates should help that.

Will Bynum

Ever since his breakout 2009-2010 campaign, in which he averaged 10 points, 4.5 assists, 2.3 rebounds in 26.5 minutes, Bynum’s numbers have taken a dramatic downtown. He averaged just 5.7 points and 1.8 assists in 14.3 minutes last season and had the lowest assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22) of his five-year career. He clearly has talent, as he set the Pistons’ club record for points in a quarter by an individual player (26) in 2009 and became the first Piston in 25 years to record 20 assists in one game in 2010. Regardless of those accomplishments, he seemed to fall out of favor with head coach Lawrence Frank last season, resulting in his lowest totals with the Pistons. For him to come back stronger in 2012, he’ll need to show that he can be more of a facilitating guard, rather than a player who will force shots. He will have a place on this team if he can do that. Doing this every once in a while can’t hurt either…