Lawrence Frank expects the Pistons’ most critical improvements to come from existing players.

"First, we have to get better internally," Frank said. "Improvement always starts with every player and coach doing better and working every day to get better so when we get together in October everybody percentage-wise has improved.

"There are a lot of different areas we can address to improve upon. I don't think we're one part or one player away from being a finished product. Continuing to add hard-working, team-first, competitive guys will make us better."

Frank was encouraged by what he saw during the final three months of the season, when the Pistons posted a 21-21 record.

"From February on, with a couple of exceptions, we were a very competitive group and showed some resiliency and gave ourselves a chance to win most games," Frank said. "The most frustrating part (of the season) was factors you can't control, the lockout and how quickly things were put together.

"The first month of the season ... too many times when we were knocked down we stayed down. But the encouraging part is from that point on we got better and (developed) an inner toughness and became a team that was hard to play against."