Deron Washington, F, 6-6, Virginia Tech -- Washington is a good defender and slasher who needs to work on his shooting. Like Plaisted, the Pistons have asked him to play overseas next season.

BIGGEST NEEDS: The Pistons need an inside scorer to balance their offense and a rebounder to help Antonio McDyess. Dumars is hoping he can find one big-time player who can do both.

They also need a backup small forward to Tayshaun Prince and hope that rookie Walter Sharpe can fill that role. They've gone through a handful of those since Prince became a starter and Jarvis Hayes, the last player to hold that position, flopped in the postseason.

FREE AGENT FOCUS: All of the Pistons starters are under contract at least through next season. A handful of their bench players became unrestricted free agents in July: C Theo Ratliff, F Jarvis Hayes and Gs Juan Dixon and Lindsey Hunter. Hayes signed with New Jersey. Ratliff and Hunter are contemplating retirement.

PLAYER NOTES:

--F Walter Sharpe signed a two-year contract worth approximately $900,000. Sharpe is the only rookie expected to be on the team's roster this season.

--F Walter Herrmann signed what was expected to be a one-year, $2 million contract to remain with the team, though terms were not disclosed. Herrmann was acquired early last season from Charlotte. He will compete for backup minutes at small forward behind Tayshaun Prince.

"We are pleased to re-sign Walter Herrmann," said president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. "Walter is a player with tremendous work ethic and showed last year that he is a player that can contribute to this team."

--C Trent Plaisted will play for Angelico Biella in Italy next season. Plaisted was the second of three second-round draft picks made by the Pistons, who will retain his NBA rights. He impressed the staff with his pick-and-roll defense in summer league games and will work on refining his offensive game overseas.