About 10 days ago, his backup point guard situation seemed destined to cause Stan Van Gundy indigestion or insomnia.

Not so much anymore. Van Gundy saw enough from Steve Blake in his only preseason appearance – Friday’s 28-point win over Atlanta in the finale – to feel comfortable going into Tuesday’s season opener with Blake as his backup point guard.

But he also saw a different Spencer Dinwiddie over the second half of the preseason.

“He’s just got a lot of experience. I like the way he moves the ball, passes the ball,” Van Gundy said of Blake after Sunday’s practice. “I thought Spencer, though, has played four pretty good games in a row. I’ve been happy with him. He’s played a lot better. I thought early in the preseason he was not real solid. He was very up and down. But over the last four games, I think he was good.”

Things are falling into place for the Pistons on the health front, it appears. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope threw a scare into Van Gundy when he limped off in the first quarter last Wednesday against Charlotte, but he’s on course to play Tuesday. He missed Sunday’s practice, but was scheduled to run on a treadmill with 100 percent body weight after taking it to 70 percent on Saturday.

Van Gundy expects confirmation on Monday that backup center Aron Baynes will have the conditions under which he played in the preseason – a 15-minute limit per game and a ban on playing in back to backs – lifted by the doctor in charge of Baynes’ rehab from off-season ankle surgery.

Blake and Baynes will play key roles off the bench along with rookie Stanley Johnson, Jodie Meeks, Anthony Tolliver and Reggie Bullock. Blake, in fact, could be used in tandem with Reggie Jackson if Van Gundy sees a need to inject more ball movement. The Pistons spent part of Sunday’s practice with that look, he said. Van Gundy says how deep he does into his bench from game to game will vary.

“It’ll be situational,” he said. “My guess is we’ll use at least 10, maybe 11. All depends.”

Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova will be the starting forwards, Van Gundy confirmed. They started against Charlotte and Van Gundy said last week that unless something caused him to change his mind, that would be the starting combination for the season opener.

Two other bits of housekeeping to note:

The Pistons picked up fourth-year options on both Caldwell-Pope – there was never a doubt about that – and Bullock. That completes a remarkable month for Bullock, who entered training camp competing with Adonis Thomas and Cartier Martin for a roster spot and now has two more seasons of salary guaranteed – a measure of how good he was throughout the preseason.