Compare AJ to AA who every knows is a gym rat. He works his tail off and his minutes were cut when Stuckey was activated. AA though, still works his tail off.

If you research about Stuckey you will find out that he also is a hard worker.

Now take Maxey. - With two years experience he volunteered, yes volunteered to play in the summer league this last summer. Lost weight again this last summer. Works hard in games and in practice. So now he is getting more minutes.

All three of those guys are talented but the evidence is clear that they are also very hard workers.

AJ on the other hand didn't reach a contractual agreement with the Pistons this summer until the summer league was almost over and got into only game. If he really wanted to play rather than just the money he would have made sure that a contract was signed before the summer league started.

Other than AJ saying he has to work, I have never read anything written about him to say that he is a hard worker. Now that doesn't mean that he isn't a hard worker. However, it seems to me that if a player is a hard worker, somewhere you are going to read about it.

It would be great if you could post an article where someone besides AJ himself says that he is a hard worker.

So just maybe AJ isn't such a hard worker especially since he now has a $10 million plus contract at only 20 years of age. That is maybe why he doesn't play except in garbage time. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that a coach didn't play someone because the player wasn't putting out the expected effort.

Only time will tell.