Well Training camp is only a month away... this one could prove to be the most interesting yet.

There's going to be some fierce battles for PT and roster spots.

Just a brief look at the competition:

Delfino vs. Dupree- Skilz and scoring vs. athletism & Defense

Delfino vs. Evans/Acker- Can Delfino take any minutes away from this well rounded player?... Is Acker in the backup SG mix?

Darko vs. Davis- Can DMC show that he's just as physical as DD?
Is he ready to be a PTPer?

Darko vs. Ben/Sheed- Let the battle for minutes begin.

Acker vs. Hunter- smooth well rounded rookie vs the pitbull vet.

Acker vs. Arroyo- length and athletisism vs savy playmaker.

Jmax vs. Dyess/Dupree/Darko/Delfino/Amir- throw the ball on the court and let the best man win.

Unfortunately for us we won't get to see the inside battles... but this preseason has to be one of the most anticipated in several years with so many unknown factors.

Can Darko find his game? Can he translate practice excellence to real game situations?

Is Jmax capable of backing up Tayshaun?

Is Delfino's injury plagued rookie season just a bad memory... can he show foot speed on defense?

Will Flip open up the offense and bring out the potential of the young guys?

Will Arroyo settle into a well rounded floor leader/scorer?

Who will win the heated battle for backup minutes?

One month away... Can't wait... (better stop now... starting to sound like a Batman intro )

I hope several board members can make it down to the open practice at U of D and the preseason games... so you can become our eyes and ears... we're counting on you.

Ty, you gonna try to make it down to U of D this year?

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With politicians the future lies ahead

I concur. It will be up to Flip to keep this diplomatic. I would hate to see team chemistry hurt by bad feeling caused by people not getting minutes they think they deserve (Delfino). But the reality is that you have to fight for minutes in the NBA. Will be real interesting to see who is left standing and ends up sitting.

I PM'd Ty and asked him to let us know. It would be great to get some training camp reports. Personally, I am dying to know how Ben is shooting the THREE this summer.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

What have we got here...

PG - Billups, Arroyo, Hunter
SG - Hamilton, Acker, Delfino
SF - Prince, Evans, Maxiel
PF - Sheed, Dyess, Johnson
C - Ben, Davis, Darko

Right? (starters, then others in no particular order)

I'm not sure how Delfino, Maxiel, or Johnson fit in.

Is Dupree still around? I thought he was out when Evans came in.

I thought we lost Dupree, Ham, and EC.

That would put us at 15 players, is that the limit?

If so, this is very exciting. I wish we could be there to see what happens. I think with the 3 rooks in camp, Darko will assert himself more.

I don't know if Maxiel will be able to play SF. I guess I don't really know much about him. He isn't a Corliss type of guy that doesn't really fit in either SF or PF is he? I thought he was projected to be an undersized PF.

And will Delfino and Evans be battling for the SF back-up or is it already Evans' to lose?

Will Hunter relax most of the season, and let Arroyo take the back-up point role?

Very interesting stuff. I wish we had a fly on the wall in there.

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At this point in Hunter's career, I think he realizes where he stands with the team (as do the rest of the players). We're not getting any younger, guys like Hunter, Dice (knee injury) and DD need to rest for the playoffs and not overwork / risk injury on themselves.

I think Larry Brown did a good job last year having the players ready at the beginning of the playoffs by resting them in the final games, and we know in the east it's not the hardest thing in the world to make the playoffs.

Detroit's a championship team and the regular season means nothing in the playoffs. We got guys that want a ring, more important than play time and I'm sure they know as much as we do how important it is for the bench guys that WEREN'T part of the big 7 last sesaon (Darko, Delfino, Arroyo, and the new rookies) to step up.

hey what's up mercury when is open practice .or do you when it was last year so i can get a time frame!!!

From what I've read on the detnews forum I'd say Amir Johnson is already assured of a roster spot due to his dominant performance in Vegas.

Ham and EC are indeed gone, but Dupree is signed by the Pistons through this coming season. Right now, the Pistons have 16 guys under contract. This surely makes for an interesting camp.

Lots of questions, Mercury, but here are the answers you're looking for:

yes, yes, no, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
(1st game off the bench, in order: McDyess, Arroyo, Delfino, Davis),
yes (Ty will make it to U of D).

Interresting thread, this is indeed one of the most interesting training camps indeed. I like wanting to see Amir and Ack this year and trying to see what DosLos will do. Last year we were talking about Nigel Dixon and Smush. Good job Joe. I don't think any of us will be cutting the TV off or leaving the arena after the starters sit after a few mins, heck for me that's when the games will be starting.