I'll second that. Good to have you around Mad.

I'm really anxious to see us play the Spurs. I'm really fixated on that Dec. game. By then both teams should be full on in regular season mode and we can get a look at their bench vs. ours.

Only two more games left to go in the preseason. It's time to look sharp and play some Pistons bball.

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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."

We did have the same excitement level over Delfino last season and contrary to popular belief LB was playing him. So if his next injury does not take him 3X as long to re-coup from then he will be the real deal.

Lots of unproven quantities on the bench but with Evans and Davis it has improved.

We still have Dyess who is a legit 6-man candidate. If Darko and one of the guards steps up then it could be something.

Bottom line the bench has to provide more offense besides Dyess and the occasional good game from Hunter.

There are a few kinks to work out with the Starters. Namely playing smarter or making smarter decisions on the offensive end with FLips new level of freedom. Running down on a 3-1 break and jacking up a mid-range 2 is not a good decision.

Mad welcome back, I thought you got lost in the sauce somewhere. I am a little nervous about Delfino, I've always said that he has serious game, but soft based on his inability to play through pain. (Ouch that hurts). Los Dos can be a formidable duo if played properly and Arroyo stops the excessive dribbling and start looking for his man earlier in the shot clock. I continue to believe that he may become a shoot first point guard in Flip's system. (not good)

Somehow Flip may have to reel him in. Darko surprises the crap out of me, McDyess is a beast and Mo Evans is the man. I think Mo will be the biggest surprise, he can flat out shoot the rock but doesn't know it yet. Dupree is just a serviceable role player. I am now firm on keeping Acker, a big 6'5' guard is a very good thing in the NBA.

The knock on Acker and you can still see it on most Piston analysis articles is that he is too slow. These people have not seen him play. He is quick enough for playing some point just has to adjust defensivly to some of the quicker guads. One pleasent surprise about Acker is he can shoot 3's and thats something we need in the reserves.

Have to feel bad for Dupree but Dumars sort of seeled his fate when he signed Evans.

Acker has a 7 foot wingspan I believe. Tay's not the quickest defender either, but that length will bother jumpshooters and force them to drive into the trees (DMC, WallaceX2 and Dice).

Yep. You can only have so many swingmen and the one with 3 point range should get the nod. Perimeter shooting is still suspect on this squad. I'm not convinced that Arroyo, Delfino or Rip can be consistent from beyond the arc. If 2 of them are, the Pistons will be devastating to play.

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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."