NBA DRAFT
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
June 28, 2007

Rodney Stuckey


Q. Rodney, how do you think you're going to fit in with the Pistons, one of the more successful teams this high in the Draft?

Rodney Stuckey: I'm just excited, first of all. You know what, I think I can help the Pistons out in many ways. They need another young point guard and I'm willing to step in that position and help Billups and Rip however I can, setting up the offense, doing whatever I can.



Q. Can you talk about learning from those players, the success they have had and all of the attention the backcourt has got over the years?

Rodney Stuckey: They have been successful and they have been to the Eastern Conference Finals for the last five or six years.

I'm just trying to keep leading them there and we'll see what happens.



Q. Did you have a favorite team growing up?

Rodney Stuckey: No. I watched the NBA a lot but I really didn't have a favorite NBA team.

Q. Obviously the Pistons were a few games away from NBA Finals, but now they are a team very much in transition. How are you going to help them bridge that gap to help bring them back to the team that got over the hump and make it to the Finals?

Rodney Stuckey: I thought they should have made it The Finals. You know, the games didn't just go their way. But I'm willing to do anything to help them get through that, like I said. And, man, I don't know, I can't really say how I feel right now, I'm just so excited.



Q. Joe Dumars said he wanted to find place to put a guy like you --

Rodney Stuckey: Oh, yeah, I have something to prove. Me and Joe Dumars have like similar background. We came from small schools, you know. So I mean, I think I do have something to prove. Not a lot of people really know who I am, and you know, I'm willing when I get my chance, I'm going to show people who I am and I'm willing to work and I'm going to work hard every day.



Q. Did the Pistons give you any indication they were leading towards you; when did you know you were going to be a Piston?

Rodney Stuckey: They always liked me. I mean, probably majority of my games they were at, you know, they were asking for game film constantly and stuff. That kind of gave me a good idea they were leaning towards me. I'm just excited to go to Detroit. This is probably one of the teams I would love to go to, you know what I mean, because they have a really good group of guys.



Q. The Pistons have a reputation based on their defense but you're known for scoring; what do you think about their style?

Rodney Stuckey: Offensively, I don't really have to worry about that. Just learning how to play, getting to the NBA, I'm going to have to learn and it's going to take practice and I will get better.



Q. I always thought that Gonzaga is the small basketball school in Washington State. How did you pick Eastern Washington over Gonzaga?

Rodney Stuckey: Coming out of high school I didn't qualify, I was a couple credits short. Eastern Washington had this program called prop 48 where you could go to school for a year and just work on your academics and that's what I did.