Lots of fun. I did not boo Stuckey, but neither did I cheer for him. I still deeply dislike him wearing Ben's number.

One guy and one gal each won $500 in books for making free throws. Saunders beat the guy in a game of horse. Saunders shot pretty well, and did his trick of spinning the ball on his finger and while laying it in. (took 2 tries.)

The cheerleaders were there. Lots of eye candy for us guys. Not that it was need with all those college girls everywhere. Most of the people there were students from Oakland U.

It was a packed gym, and the Pistons were greeted very loudly and enthusiastically, especially Tay, Sheed, Rip, and Billups. The Pistons stretched while the game of horse was going on. Then a series of fast break drills. Then a scrimmage between two teams of Pistons lasting much of the 2 hr period. The score was pretty low to start, but ended up something like 60-50, just to give you an idea of how long it lasted.

They were giving out free tickets to the Miami game. Excellent, as my buddy did not come thru with the tickets to that game. I am very glad to be going now. The game is not televised, and it is the first real look we will get at this new version of the Pistons. I also was able to purchase, for $10 each, tickets to opening night of the regular season. Sweet. These are not bad seats either, way up, but midcourt. That make seven games I have tickets to for this season. You know the Memphis game is one of them of course.

Ok, so at first I was just sorting out who was who. Hayes for instance is wearing 9 now. He looks like a pretty solid player, and with some good height. He hit his shots, at least 3 I remember off hand. (I can't recall him missing one. But all outside shots. I do not recall him trying at all to get to the basket.

Our four stars played, but hey, just a tune up, what they did hardly mattered. They are not fighting for minutes.

Stuckey looked good. Solid on D, and got to the line several times and made his free throws. He also finished a delayed fast break with a dunk. What he did not do is hit any outside shots.

Afflalo, wearing 28 now, hit his shots, again, I remember 3 and don't remember any misses. And again, I don't remember him going inside much. Mejia hit a shot.

Samb had a nice block, but the thing I noticed most is people scoring right through him way too often.

JMAX impressed a lot with offensive rebounds and scores, but then disappointed at the line. JMAX also hit some fades, while not getting other types of post up scoring.

In contrast, Amir consistently scored in the post. No fades. Good solid post moves. Can't say he impressed greatly on defense though.

Hunter played and he hit some shots. Fools gold. Why is he out there? A guy who can't hit a shot in the playoffs should not be taking up valuable practice time. Besides, they had him run the point some, and how in the world can that help a practice. He is not a point guard by any means.

Another waste of practice time was Flip Murray. They were also trying to run him at point a lot. It will never work. Murray can't play D, and proved it well tonight. He did hit a couple of shots, but missed a lot, and threw the ball away when he did try to give the ball up.

Mohammed scored a lot, on putbacks, and on some post up moves. His best post up move was going to the middle vs. Dyess, but hey, Dyess is a guy who no way should be starting for us. He can't move laterally. Which is why Mohammed got free with that move. Mohammed also simply shot over JMAX one time.

Gerald Fitch played a lot. Just practice filler though.

I have no real strong opinions from this practice, as who knows really who was told what about the effort level they should be going at tonight. Like someone in the press said, look at this as more of staged event. Its no substitute for watching a real NBA game. Can't wait until Monday.

Gave you your own thread Lee, this is good stuff. Thank you.

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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."

Thanks for the candid commentary Lee. It gives a little flavor to the speculations of a lot of us over the summer. I'm curious...does Sheed look like he lost 25 pounds?

Can't really say. I was not really paying much attention to Sheed.

oh that was ben's number?? i forgot which number he wore.
i agree lots of eye candy. i got there kinda late didn't get to see too much of automotion.

yeah. i stood for most of time. i got there late since the parking situation sucked. they had open practice right during rush hour so i got there and no parking all over campus. i parked in maintenance area and walked pretty far to the arena. it was just bad location. then it took forever to get out of the building and forever to get off campus. the things a pistons fan goes through to see his team .

i got free tickets to the utah game. i must have been too late for the miami tickets.

agree. i think hayes may be a solid pickup. finally we may have someone to rest and push tay. i hope his knees hold up for the entire season.

stuckey's jump shot is nasty. he bricked a couple real hard. i do agree though he went to the basket aggressively and he hits free throws. i like that because the pistons haven't had a guy like that. i got a picture of his dunk on the break. i do like the fact that stuckey has an nba body already. he's just as big as chauncey except he seems more athletic to me.

i like afflalo. his jumper looks real nice. it's nice to have a rook that can hit shots.
what surprised me about samb is that he seems to have a pretty nice shot. he shot a turnaround in the drills and his free throw stroke seems nice.

jmax was aggressive on the offensive glass as usual. solid player for us this year. the free throw stroke will come.
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agreed.

agreed. it was clearly just for the fans. i'm sure they had a real practice earlier in the day. i do have the opinion that stuckey is going to get major playing time. i don't remember him leaving the court too much. i questioned this at first when the draft happened. but i now believe flip will play the youngsters.

i took pictures. i'll post them tomorrow. i had a long day and must go to bed.

i'll post pictures tomorrow. in my opinion he looks the same. jmax does look like he dropped quite a few pounds. joe dumars looks fatter. automotion looks like they are the same weight.

Did Samb hit any unguarded, three-pointers?

[quote=bball jay;114197]oh that was ben's number?? i forgot which number he wore.

i agree lots of eye candy. i got there kinda late didn't get to see too much of automotion.


yeah. i stood for most of time. i got there late since the parking situation sucked. they had open practice right during rush hour so i got there and no parking all over campus. i parked in maintenance area and walked pretty far to the arena. it was just bad location. then it took forever to get out of the building and forever to get off campus. the things a pistons fan goes through to see his team .


i got free tickets to the utah game. i must have been too late for the miami tickets.



agree. i think hayes may be a solid pickup. finally we may have someone to rest and push tay. i hope his knees hold up for the entire season.


stuckey's jump shot is nasty. he bricked a couple real hard. i do agree though he went to the basket aggressively and he hits free throws. i like that because the pistons haven't had a guy like that. i got a picture of his dunk on the break. i do like the fact that stuckey has an nba body already. he's just as big as chauncey except he seems more athletic to me.


i like afflalo. his jumper looks real nice. it's nice to have a rook that can hit shots.

what surprised me about samb is that he seems to have a pretty nice shot. he shot a turnaround in the drills and his free throw stroke seems nice.


jmax was aggressive on the offensive glass as usual. solid player for us this year. the free throw stroke will come.
Thanks for the comparative banter here guys...nice to read two opinions of the same plays and situations . Can we get two PF fans to do this for the Miami game next week?

Good insight from the practice. I can't wait to get my first glimpse at the new guys. I really think our most valuable reserve might be Hayes. He plays the position the way Flip wanted Delfino to play it. A well rested Tay is a big key to bringing a championship home- we need our X-factor.

I can't believe you DISLIKE Stuckey for STEALING Ben's number. Stuckey didn't put a gun to his head and then tear the number 3 from Ben's jersey. Its the number Rodney has worn for the past few years. All the success Rodney has had in his career he did with that number on his back. How is it fair to say he can't wear it? How is it fair to personally dislike him for it? As for as I'm concerned they are just sharing that number....passing the torch so to speak.

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I have nothing to say.

Thanks for the info, guys. Who cares about the number?