Good stuff, Zoso.

This was in a Blakely piece: "Stock rising: Athletic rookie Amir Johnson showed his teammates on the first day of practice why the Pistons selected him with the No. 56 pick in the NBA draft. The 18-year-old is raw, needs to get stronger and has a lot to learn, but his upside is tremendous."

I don't mind Blakely saying this but give us some reason why you think that. "Tremendous upside" seems to be the 21st century catchphrase in the NBA.

I got this from the Mlive Pistons forum. Here's Blakely's thoughts on Johnson, as well as a few other things. He doesn't speak of Johnson's tremendous upside here, in fact, he makes him sound pretty bad.

The team did some scrimmaging tonight, and the youngsters looked really good. Amir Johnson is a freak athletically, but he's real skinny and isn't all that polished offensively. And his free throw shooting form is, gulp, worse than Ben's.

Maxiell is going to be a good player. It's hard to tell how he'll match up with bigger players, but I think he's going to be alright. Darko looks more comfortable now that he's not being forced to play so much in the post. The Dupree-Delfino battle is going to be interesting. I think Delfino has a more complete game, but in Flip's system which relies on constant movement, Dupree might be a better fit. Dale Davis had a little soreness, but that's no big deal. He's been in the league longer than anyone else on the team. He's going to have a few days like that during training camp.

Being 36 too, I know just how Dale feels. Just the other day I pulled a hammy on the way to the frig. Man, it's still sore.

lol, You think 36 is bad? I'm 46. My back goes out just WATCHING my wife pull a HAM out of the fridge.

Great, I've got that to look forward to.

I think JD loves the bigs so much because he's banking on some aches and pains from everyone. The Davis pickup could prove to be VERY significant. Insurance for Darko and playoff experience. I'm liking the Davis pickup more and more every day.

I said the same thing when I read that yesterday.

Here is today's
http://www.mlive.com/pistons/stories...320.xml&coll=1

"The team's three 2005 draft picks - first-rounder Jason Maxiell and second rounders Amir Johnson and Acker - made good first impressions on their coach. They came to the practice facility well before the 10:30 a.m. start time and displayed a good work ethic. " - Dana Gauruder

That's what I'm talkin' about! It would be great if one of these rookies worked their way into some meaningful minutes this year. It's good to see that they are committed to trying to make the squad.

Good articles. I wonder why Hunter waited until now to get that surgery done when he could have done it over the summer? I like what he said about regardless of who was at fault with the LB thing, it was time to move on.

"Camp competition: Darko Milicic and Dale Davis are battling to be the team's No. 4 interior player. Milicic seems to have the upper hand for now. He hasn't been spectacular, but he has been solid." - A. Sherrod Blakely

This is great news!

"Eye-opener: Amir Johnson put the basketball between his legs -- while in mid-air, mind you -- and dunked it with relative ease." - A. Sherrod Blakely

WOW! Is this boy a baller or what? This couldn't have been in a game. right?????

Unfortunately it doesn't get any better later on... I once pulled my back out putting my socks on... couch ridden for three days with a milk jug as the porta potty ... thats when you appreciate your dog most.

Best thing you can do is stretch every day... no surprises for your body.