<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS -- If you were to trim a couple inches off Nazr Mohammed's 6-foot-10 frame, and throw an Afro wig on his head, then maybe, just maybe, he would remind you of Ben Wallace, the former Detroit Pistons center now with the Chicago Bulls. Mohammed's ability to shed the inevitable Wallace comparisons will be among the issues addressed by the Detroit Pistons during training camp, which officially begins on Monday with Media day. The first practice is Tuesday. "Nazr is going to give us something we lacked last year, our ability to score in the post," said Pistons head coach Flip Saunders. "I believe we'll be able to utilize his ability offensively around the post. He's one of the better offensive rebounders around the league. He's going to fit right in." Guard Lindsey Hunter, one of 10 players who returns from last season's team that did not make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2004, said Mohammed won't be the only one in camp with something to prove. "I hope everyone takes it personal that we didn't get back to where we felt we should have been," Hunter said. "It kind of puts that fire back in us." There were several reasons the Pistons didn't reach the Finals after winning an NBA-high and franchise-record 64 games last season. One was the team's lack of solid bench play, something team officials and players expect to be different this season. "We have to rely less on the top five or six guys carrying everything," said Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations. "That can only go so long. At some point, you have to start adding to that mix. Not just peripheral guys, but a significant guy who is going to be in that mix. When you talk about them (starters), you talk about that guy also. We've relied on this starting five, top six, for a while now. That has to change." The Pistons believe they now have an impact player off the bench in Flip Murray, a 6-3 combo guard who signed a two-year, $3.7 million contract with Detroit in August. Murray, who spent his first four NBA seasons in Milwaukee, Seattle and Cleveland, is expected to be Chauncey Billups' backup at point guard and will occasionally fill in for Richard Hamilton at shooting guard. Murray has also been an effective scorer when he was thrust into a starting role because of a teammate's injury. "It's been times when I was starting because of injuries, and times when I came off the bench," Murray said. "Coming here, beginning of the year, it's a good situation where I'm going to know my role from the beginning of the year." The Pistons also anticipate using training camp to better gauge what to expect from Carlos Delfino, the 6-6 guard/forward who they hope will spend more time playing than pouting this season. Delfino's stiffest competition last season for playing time, Maurice Evans, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Cheick Samb, who was selected by the Lakers in the second round of June's draft. Delfino's toughest competition for playing time in training camp this year will come from Ronald Dupree, who signed a two-year, $1.5 million deal with Detroit this summer. </div> Source
