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**Austin Kent** · 10-22-2006, 12:05 PM

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Last year, the Pistons asked then-rookie Amir Johnson to learn a new position. They looked at his 6-foot-9, not-exactly-meaty frame and projected he'd develop into a small forward.

This season, with 2 1/2 more inches and 20 extra pounds on him, he's happy to hear that experiment is over. Coach Flip Saunders now wants the 19-year-old to develop into a power forward.

"That's what I've been playing all my life," Johnson said. "All through high school, all through little league. Four is my position I know real well."

In his three preseason appearances, Johnson has shot 78% from the floor and averaged 5.7 points in just under 10 minutes a game.

Last season, he made it into three games and split time with the team in Detroit and the D-League affiliate. His 39 minutes as a rookie weren't without their highlights, though. His first NBA basket came on a jaw-dropping windmill dunk in Minnesota, and he scored 18 points in a single half of a late-season game against Milwaukee.

Free Press

Don't look now, but the heavens may have decided to give Joe Dumars another chance. Blessed with another athletic super freak power forward prospect, we can only hope he handles Johnson a hell of a lot better than Darko.

Goubot · 10-22-2006, 01:46 PM

Considering that the frontcourt is already pretty backed up, Johnson's probably not getting any playing time unless someone's injured. He'll probably spend another year in the NBDL. But on the plus side, he was absolutely dominant in the NBDL last year,

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfil...son/index.html

Those are impressive numbers, even considering that it's NBDL competition.

**STUCKEY!** · 10-22-2006, 02:33 PM

Amir is a beast and showed more promise than darko has ever shown

Copper · 10-23-2006, 08:10 PM

I think Amir will blossom into a solid and athletic power forward. I like the upside to this kid and hopefully he understands his time is coming he just has to stay hungry this year.

PistonFAN81 · 10-23-2006, 10:19 PM

He looked great against denver I mean amir and jason were about the only bright spots, it makes me wonder about our D. I am hoping for the best

**TheHeff** · 10-24-2006, 02:28 PM

soooo hypothetically.... if we were doing awful this season...say 7-8th in the east if people r up for gettin rid of Billups would you be willing to get rid of sheed to? Max has been playing well n I would love to see Amir get a decent amount of time this is of course if we have a ****ty season come Jan. If we got rid of Billups I'd like to get rid of sheed too as I figure it would just be the start of a rebuilding phase. I think we'll do fine it's just a hypothetical question

**ChrisWoj** · 10-29-2006, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHEED!

Amir is a beast and showed more promise than darko has ever shown

... No?

When Darko was the age Amir was last year he came in and had a 16pt/8reb game with a lot of promise in a late season junk-time start. He was showing a great shot blocking instinct, an outside touch, and a good first step to the basket for any player over 6'10 (and he was 7'2).

Amir Johnson has shown that he has a LOT more raw athletic ability than Darko, but he hasn't shown nearly as much as Darko had at that point in time. Amir is a project, and he could one day be an all-star, but don't make stupid comments just because you don't like a player.

-Chris.
oh, by the way, hi, I'm back for good. Moved into my new house three weeks ago, and now I have my cable internet hooked up.

**Austin Kent** · 10-29-2006, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisWoj

oh, by the way, hi, I'm back for good. Moved into my new house three weeks ago, and now I have my cable internet hooked up.

It's about damn time, we missed you, and yeah. I like Amir, and it's fun to get excited about him and think about how good he could be, but I'd take Darko back in a half of a nanosecond.

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