"One of my friends, he goes to my school," Jalen said. "He's my best friend. We're going to be best friends forever --"

Jalen's grandmother, Sharon Holmes, interrupted him. "He's talking about the Rodney that got picked," she said, "not the Rodney that goes to your school."

Rodney Stuckey, the Pistons' first-round draft pick Thursday night, clearly isn't on first-name basis with his fans yet, but the 6-foot-4 guard still received a resounding cheer at the Crew Members' draft night party. While a lot of fans hadn't heard of Stuckey before this week, the most well informed of them at least knew it meant Joe Dumars got his man.

"No, I don't (know him) but the people at the table know who he was," Sharon said. "We all cheered, especially if he's a little Dwyane Wade."

With the 15th pick, the Pistons had to wait a while to make their selection. At The Palace, Crew Members stayed entertained with free food, a silent auction for Pistons memorabilia, a tour of the Pistons locker room and discounts at The Palace Locker Room Store.

While Jalen and Sharon pulled in quite a haul – “We ate food, grandma got her blanket, cheerleaders gave us this (an Automotion calendar), we got this (three Pistons pennants)" Jalen said – Sharon's reason for driving from Grand Blanc for the party was pretty simple. "Because we're Pistons fans," she said. "We wanted to know who the first-round pick was going to be."

"We ate, walked around, took the locker room tour, and then came up here and watched the big screen," said Dave Prior, 24, of Birmingham. "It was nice because it was a laid-back atmosphere. It's not too crowded so you can get in and out and free food obviously is a perk. Seeing the locker room is pretty cool, too.”

Prior and his friend, Brad Herbeck, also were not familiar with Stuckey, which was fine with them. "If he had a great workout, that's great," Dave said. "Joe D knows how to pick players."

They were also comforted to hear George Blaha and Greg Kelser agreed with the pick. The Pistons' television broadcast team went on stage after the selection to give Crew Members their initial reactions. "It's kind of neat to be up close with George Blaha and some of those guys, to be here live and see the broadcast live and not wait until tomorrow to get all their feedback," Brad said.

Meeting the voice of the Pistons was also a highlight for Wally Zwolinski, 50, and his son, Alex, 9. "George is sort of a favorite of ours, so he went and got his autograph and Special K's autograph," said Wally, from Warren.

Even though Wally and Alex had a date with Cedar Point Friday morning, Alex was still up in the seats munching on cookies and drinking a Diet Coke long after the 15th pick.

"He doesn't want to leave," Wally said.

The fans may not know much about Rodney Stuckey, but it sounds like they've already got one thing in common.