Pistons president Joe Dumars sat down with Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois on the eve of the 2008-09 regular season to talk about Michael Curry’s first training camp and preseason and the outlook for the Pistons on the season ahead. Here’s Part I of the transcript of their conversation. Come back to Pistons.com on Tuesday for Part II.

KEITH LANGLOIS: I’m going to start with an open and broad question because I don’t want to tie you down to anything specific, but I want to get your impression of training camp and the preseason. What struck you most about it?

JOE DUMARS: Much more sense of focus. I think Michael and the coaching staff have done a great job of getting us organized and committed to what we’re doing here. I think they’ve done an excellent job of that. I think the players came in open, understanding what the mandate was and how we’re going to do things going forward. From that standpoint, I’ve been pleased with what Mike and the coaching staff and how the players have come in and gravitated to the new way we’re doing things here. That’s been my general impression.

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KL: The media get in to see the last 30 minutes or so of practice. Under previous coaches, basically we would see them shooting free throws. So it’s an apples and oranges comparison, I realize, but what we’ve seen of these practices, they seem extremely competitive and focused. Can you comment on that aspect of it? Mike has talked often about the need to make practices competitive.

JD: Because I think, yeah, there was a need for us to become more intense and competitive in practice. We spent a portion of this summer speaking about complacency and when you come in and make your practices intense and competitive, that’s a part of getting your team out of that. You can’t just wait until games to say, OK, we’re going to be intense and competitive. Mike and I spent the whole summer talking about this. You can’t come in and have practices totally opposite of how you’re going to play the game. There has to be some carryover there. So I think the first month or so here was really about re-establishing how we’re going to play, what our approach is going to be, the focus and commitment that you have to make to be a Detroit Piston. That’s what all of this has been about. Just to change the focus back to, we’re about business. So that’s why I say I feel good about this first month, just getting that back, first and foremost.

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KL: The other day Mike said something I thought was interesting. As I’m sure you’re aware, he has his grading system – he grades every player, every game – and every drill in practice has a winner and a loser. And he said that’s all a part – he’s already looking to the postseason – he said this is all part of developing an edge that carries you through the regular season and gets you ready for the postseason. He also, when he was talking about his new offense, said we’re going to struggle at first. We’re not going to centralize the decision-making and the ballhandling quite as much and we’re going to get better shots and be less predictable, because in the postseason that’s important. Is that type of focus on the postseason something you appreciate?

JD: Yeah. I think every day you walk in here as a team you have to have a purpose and a focus on what you’re trying to do. We’ve been fortunate enough to compete at the highest level of this league for quite a few years now. So that’s the standard that we’ve set and you have to embrace that. That’s all he’s been doing. He’s coming in and embracing the standard that’s already been set here. He’s not trying to shy away from it or look for any excuses. He’s simply embracing it and saying this is what the standard is and I’m going to go for it. And I appreciate that. I respect that.

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KL: You’ve touched on this a little already, but to the extent you can tell before a regular-season game has been played, can you gauge how the veterans have responded to this pretty explicit higher standard being set here?

JD: With the young guys – let me just say this first – with the young guys, new guys into the league, they’re going to latch on to whatever is laid out there, good, bad or indifferent. So more importantly is how your veteran guys, it’s how they embrace or not, what’s happening. These guys have embraced it. They’ve embraced it. I mean, I think, you watch the last half-hour of practice when you guys have been able to watch, and see how those veteran guys are competing. You watch the games, our guys will show up. You watch the bench and see how the veterans are reacting to the young guys. I think it becomes pretty evident that these guys have embraced. Because I think guys want structure. They want accountability. They want discipline. Because these guys understand that those are all the things it takes if you’re competing at the highest level and say you want to be in the NBA Finals, well then these guys understand that’s what it takes, anyway. So you may as well embrace it. You cannot have it both ways. You can’t say you want to be playing and competing for an NBA championship and be competing at the highest level, but you don’t want discipline and accountability. They go hand in hand, so you’ve got to have it.

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KL: I know you had a high level of confidence in Mike to do this because you know him well enough and you were confident he knew the organization well enough that it would erase a lot of the normal concerns you would have with a first-time coach. But until a guy does it, I guess you never really know for sure. Have you been surprised at all that he’s been so self-assured and seemed so in control of every aspect of being a head coach so far?

JD: No, I’m not surprised. Michael has a presence about himself. He has those leadership qualities about himself and they’re real. He doesn’t have to gear himself up. He can walk out and talk to you guys and be himself and have a strong presence and know what’s on his mind. He’s confident about what he feels and he’ll express that. So I’m not surprised he’s made that type of transition in terms of stepping into that seat. There are 82 games in front of us. He’ll have some ups and downs. But I like who he is as a head coach. I like his presence and the way he carries himself and the way he goes about his business. I like the way he does it. That’s a good quality to have and I think the guys respect it.

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KL: Talk about the staff for a second. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like a staff that – I don’t know how important getting along is – but it seems like a staff that’s all pulling the oar in the same direction.

JD: This is a good staff. This is a very good staff. It’s a very hard-working staff. They put the time in, the hours. This is a staff that has a lot of passion about what they do. I think it’s pretty clear when you’re around this staff that they have it. Not only do you and I see it, but the players sense it. They see it. I think all of that helps in the process of what we’re trying to re-establish here.

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KL: Mike’s said a few things over the course of camp and he’s said them matter-of-factly. As reporters, I guess we’ve been taken aback a little bit because he’s been sometimes blunt and plain-spoken and out there, but he’s said Rasheed’s in good shape but not where he needs to be. He said last week after the Dallas game, Rip got a delay of game tech and a technical and he gave two points away and if we had lost, I’d be talking about that right now. We have to exercise better self-control. Then Rip and Chauncey didn’t get to the scorer’s table in time and he let them know about it. I just thought it was interesting that he’s been so blunt, so up front and matter-of-fact, and it seems to be received with perfect equanimity by the players. Would that have been possible if he hadn’t come with such a built-in reputation for command?

JD: First of all, those guys respect him. That’s the basis and foundation for everything. Secondly, he’s the first to let those guys know how proud he is of them. And how pleased he is with a lot of the stuff they’re doing. So it’s not just coming down on guys. No. 1, they respect him. No. 2, he compliments those guys a lot. No. 3, when it is time for him to say something to them, or get on them about something, it’s well-received. I guess what I’m saying is, there’s the right balance in how he’s dealing with those guys. It’s not all just blunt, getting on guys. It’s pretty much the gamut. I see him complimenting them, to laughing with them, to getting on them, to being very serious with them. When you’ve got a good balance like that, it’s not a problem.