Keith Langlois

Reggie Bullock’s calling card coming out of North Carolina was his shot. It was his potential as a 3-point shooter that elevated him to first-round prospect status and enticed the Los Angeles Clippers to make Bullock the No. 25 pick in 2013.

And in a crowded wing field that will require paring by Stan Van Gundy to fit the 15-man roster limit for the start of the regular season, Bullock might indeed be the best shooter of those on the bubble for the last spot or two.

But it’s his defense, Bullock believes, that will sway Van Gundy in the end.

“I can guard stretch fours,” he said. “I can guard threes. I can guard twos. Get my feet quicker, now I’ll be able to guard ones. I like defense, so I should be able to guard pretty much one through four.”

At 6-foot-7 with a 6-foot-9 wing span, Bullock might also be the rangiest among Adonis Thomas and Cartier Martin, the players who appear to be squarely in competition with him to crack the roster.

Van Gundy loves shooting, players with plus size for their position and those who do more than just talk a good game on the defensive end. If his performance matches the bullet points on his resume, Bullock will prove tough to beat out. He’s among the dozen or so players already in Auburn Hills with training camp set to start at the end of the month, but says he’s not fixated on his individual battles with Thomas or second-round pick Darrun Hilliard – another contender at the two wing positions – during five-on-five scrimmages that punctuate their morning workouts.

“I’ve never been one of those guys to go out and just compete against my teammates,” he said. “Obviously, you’re going to compete for the same job, but at the same time they’re on your team. We know each other very well. We know the talent we have. I just try to separate myself from the others by defending and trying to do the little things coaches love. It’s not about getting into matchups with players and trying to outplay this guy for a certain position. I’m going to play basketball, regardless, so that’s just my mindset.”

The Pistons are intrigued by Bullock, fully aware of his pedigree. He was caught in a numbers game with the Clippers, who loaded up on veterans with the postseason in mind, and wasn’t in Phoenix long enough to make an impression after being included in a trade-deadline deal last February. At the same time, he wasn’t targeted by the Pistons when they dealt with the Suns in July to fill their need at small forward, but came along with Marcus Morris as Phoenix scrambled to create cap space for its failed pursuit of free agent LaMarcus Aldridge.

Bullock knows all of that and understands the precariousness of his position. But beyond believing in his case to win the job, he thinks he’s a natural fit with the youngish Pistons, with whom he became a little more familiar last week as part of the bonding experience the players put together – a week of training in Las Vegas with MMA professionals.

“I like how we (utilize) high pick and rolls, spacing the floor, stretch fours, everybody just playing off one another,” Bullock said. “It’s pretty much like four guards out there and one athletic big. I like the role I’m in.

“I think this is a great organization. I think we have a core of young guys with a lot of talent. We have a great coach. Coach is still finding the pieces that he wants to complete the roster, but we have some great players here. We have a great point guard, a great big, some shooters, some defenders – a great core of guys. It’s just all about us jelling together and making a run.”

bullocks-shot-got-him-to-the-nba-but-he-expects-his-d-to-help-him-stick-with-pistons

Bullock’s shot got him to the NBA, but he expects his D to help him stick with Pistons

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sat a few feet to Reggie Jackson’s right in the cramped visitor’s locker room at Madison Square Garden last April, the Pistons’ season having ended with a win over the Knicks minutes earlier, when Jackson pretty much erased any doubt of his intentions for his pending free agency.

“We’re going to be the most athletic backcourt in the league,” Jackson said, nodding his head in Caldwell-Pope’s direction.

“I agree,” Caldwell-Pope said this week as the bulk of Stan Van Gundy’s revamped roster congregated in Auburn Hills for three weeks of informal workouts before the late-September opening of training camp. “I agree. I mean, why not? I think we can do it. The only thing we’ve got to do is continue to work hard and keep our bond.”

Caldwell-Pope’s off-season involved hard work with one specific concentration.

“Ballhandling,” he said. “I made it a focus in all my workouts – working on my handles coming off screens with it, one- or two-dribble pull-ups, making second moves, trying to mix it up and continuing to get better each day.”

Caldwell-Pope began putting the ball on the floor more naturally and aggressively over the final weeks of his second NBA season, making teams pay with a little more frequency for overcommitting on closeouts to the 3-point line. His 3-point percentage ticked up to near the NBA average last season – .345, up from .319 as a rookie – and continuing that ascent will be a component of Caldwell-Pope challenging for an upper-tier spot in the pecking order of Eastern Conference shooting guards.

But diversifying his game by becoming more effective off the dribble would speed the ascent even more.

“I feel like I made a big jump in my ballhandling” over the off-season, Caldwell-Pope said. “It’s not where I want it to be, but it’s good enough where I can do one or two moves and get to my shot or to the rack.”

Caldwell-Pope spent the off-season in his native Georgia, working out under the supervision of Dion Glover, an assistant coach with the Pistons D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids. Ballhandling, weight lifting and spot shooting drills dominated the sessions. He weighs almost exactly the same as when he entered the NBA two years ago – 205 then, 208 now, he says – but added strength and a greater understanding of concepts and personnel have made him a more versatile and capable defender.

“I’ve still got to get better in all aspects,” he said. “To play the game at this level, I’ve got to continue to get better. I’ve got to stay consistent, still work on my ballhandling and I’ve got to become a great defender.”

As one of just three players Stan Van Gundy inherited who remain 16 months later and emerging as a foundational piece, Caldwell-Pope understands part-ownership of the franchise’s fate comes with the territory. He won’t be a talk-first leader, but he’s got the drive and toughness to command the respect of teammates that must be the underpinning for any leadership position.

“I’m ready for the challenge,” he said. “Me, (Andre Drummond) and Reggie, we did stay in contact. We worked out in Orlando a couple of times, me and Reggie. It was just about all of us talking. We’re leaders on the team now, so it’s talking and letting each other know what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it and bring that to the team and try to build that chemistry with the new players we have.”

And he expects that he and Jackson can do much to set that tone with aggressive backcourt play, feeding off each other and turning that athleticism Jackson cited into advantages at both ends.

“We do feed off each other a lot,” he said. “Us being athletic, it can make up for a lot of things. We can recover faster, we can get to loose balls and we can run the court together. That would be good for us. I was telling him in Vegas (where the Pistons spent last week engaging in MMA training as a team-bonding experience), ‘I’m going to run with you, so you look up and if you don’t see me, then you know I’m slacking. Every possession, I’m running.’ ”

Maybe they’ll get out of the blocks fast enough to have other teams chasing them all season. As Caldwell-Pope might say, why not?

kentavious-caldwell-pope-worked-on-ballhandling-to-diversify-his-offensive-game-over-the-summer

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope worked on ballhandling to diversify his offensive game over the summer

The Pistons thoroughly enjoyed their week in Las Vegas training with UFC fighters, but Stan Van Gundy is in no danger of losing any to a career switch.

“It made me realize how much I love my career,” Reggie Jackson grinned after his Tuesday workout at the Pistons practice facility. “Just their endurance. I don’t understand how they’re boxing all day with their gloves, their shoulders on fire – I know mine were. I had to fight to mentally keep my arms up.”

The primary motivation behind the trip – which included 12 Pistons players plus several members of their training and support staffs – was team bonding leading into training camp, which opens in three weeks. It was an idea that came from the players, led by the new young leadership core of Jackson, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

On that score, Jackson said the trip was “amazing.”

“We hung out and went out to have some dinners, but just being around each other, working out, seeing how hard everybody works,” he said. “We all tried to hold each other accountable, so I think that was a great experience for us and hopefully it leads to success for the season for us.”

“It was great – it was a lot of fun,” Anthony Tolliver said. “We had some great team sessions in there, really got to know each other a little bit more in a different environment. Here on the court and in the weight room is what we’ve seen of each other pretty much the whole time since we’ve been together, but getting in a different environment and learning something about work ethics, not giving up, about a lot of different things, tells a lot about your character. It was very beneficial. It’s also a great workout.”

Both players nominated Aron Baynes as the Pistons player with the best chance to make a career as a mixed martial arts combatant.

“He was the most comfortable out there,” Tolliver said. “He’s done some Muay Thai training before, he said. I feel like he would be the one who would make the transition the best. He just enjoyed himself. The rest of us were a little hesitant the first couple of days, but from the very first workout he was out there excited, ready to go and wanting to punch somebody.”

“Aron has that mental makeup where he’s a little bit different,” Jackson said of Baynes, born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. “An old teammate was from New Zealand, Steven Adams. I’m sure he would make the transition well. Their genetic makeup is just a little bit different than ours. Aron loved being out there every second that he could. He was more excited than anybody.”

Pistons equipment manager John Coumoundouros, who has two professional MMA fights under his best, went with another player.

“Kentavious (Caldwell-Pope), hands down,” he said. “His speed and quickness, athleticism – he’d be the one. The other guys, on sheer size, no one would want to face off against them. But he was really impressive.”

Coumoundouros predicted Pistons players who went into the week with a little trepidation over the unknown would come away finding it an enjoyable experience and he was proven right.

“They all enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun,” he said. “What made it the most fun is we had a lot of competition-based training. Our guys would go against each other in two drills. A drill we call sprawling – touch the other person’s foot and not let them touch yours – and another drill where we put a towel in the back of your shorts and the other person had to grab the towel. It’s all about body control and moving around the ball and keeping the other guy away from you.”

And he saw a group of players – many of whom met for the first time after an off-season of heavy roster churning – form quick bonds.

“Completely unbelievable,” he said. “The guys were able to get together outside of training to get to know each other during the training. That was the best part of it.”

no-worries-pistons-enjoy-their-bonding-week-but-nobodys-about-to-join-the-ufc-circuit

No worries: Pistons enjoy their bonding week, but nobody’s about to join the UFC circuit

The players most critical to their future weren’t yet born when the Pistons won their first NBA title. But they’ve shown genuine enthusiasm for shaking down the echoes of that era, wearing Bad Boys gear and talking openly about emulating their toughness and defensive mind-set.

So it might evoke a few furrowed brows in NBA circles when word gets out that the current Pistons will spend next week in Las Vegas training with mixed martial arts instructors.

Not to worry. The Pistons are doing it not to hone their pugilistic abilities but partly for its benefit to their physical conditioning with training camp looming and mostly as a team-building exercise for a roster that’s turned over dramatically in Stan Van Gundy’s 15 months on the job.

The idea began with the players, led by Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, and they asked the team’s director of sports medicine, Jon Ishop, to help them find something that would be a unique experience and help them in their conditioning leading to training camp

Pistons equipment manager John “Kong” Coumoundouros has experience as an MMA fighter and he’ll be along for the trip. While he admits players were bemused and a little uncertain about the concept, he says they’re going to come away benefitting and – mostly – having fun with it.

“Their reaction was mixed, kind of unsure,” he said. “It’s the unknown factor for them. But when they get there, it’s a lot of fun. It really is.”

“Just to work hard, keep getting in great shape and bond with the guys,” Spencer Dinwiddie said were his goals for the week. “That’s the main thing. When you have guys here (before training camp opens), that’s what you’re going to gain from it the most.”

Most players will arrive in Las Vegas today from various parts of the country. Ersan Ilyasova will be a notable exception as he’s playing for the Turkish national team in preparation for September’s Eurobasket competition. For many newcomers, it will be their introduction to most of their teammates.

Darrun Hilliard knows fellow draftee Stanley Johnson, played Summer League with Adonis Thomas and Spencer Dinwiddie, roomed with Andre Drummond while training for two weeks in Santa Barbara, Calif., and briefly met Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson in Orlando. So he’s looking forward to meeting everybody else, including Marcus Morris, who grew up in Philadelphia not far from his hometown of Bethlehem, Pa.

“I’ve never done MMA before,” he said. “I’ve watched it and I thought those dudes were crazy. How do you put your body through that? Well, I guess I’m going to do it for a week. It’s probably different because you’re using different muscles and the intensity is different. I’m all for using different things to stay in shape. I’m looking forward to it. Should be fun – Vegas and getting some team bonding.”

The team will go through twice-daily workouts, one organized by strength coach Anthony Harvey and the other under the direction of the MMA staff. Once the idea was first broached, it needed approval from Stan Van Gundy and even got the endorsement of Pistons owner Tom Gores, Coumoundouros said.

“(Van Gundy) wants to make sure no one gets hurt,” he said. “The No. 1 thing is the health of the athletes.”

There will be no sparring, no getting in the cage.  “Some bag work, some mitt work, some jiu jitsu training,” Coumoundouros said.

When the staff did a site visit in Las Vegas to discuss the idea with UFC representatives, the MMA folks made a counterproposal to send six of their fighters to Auburn Hills to engage in a week of basketball conditioning work in advance of the week in the desert.

“They found it a big challenge,” Coumoundouros said. “They were very surprised. The first day, they were asking if there was a gym around where they could hit bags and get a little workout in. We were like, ‘No, no. Wait until the second day.’ The second day, they come in and they can barely walk.”

The MMA fighters were interested in learning about how NBA players handle recovery.

“In the NBA, we’re seven days a week,” Coumoundouros said. “We had four stretches of four games in five nights last year. They were interested in different levels of training, recovery, nutrition, how we deal with everybody. A lot of the gyms have lower-tier or mid-tier fighters. You don’t get the tools like some of the champions, so they’re trying to educate all of their athletes.”

The Pistons hope to come out of their week in Vegas a little better educated, in a little better shape, and that much farther along in the critical art of team building before they reconvene in Auburn Hills for training camp and the start of year two of the Van Gundy era.

ufc

Bullock’s shot got him to the NBA, but he expects his D to help him stick with Pistons

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope worked on ballhandling to diversify his offensive game over the summer

No worries: Pistons enjoy their bonding week, but nobody’s about to join the UFC circuit

Pistons head to Las Vegas for a week of MMA training and a dose of team bonding

UFC Fighters Train at The Palace, Day Three

UFC Fighters Train at The Palace