Lean and Hungry

His 5-year-old daughter Lexi off to kindergarten, Rodney Stuckey flew back to Michigan from Seattle on Tuesday night and spent Wednesday morning passing out backpacks to underprivileged Michigan kids also about to return to school.

Then it was off to school himself – Camp Kander. Stuckey will spend the next four weeks at the Pistons’ practice facility working with Arnie Kander getting ready for the opening of training camp. And on Sept. 27, when trainer Mike Abdenour dutifully records all the heights and weights, Stuckey will be curious to know where the needle on the scale will settle.

More accurately, he’ll be curious to know how much less he weighs since last season ended.

“I haven’t gotten on a scale yet,” he said. “The 27th will be the first time I’ll be on the scale. I’m looking forward to (learning) how much weight I lost. It looks like I lost a lot of weight, right? I think I just toned up a lot. My clothes fit a lot different. I’ve got to poke holes inside my belt because I’m losing a lot of weight. I’ve just been working hard, staying focused and just working out.”

There were two areas of focus for Stuckey over the off-season: getting in superb condition so he can walk the walk – he said at various points last season that he wanted to run and do more to force tempo – and making his perimeter shot more reliable. He also took to heart a postseason conversation with Joe Dumars, who told him that while he had been a good player over his first three seasons, “sometimes good isn’t good enough.”