The Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and early 1990s played a tough and physical game that earned the team the nickname “The Bad Boys,” and some recent visitors to the team’s practice facility suggest that head coach Stan Van Gundy wants his players to get back on a similar level.
In a post on the team’s official Twitter page, some past and present UFC fighters trained with the Pistons.
We have more pics of our special guests from @ufc working out: 📷 http://t.co/MmXtbhZf3S #DetroitGrind pic.twitter.com/hhywDof4Nf
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) August 3, 2015
The fighters who participated in practice with Detroit are former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, up-and-coming bantamweight Aljamain Sterling, heavyweight Stipe Miocic, welterweight Ryan LaFlare and lightweight contender and Detroit native Kevin Lee.
Though it looked like the fighters just came to have fun, hopefully their presence inspired the Pistons, who have not made the playoffs since 2009. Detroit has a talented and tough young center in Andre Drummond, and drafted an athletic forward in Stanley Johnson this year, so it’s obvious that Van Gundy is looking to up his team’s toughness on defense and have them play more aggressively as a unit.
Hopefully, spending time with people who are aggressive and tough for a living helps matters.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to Twitter/@NBA
