"Let's start with the guilt. Charlie Villanueva felt it all summer. He had signed a five-year, $35-million contract with the Pistons in the summer of 2009, planning to revitalize one of the proudest organizations in the NBA. And what happened?

"Throughout my whole career, last year was actually the worst year of my career," he said bluntly.

He was called a bust, a loafer, a waste of money. I don't care if you make $7 an hour or $7 million a year. Nobody likes to hear that.

"Joe Dumars, the whole Pistons organization, made a commitment to me for five years," Villanueva said. "And last year was a disappointing one, for me and the team. I just wanted to show everyone that I'm committed to improving, committed to learning from what happened last year."

Instead of taking a month off, then easing into his summer workouts, Villanueva took two weeks off and dived right in. He stayed in Detroit and worked with strength-and-conditioning whiz Arnie Kander all summer."