If Tracy McGrady and Arnie Kander aren't familiar with each other already, they will get to know each other very well in the coming weeks before training camp.

Before agreeing to the one-year, $1.35-million deal that was reported Tuesday, the Pistons insisted McGrady spend a lot of time with Kander, the team's strength-and-conditioning coach, getting his body ready for training camp.

The Pistons truly believe that they have an edge with strength-and-conditioning coach Kander, who has been with the team since the spring of 1992. They think his methods are great at preventing injuries (last season notwithstanding) and helping players overcome previous injuries.

Take Antonio McDyess in 2004. He came to the Pistons at a time when there were questions about whether the one-time jumping jack would ever recover from serious leg injuries. He spent five relatively healthy seasons with the Pistons before signing a two-year deal with the Spurs before last season. He played fewer than 70 games only one time since joining the Pistons -- he played 62 games in 2008-09 when he missed a month because of league rules after being traded to the Nuggets, waived and returned to the Pistons.

Take Ben Wallace last season. He returned the franchise where he made his name after an injury-plagued season with the Cavs. He exceeded expectations by being the team's best big man last season.

So the Pistons think it's worth $1.35 million to see whether McGrady, 31, can even come close to returning to the guy who was once one of the top players in the league. He has been plagued by back problems for much of his career, and he had knee surgery during the 2008-09 season when he played for the Houston Rockets.

He averaged 8.2 points per game last season, his lowest output since he was a rookie with the Raptors.

His role remains to be seen. There is an obvious glut of perimeter players with the Pistons and the glaring need for a center could be solved by parting with Rip Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100811/SPORTS03/8110362/#ixzz0wI8Bn7Y9

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.