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They hustle. They fight. They stay in games they don't belong in.
These are the new-look Pistons, who do actually follow the script: "Going to work every night."
They don't always win, but opponents leave with nicks and bruises and reminders that the Pistons are building something.
They nipped the Denver Nuggets 101-99 at The Palace on Thursday night when they shut down Mr. Big Shot, Chauncey Billups, at the end.
Billups routinely hit game-winning shots when he wore the Pistons jersey. But he discovered that his old team can play defense in crunch time and is unwilling to give up an inch of ground.
Where does this desire come from?
Look no further than the corner table in the Pistons' practice facility. That's where team president Joe Dumars sits and watches every move at every practice.
These pick-up contests and drills run outside the public eye are more than preparation for the grueling NBA season. They are games of survival.
Dumars evaluates every game, practice and drill. Players are on notice, and they know it.
Dumars wasn't always such a watchdog. He allowed Rasheed Wallace to run wild and drive up his technical foul count without repercussion. But now, Dumars will be firmer will his roster because he can be. Eight of his players have been in the NBA for five years or less. They are impressionable players. The Pistons also have veterans, such as Kwame Brown and Chucky Atkins, who fight every day to prove they still belong in the league.
Dumars likes the spirit of practices almost as much as he enjoys the games.
"What I'm doing now is adding young pieces and evaluating to see who wants to be here," he said. "Everybody who is here now won't be here two years from now. You go piece by piece and you evaluate."
The Pistons' best player is Ben Gordon. Ben Wallace is the veteran rock and Charlie Villanueva is the wild child with the mad potential. But the face of this team is quickly becoming rookie Jonas Jerebko.
His goal every game is to outwork his opponent from opening tap to the final buzzer. Most nights he succeeds.
He reminds me of an old Piston named John Mengelt, who earned the nickname "Crash" because he overcame limited skills with guts and hustle.
Jerebko has more skill than Mengelt. He is not yet where he needs to be, but he rebounds, tips loose balls and runs a one-man Princeton offense that the guards use to feed him easy passes.
"I know I can play in this league," he says.
Rodney Stuckey and Gordon will hit big shots for the Pistons, Wallace can still make the big stop, and when they return, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton will be the leaders.
But the others are fighting for their lives on this team because they know Dumars is willing to pull the trigger on them after the season. They hustle because they don't want to be passed in the pecking order by Jerebko, who plays with more heart than most players in this league.
) and is holding this new team accountable. 
