DETROIT – When the Bad Boys ordered banners to commemorate their two NBA titles, they didn’t need a duplicate set for their practice facility. They didn’t have a practice facility.
That put them at no competitive disadvantage three decades ago. No one else had one, either.
Joe Johnson’s NBA career began closer to the start of the radical evolution of NBA training facilities than to the current state of affairs. Drafted in 2001, Johnson has lived through the bulk of a transition that now has seen most teams go to the second generation of practice facilities.
“It’s waaay different,” he said Tuesday as the Pistons wrapped up day one in their new home, the Henry Ford Pistons Performance Center.