ORLANDO -- T.J. Ford, arguably the fastest player in this year's NBA draft, was driving down the right side of the court on a clear out. Despite carrying 70 more pounds than Ford, Justin Hamilton stayed with him step for step, forcing the speedy guard to pull up his dribble and flip a harmless pass to a teammate. Insignificant moment? Maybe to the average fan, but not to the scouts and coaches who were in attendance at the NBA Pro Summer League in Orlando this past week. To them, this was the type of play that earns unheralded rookies a big league paycheck. At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds with a wing span of more than 10 feet, Hamilton is a prize catch to coaches who believe too many players just want to excel on the offensive end of the floor. The 5-10, 165-pound Ford, picked eighth overall by Milwaukee in the draft, had little trouble getting by other defenders, but could not beat Hamilton. After a week of summer league play, there appears to be an added bonus to Hamilton, the former Booker High standout, who recently finished his career at the University of Florida. He can shoot, said several scouts in attendance at the summer league that was closed to the public after opening day. After coming off the bench in the first game, Hamilton started the next five for Detroit and was second in minutes played for the Pistons. In Saturday's final league game, Hamilton played 34 of 40 minutes, scored 13 points, had four assists and led Detroit's guards with six rebounds. For the week, he averaged 29.6 minutes per game, shot 19-for-40 from the field, 3-for-8 from outside the 3-point arc and dropped in all seven of his free throw attempts. "He got a lot of minutes because he was playing so well," said Pistons assistant coach Mike Woodson, who played under Bobby Knight at Indiana. Woodson shares the opinion of Pistons new head coach Larry Brown, an NBA veteran, who has built a reputation for being a defensive guru and excellent teacher. "Justin has been a pleasant surprise for our ball club. Larry left last night (Thursday) raving about Justin and how he has come along nicely for us," Woodson said. "I think he has a future in this league." A scout with the Washington Wizards was telling a colleague that Hamilton can play in this league for 10 years. The reason? "He was the best defensive guard in the country last year and has an NBA body with no ego." Hamilton averaged 27 points per game his senior year at Booker and had a soft shooting touch from the perimeter. At Florida, his average dropped to eight points per game his last two seasons and critics questioned his ability to shoot and score points. One scout at the summer league said it's never been a matter of Hamilton being a poor shooter. It's his apparent refusal to shoot that has them concerned. "Not shooting is a habit and it seems like habits are hard to break," Hamilton said. "At Florida, I wasn't really required to do a lot of scoring and after doing that for four years, it's kind of hard to get out of the habit. I was unselfish to a fault, but I am getting better at it. It's not that I can't shoot. Coach Brown tells me all the time to just go out there and play like I did in high school." Hamilton worked out for a lot of NBA teams and was most impressed with Detroit because of Brown. He is also partial to Brown because of how he helped Eric Snow, the player Hamilton is most compared with, develop into a solid NBA player at Philadelphia. Whether he learns from Brown is uncertain at the moment. Hamilton is keeping his options open and will join the Portland Trail Blazers to play on their summer league team in Salt Lake City, Utah, next week. Detroit sees Hamilton as a combo guard, who can play point or shooting guard. Chauncey Billips started at point last year and his backup was Chucky Atkins. Shooting guard Richard Hamilton, the Pistons' leading scorer last year, is a restricted agent, but appears likely to return. Jon Barry, also in the two- guard rotation, is an unrestricted free agent. Detroit also drafted 6-6 Argentinian Carlos Delfino (25th overall), a guard-forward with a good shooting touch, who averaged 9.8 points in the Italian League last season,. It's in Hamilton's favor that key people in the Detroit organization see a strong defensive player as a precious commodity. One is the Pistons' President of Basketball Operations, Joe Dumars, who came out of college unheralded and was a four time All-NBA Defensive Team selection. "We don't need Justin to shoot, we need him to defend, handle the ball and get it where it has to go," Woodson said. "If he has an open shot then we expect him to knock it down. At this level, you've got to do whatever it takes to get your foot into the door and then learn the game and improve. I can't say whether he will be invited to our veterans camp. That is up to coach Brown and Joe (Dumars). "But this kid (Hamilton) will make the league by playing defense, which he does extremely well, and it's not like he is not capable of knocking down shots. If he can do that on a consistent basis, he will be fine." Hamilton was initially disappointed at not being drafted, but believes it could be an advantage because second-round picks are not given guaranteed contracts and he can choose the team that best fits his talents, which could be Detroit or Portland. "I felt that I should've been drafted, but this is the business. You can't control that and now I can pick the best place for me," Hamilton said. --

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