The plan going into the season is for 35-year-old center Elden Campbell to play about 25 minutes a game backing up front-court starters Mehmet Okur and Ben Wallace.

But Campbell, who signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Pistons on Saturday, hasn't exactly bought into that reserve plan.

"My goal is to start here," said Campbell, a free agent who chose the Pistons over eight other teams, including Sacramento, Indiana, Miami, Milwaukee and the Clippers. "Maybe not at the beginning, but at some point I hope to start. I am going to do whatever it takes. I know we have a good team here and if I end up not starting, I won't be a disruption or a negative force."

But clearly, he isn't sitting down without a fight.

"When I first went to Charlotte (1999), I was playing about 35-36 minutes a night," he said. "I want to get back to playing that many minutes. I feel like that's when I am at my best. I am going to try and make it really hard for the coaches to take me off the court, but at the same time, I am comfortable having to earn every minute I get."

Campbell joins a very crowded front-court roster. Besides Wallace and Okur, Campbell will be competing for playing time with Cliff Robinson, Zeljko Rebraca and rookie Darko Milicic.

Pistons President Joe Dumars indicated Saturday he was working to loosen that logjam.

"We will have to alleviate that situation at some point," he said.

The Pistons also are awaiting word on the status of rookies Milicic and Carlos Delfino, both trying to extricate themselves from European contracts.

Dumars said if Delfino, a shooting guard, cannot play this season, he would try to re-sign Jon Barry. But Barry is expected to get a four-year, $10 million offer from Indiana on Monday.