The career of Pistons rookie Austin Daye will begin on Friday night against the Thunder.

The former Gonzaga star, who has a similar build to longtime Detroit starter Tayshaun Prince, was suspended for the first game of the season do to a preseason fight with Milwaukee's Carlos Delfino.

Rather than adding bulk to his frame, Daye is focused on improving both his speed and agility.

"I'm going to concentrate on speed and agility to stay fresh throughout my career and improve on other parts of my game," he said when asked about adding weight.

As one might predict, Daye expects to learn the most from Prince, who is two inches shorter but has 15 pounds on the  super-slim rookie.

While he's far from a finished product, Daye was considered by many to be among the best offensive players in his draft class. When asked about improving his defense, he countered by placing equal weight on both sides of the ball.

"I'm trying to improve on both because I think both are very important. You have to work on both to be successful in this league."

Dedicated is one of the best words to describe Daye, who got some advice from another Gonzaga guy leading up to June's NBA Draft.

"I got a lot of advice from Ronny Turiaf. He's a good friend of mine and he told me, going into the workouts, to work hard and let the chips fall where they may and then once you get into the league work hard to be better than the next guy," he said.

If Daye works as hard as Turiaf, a known blue-collar player, coupled with his skill set, the Pistons just might have a star on their hands in the 21-year-old forward.