The Detroit Pistons have been making moves in the NBA all season.
They have used a combination of offensive hustle and defensive grit to become one of the most talked about young teams in the league, leading the Eastern Conference and exciting fans as they prepare for another playoff run, hoping to bring a championship to Motown.
But the men in red, white and blue raising the roof and expectations inside Little Caesars Arena aren’t the only ones making noise — or a playoff run — in Detroit this season.
Inside the cozy confines of the Wayne State Fieldhouse, on the campus of Wayne State University, about a mile up the road from LCA, the Detroit Pistons’ NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, also is headed to the playoffs.
But it’s the hustle and grit that this team brings to the community, as well as the basketball court, that already is making this scrappy squad hometown champs.
An ongoing celebration of the Motor City Cruise’s fifth anniversary included celebrating impactful Detroiters at Cruise home games at the Wayne State Fieldhouse. Among the “Community Playmakers” that received the royal treatment at a game was Monica Thompson, the principal of Cornerstone Jefferson-Academy on Detroit’s east side.
“I barely have a chance to sit down during home games because I’m doing laps around the (U-shaped) Fieldhouse,” said China Jude, president of business operations for the Motor City Cruise, which has celebrated its fifth anniversary throughout the season.
Like the players on the Cruise roster, whose precision moves on the court helped the team qualify for the NBA G League playoffs, Jude’s movements — all performed with a “Motor City Mentality” — had an important purpose during each of the Cruise’s 24 home games throughout the 2025-26 regular season.
Rim-rocking dunks delivered by Motor City Cruise players like Bobi Klintman (No. 34) at home games at the Wayne State Fieldhouse is just one part of the overall excitement and activities that the Cruise organization serves up to the Detroit community.
“It’s all part of being a community asset, which was (Pistons owner) Tom Gores’ vision for the Cruise,” said Jude, whose flurry of hands-on activities and engagement during home games included helping with the setup of the atrium and concourse areas of the fieldhouse, which comfortably seats up to 3,000 fans on game days.
And those game days often were connected to special themes that celebrated Detroit culture and Detroiters that make a difference in the community, including leaders that the Cruise honored as “Community Playmakers.”
During the Cruise’s regular season, which concluded March 28, Jude also was more than happy to provide assistance at ticket areas, welcome community groups, greet fans representing all segments of Detroit’s communities, and much more.
Pointing fans in the right direction at home games and helping to ensure that her team is a “community asset” beyond basketball, are some of the responsibilities that China Jude relishes as president of business operations for the Motor City Cruise.
Jude added: “I’m naturally a worker bee, so I enjoy being busy on game day at the Fieldhouse. When I’m setting up mini basketball hoops for the kids or saying ‘hi’ to people at our concession stands, it’s about making sure our fans have a great experience.
“And just as much as our team on the court, we want to be great at what we do for our fans and the community.”
Before Daniss Jenkins’ began grabbing the attention of NBA fans through his stellar play with the Detroit Pistons, which includes a 30-point performance on March 23 against Austin Reeves and the Los Angeles Lakers, Jenkins first proved that he was a bona fide NBA prospect through his play in the NBA G League as a member of the Motor City Cruise.
Jude was speaking roughly 12 hours after Daniss Jenkins — an NBA G League All Rookie Team selection as a member of the Cruise in 2025 — scored 30 points, including the Pistons’ final six points of the game, en route to a thrilling 113-110 victory on March 23 against the Los Angeles Lakers at Little Caesars Arena.
The success of Jenkins, who signed a standard NBA contract with the Pistons on Feb. 8, after previously splitting his time between the Pistons and the Cruise while on a two-way deal. And the upcoming appearance of the Cruise in the NBA G League Playoffs, which begins with first-round games on March 31 and April 1, provides proof that the Cruise is successfully developing young professional basketball talent for the Pistons.
However, Jude says the basketball product on the court does not begin to fully define everything the Cruise wishes to contribute to the greater Detroit community.
“By investing and working with our neighborhoods, we want to show that the next generation of basketball opportunities can grow in Detroit,” Jude stated, adding that this vision comes to life through the “One Cruise” platform — her organization’s signature community engagement initiative that aims to empower Detroit through basketball, education and service.
Jude, a native of Waukegan, Illinois, says the idea of helping Detroiters empower themselves became much more real to her when she began meeting Detroiters in their own neighborhoods across the city, which set the stage for the interactions Jude would later have at Cruise home games.
“When I arrived in Detroit during January 2025, I met so many dynamic, intelligent, intense, and hardworking people,” recalled Jude, who brought more than 20 years of experience in professional and collegiate sports — including leadership roles with USA Volleyball, the Denver Broncos, Chadron State College, the University of Wyoming and Queens College (New York) — before coming to the Motor City Cruise.
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“I learned that each Detroit neighborhood is unique, with its own identity. But the grit, tenacity and hardworking spirit was consistent everywhere I went. It’s something that I really appreciate. And I found myself falling in love with Detroit.”
Durand “Speedy” Walker, president of basketball operations for the Motor City Cruise, is quick to admit that he has had a longtime love affair with the city of Detroit and the basketball legends that have played here.
To hear Walker enthusiastically reel off names like Dave Bing, George Gervin and Steve Smith, whose signature hesitation move ” ‘the Smitty,’ is known by hoopers worldwide just like Gervin’s finger roll,” leaves no doubt that Walker is a trusted caretaker of basketball’s history in Detroit.
But Walker’s personal history also reveals that he has done his fair share to bring joy to Detroit basketball fans, going back to his days as a standout at Mumford High (Class of 1978), which led to Walker earning a scholarship to Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University), where Walker was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1992, Walker also founded The Family Basketball Organization, a grassroots basketball program that has helped to secure more than 200 scholarships for student-athletes, including 24 “that touched NBA courts.”
“Working in Detroit for Detroit is a tremendous honor for me,” says proud Detroit native Durand “Speedy” Walker, president of Basketball Operations for the Motor City Cruise.
And because of what Walker knows and what he has been intimately connected to in Detroit, Walker says the Motor City Cruise stood on a winning foundation even before the team played its first game five years ago.
“This is a community of champions, and the connection that our organization has with this community and its history is definitely there and it’s genuine,” said Walker, whose basketball resume includes more than 18 years of experience with the Pistons, assisting with scouting, draft prospects evaluation and player development.
“Working in Detroit, for Detroit, is a tremendous honor for me because we are representing Detroit together.
Coming together for a volunteer project at Arts & Scraps, a Detroit nonprofit that promotes creativity, sustainability and education, is an example of how the professionals that support the Motor City Cruise also support the greater Detroit community.
“When we bring top local high school (basketball) prospects together for a game and they see our (Cruise) players perform in an intimate setting, the young players see that this is possible and it gives you hope,” he said.
“I also see the awestruck look on the faces of our fans when they realize how good the players really are, and when they find out that our front office is also loaded with talented local people; they see for themselves that we can get this done. And we can do anything in Detroit.”
Like Jude, Walker acknowledged that a certain amount of “grit” and “toughness” is generally expected when Detroiters come together to get a job done — on the basketball court or in the game of life.
However, shortly after Walker spoke, Sterling Littlejohn, manager of community and social responsibility for the Pistons, explained how the Motor City Cruise is providing a needed assist to local youths through programming that also emphasizes compassion, kindness and empathy.
This includes the Cruise’s collaboration with Buckets Over Bullying (an initiative of the Bronstein Family Foundation) and The Organization for Social Media Safety, which recently presented a program about appropriate online behavior and the impact of cyberbullying to students at Cornerstone Jefferson-Douglass Academy on Detroit’s east side.
When the Motor City Cruise wanted to present a program about appropriate online behavior and the impact of cyberbullying to students at Cornerstone Jefferson-Douglass Academy in Detroit, Aaron Smith, who runs the Detroit Pistons Academy youth basketball camps, stepped forward with an inspiring message.
“There were so many personal stories shared by the students, because bullying is real,” said Littlejohn, who is responsible for the Cruise making an “imprint in the community” by concentrating on key “pillars,” including health and fitness, education and social impact.
“That program is as important as anything we do, just like Speedy donating shoes to a local juvenile center. Those kinds of actions make our team accessible to everyone. It’s been a fantastic year and we look forward to being integrated into our schools and community even more.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott’s stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Helping Detroiters succeed in life is a Motor City Cruise game plan