Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images The Cruise hosted an open tryout Saturday, where players could pay a $250 fee and compete for a shot to play professional basketball. Hoop dreams were alive at the Pistons Performance Center Saturday as the Motor City Cruise hosted their annual open tryout. Players with all sorts of basketball backgrounds laced up to compete for a handful of training camp spots available. All participants paid a $250 tryout fee, which some forked over themselves and others had covered by their agents. The day was split up into two 90-minute sessions that began with NBA-level drills and led into continuous live scrimmages. The first session was mixed between players with high school playing experience and those who had college or professional résumés. The second session was a smaller group mostly comprised of players who just came out of college or spent recent years playing professionally overseas. There was Quinn Slazinski, who started 25 games and averaged 12.3 points for West Virginia last season. There was Kamdyn Curfman, who made 463 3-pointers over his collegiate career with VMI and Marshall, which is sixth in NCAA Division I history. There was Padiet Wang, the South Sudanese guard who helped the South Sudan national team qualify for their first-ever FIBA World Cup in 2023. Although it may seem like a tall task to walk into a gym and make a professional basketball team, the Cruise have had success with the G League’s open tryout model in the past. Malique Jacobs made the opening night roster after he competed at Cruise tryouts one year ago. Sam Peek tried out for both the Cruise and the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks. Peek played 10 games with the Herd before the Cruise brought him in later in the season. He went on to lift Motor City to a handful of late season wins. Cruise head coach Jamelle McMillan, entering his second season leading the team, was upfront with participants that there are three training camp spots to fill. “I am big with creating and helping individuals with opportunities. It’s everything in life for me and this is one of those,” McMillan said as he addressed participants ahead of the second tryout session of the day. “We have three spots we need to fill, just being straight up. We’re looking for three guys to help us out in (training) camp and get us off to a good start the way we were able to do last year. It’s important.” What ensued was 90 minutes of schematic drills and high-level game action, ran by McMillan and his coaching staff, where players left it all on the floor in front of Pistons and Cruise brass. Max Unger, new general manager of the Cruise, shuffled around the gym to ensure he got the best look at every player, knowing he had some tough decisions in his immediate future. Trajan Langdon, new Pistons president of basketball operations, sat at center court to observe the tryout scrimmages, along with other Pistons executives and scouts. Once the on-court competition was over, players stayed in the building as long as they could, ensuring they shook every hand in the gym to give thanks for the opportunity. Over 60 players decided to come to the Pistons Performance Center Saturday to continue their basketball journey. With only three open training camp spots, just a select few will get the immediate call back. The door isn’t closed for those who don’t get the call, though, as the Cruise can look back to players who impressed at open tryouts as they did with Peek last year. G League rosters are ever-changing as players get called up to the NBA, sign deals overseas, amongst other transactions and potential injuries. For now, McMillan mentioned they are looking for shooting, especially with the departure of former Pistons two-way player Buddy Boeheim. Other areas of focus included bigs and a glue guy to help keep the gym at a high level, whether it’s in training camp, practice or a game setting. With Langdon leading the Pistons’ front office and a new head coach in J.B. Bickerstaff, the Cruise’s decision making process is a team collaboration with the new Pistons regime across the hall. “This matters, this is way bigger than any of us, this is the Detroit Pistons,” Unger, a Huntington Woods native, said. “So the motivation for us is just that. This is a special place and it needs to be special.”