Pistons discover a Swede surprise in Jonas Jerebko
Vincent Goodwill / The Detroit News

Auburn Hills -- Pistons rookie Jonas Jerebko was a wide-eyed 16-year-old when an NBA general manager came to his hometown for a tournament.

Jerebko made sure the foreigner had every stat sheet available, and even gave him popcorn. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that GM would draft him six years later.

The GM was Pistons president Joe Dumars.

"I just wanted to be there," Jerebko said of the 2003 Eurobasket Tournament, which featured current NBA stars Pau Gasol, Tony Parker and Mehmet Okur. "One game, I got off and bought a ticket and I happened to be next to Joe."

"I didn't know who he was at first but I heard it was Joe.
"I was watching him more than the game."

Dumars remembers a young man running errands for him, but didn't draw the correlation until after draft night.

"Jonas asked me, did I remember the kid that ran errands for me when I was in Sweden," Dumars said. "And I told him, 'Yes I did,' and then I said, 'You can't be the kid?'"

Jerebko, now 22, had a big smile and told him yes...
Continued at
Swede Surprise

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.