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Ex-Husky Stewart's Rebounding Approach: 'It's How Bad You Want It'

The former University of Washington big man is winning people over with his relentless effort.
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They appreciate Isaiah Stewart in Detroit, just like everyone misses him in Seattle.

The former University of Washington forward plays basketball hard at all times, unlike the teammates he left behind who are now struggling to keep their motivation at a proper level during a disastrous 1-11 season.

To be clear, Stewart now takes the floor for a 3-10 Detroit Pistons team also trying to find itself.

Yet for the 6-foot-9 rookie from Rochester, New York, he knows only one way to play basketball.

All out at all times.

After coming off an 10-point, 11-rebound performance against Miami — his first NBA double-double — Stewart was asked if he finds any difference in going after rebounds on the college versus the pro level.

The answer was flat no.

"For me, it doesn't feel any different at all," Stewart told the Pistons media. "At the University of Washington, I played a zone so rebounding to me in that aspect was no different. Now, in the NBA, it's man to man. To me, it's just a desire to how bad you want the ball. To me, I have that strong desire, that will to go get it."

With 11 NBA games under his felt, the one-and-done Husky is starting to establish himself as a productive pro.

He came up with his Pistons' double-double while playing just 19 minutes, which is just a little more than a quarter of an NBA game. 

"It feels good," Stewart said of his breakthrough game. "I want to continue to build off it. I'm never satisfied."

People have to wonder what the Huskies would look like if they could have got another season out of Stewart and paired him with Quade Green, Erik Stevenson, Nate Pryor and the other guards he didn't have last year.

Ah, but the NBA has him now and isn't letting him go.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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