Fresh off a four game Western Conference road trip  the Pistons will return home to and have to defend their home court  against Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. These two teams have  sort of built a little bit of a rivalry over the last few years and now  that Ben Wallace is wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform it makes the  rivalry a little more personal…..at least to the fans.

Unlike in the past though, Lebron James actually has  a decent supporting cast around him and are probably the favorites over  the Pistons this season to win the division. James has more shooters  around him than before, guys like Mo Williams, Delonte West, and Wally  Szczberiak are able to hang around the perimeter and benefit from  James’ penetration. And lets not even get started on Daniel Gibson….

For the Pistons, they are a little different from the  past as well. As you all know the Pistons now have Allen Iverson and at  times this team has been very good with AI (against Golden State and  Los Angeles) and then at other times they’ve looked very lost (against  Boston and Phoenix) so it’ll be interesting to see which Pistons team  shows up tomorrow night.

Overall it should be a fun night of great basketball  and I can’t wait to see the outcome of it. The Pistons have a lot of  their shoulders though, they can’t come out and lay an egg like they  did last Sunday against the Boston Celtics when they were booed off the  court by their home crowd. Speaking of those Celtics…..after the game,  the Pistons will hop on a plane and travel to Boston for their second  back to back of the season and play Boston Thursday night on TNT.

I’m really liking the way guard Allen Iverson is  starting to mesh with the rest of this team, I think once they really  get more comfortable with each other and other guys start hitting jump  shots this team will be really good. Good enough to beat Boston or  Cleveland? Not sure….but pretty good, especially of Tayshaun Prince  continues to play the way he’s been playing since the trade.

The team is also a lot more fun and entertaining to  watch. I’m loving the faster pace as opposed to the slower, grind out  pace, this team started the season off playing. Yeah it was successful  against lesser talented teams but it was boring and against teams like  Boston and Cleveland you have to be able to get stops, push the ball  and get easy baskets which is exactly what they’ve done since AI has  started to gell with the team.

Way too early to judge but so far so good for both Detroit and Denver on that big blockbuster deal.

NBA sources said the Nuggets have inquired about obtaining Denver native Chauncey Billups from the Pistons for Allen Iverson. Because of Iverson’s lucrative contract ($20.8 million) it would take more than Billups ($11 million), though .There is probably small chance that Dumars send Billups to the Nuggets for Iverson. Dumars would need to send out around 16 million dollars in contracts to come within the 25% + $100,000 of Iversons’ 20.8 million dollar contract. A deal sending Chauncey and McDyess to Denver for Iverson would work under the cap rules, but probably not in the rules of reality.

I would really like the ideal of Allen Iverson in a Pistons uniform especially if Denver could add Atkins or Carter. Iverson isn’t the typical point guard but he can distribute the ball and play the position, he showed that last season with Denver. And his offense would be well needed especially late in the post season when Prince disappears. Chances of it happening though is probably unlikely, Joe Dumars for some reason isn’t looking for a type of deal like that. I think it’d be really nice though, improvement now and then after the season having AI and Rasheed coming off the books to make a serious run at someone during free agency.

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Pistons FINALLY kicked off the regular season last night and in their first home game of the season beat the Indiana Pacers 100-94. Prince led the way for the Pistons with 19 points 5 boards and 3 assists in only 32 minutes.

Game Notes:

• One of the most impressive stats of the night was the Pistons outscoring the Pacers 19-4 in fastbreak points. Michael Curry said the team wanted to run more this season and so far they’ve lived up to that which is a good thing to see.
• Prince was very aggressive offensively finishing with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block in 32 minutes. It was obvious he looked more aggressive from the start and hopefully he’ll keep that attitude even when the competition is a bit better.
• Amir Johnson debut as a starter was very nice. Amir finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in just over 20 minutes and most importantly stayed out of foul trouble. Amir finished with just one foul on the night.
• Bench contributed very well being led by Walter Hermann who finished with 10 points last night. Stuckey struggled going 3-9 from the field and didn’t play a lot because of foul trouble but overall the bench crew did very well last night. Just about everyone got decent minutes as well, no starter played over 35 minutes last night which is a good sign.
• Danny Granger will be a star in this league. Granger finished last night with 33 points shooting 10-16 from the field also racking in 5 boards and blocking 3 shots. Overall great game from him last night…

Overall it wasn’t the smoothest game but its the first game of the regular season under a new head coach and a lot of guys are playing and playing decent minutes so it’ll take time for things to completely jell. They pulled through with the win though and that’s the only thing that matters so off to the next game….

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• Once again, Arron Afflalo had a great game off the bench in 24 minutes finishing with 15 points going 6-7 from the field and 3-3 from behind the arc. Afflalo also finished second in rebounding last night with 5.
• Tayshaun Prince was very impressive last night…not a lot in the stat column but was huge defensively in the second half. 0 rebounds on the night though, he has to do better than that Preseason or not.
• Amir Johnson didn’t look all that impressive although he had a nice transition dunk in the first quarter from Rip. He didn’t play much either, only 13 minutes last night for some reason.
• Sheed once again hung out on the perimeter too much. Not sure if this is by design or if this is just Sheed but somehow, someway they need to get him in the paint. I sort of blame the coaching staff for this for allowing him to launch up so many threes. He took 6 shots last night, 3 were from behind the arc. He did go 2/3 from behind the line though which is much better than 1-7 but still, need and want to see him in the paint more.
• For Milwaukee, Richard Jefferson, Luke Ridnour, Charlie Bell, and first round draft pick  Joe Alexander did not play. Kind of disappointed, would have loved to see all four of them play.

  As for Michael Curry, I was not impressed with him a ton last night in my first time seeing him in the head chair but maybe its just something I’m not understanding. I don’t see why early in the Preseason the starters are playing as many minutes as they’re playing. Last night Rip logged 30 minutes as Prince and Billups logged 26 apiece. Also, the young guys didn’t get a lot of time…Samb and Acker did not play at all and Bynum and Sharpe played very little. Samb has some type of problem with his jaw so maybe that’s the reason he didn’t play but Acker I would have loved to see on the court. He’s supposed to be so much improved and everything and I’ve yet to see anything so far, he can’t even get on the court in the preseason. And Amir only 13 minutes as well, you would think in the preseason he would log more minutes.

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• Rasheed Wallace went 1-7 from behind the arc last night. Preseason or not, its not a great sign when your center takes 10 shots and 7 of them come from behind the arc, especially when he can only make one of them. So far….same ole Sheed.
• Amir struggled in his first start of his career I believe. He finished with 2 points and 4 rebounds along with 5 fouls in just about 18 minutes. He’s going to have to learn how to stay out of foul trouble if he’s going to be the starter here but hey, Michael Beasley and Shawn Marion are no easy guys to guard.
• Tayshaun Prince impressed me with his rebounding…8 boards from him tonight. One of my biggest criticisms of Prince in the past has been he’s too soft and as a 6′9 small forward in this league he should be averaging more than 4.9rpg. If he can average close to 6-7 a night I’ll be impressed but I’m not getting my hopes up.
• Chauncey and Rip were basically just Chauncey and Rip. Chauncey did lead the game with 6 turnovers…I expect that to change though once the regular season comes around.
• The Bench was awesome…what are they calling them ZooCrewII now? Something like that I believe. Anyways, Stuckey had 23 points shooting 8-15 from the field and 7-7 from the line. He also dished out 5 dimes and grabbed 4 boards…not bad but he did foul out and turnover the ball 4 times. Nice showing for his first preseason game of the season. Hermann continued his hot shooting from the Open Practice on Thursday, Hermann finished with 11 points and went 3-5 from the field as well as 2-3 from behind the Arc. Dice had a nice 10/6 game and Maxiell put up 13/3. Afflalo grabbed 7 boards, Bynum had 4 points and Kwame finished with 3 points and 1 rebound in 11 minutes. Overall, solid game from the bench.
• Alex Acker and Cheikh Samb didn’t get much time at all which was kind of shocking since it was the first preseason game and everything. I guess Curry wanted to use this game to get the starters and regular rotation guys their legs and will use Acker and Samb more as the preseason progesses. Samb getting a DNP was surprising to me though.
• Michael Beasley scored 16 points and grabbed 6 boards in his NBA debut. Nice outing for the rookie in his first official NBA game…

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By: Dustin Chapman

• Selected D.J. White 29th overall and traded his rights to Seattle for the rights to Walter Sharpe (32nd overall) and Trent Plaisted (46th overall).

• Selected Deron Washington 59th overall.

Detroit didn’t necessarily impress anyone in this draft. Nothing great, nothing horrible. They did, however, deal out of the 29th pick – avoiding the guaranteed contract they would have had to shell out had they stood pat. These three second round picks will battle for roster spots, and potentially places in the rotation. Plaisted may be the early favorite to earn minimal minutes, as the Pistons are currently thin at center. However, Sharpe’s potential could be the gem of the three.

Grade: C

Larry Lage of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Detroit Pistons have promoted Michael Curry to head coach, subsequently following last week’s firing of Flip Saunders.

The Pistons chose not to look far for their fifth coach in nine seasons.

Curry was on Saunders’ staff last season, his first as a coach, and he played with Dumars about a decade ago and with some current Pistons during the 2002-03 season.

He will make $2.5 million a season as part of a contract that includes three guaranteed years with the team holding an option for a fourth.

Assistant coach Dave Cowens, who also was on Saunders’ staff, will be retained. Coaches under contract with other teams are being considered for the remaining openings along with Pistons guard Lindsey Hunter if he retires.

“We’re going to be a staff that is going to be here from the summer until the end of the season and will be here for players to continue to develop and breaking down other teams in the league,” Curry said. “We’re going to be a hardworking staff from top to bottom.”

Posted By: Dustin Chapman

Contrary to the early-week reports that suggested that Flip Saunders would remain the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, Larry Lage reports that the organization has decided to part ways after all.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—Flip Saunders was fired as Detroit Pistons coach Tuesday, four days after his team was eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

President of basketball operations Joe Dumars said it’s “time for a new voice to lead our team.” Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. The decision comes three years after Saunders took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.

“Decisions like this are difficult to make, especially with the success we have had throughout the last three regular seasons,” Dumars said in a statement. “However, at this time, I feel it is necessary to make a change.”

A message left for Saunders was not immediately returned. Dumars was to speak Tuesday at the team’s practice facility.

Assistant coach Michael Curry appears to be the leading candidate to replace Saunders. Other possible candidates include Detroit assistant coach Terry Porter and former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson.

In Saunders’ three seasons, the Pistons were 176-70 in the regular season and 30-21 in the postseason, but they lost in the Eastern Conference finals each year.

The Pistons have appeared in six straight conference finals, the first franchise to do so since the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. But they also are the second team in league history to lose in the round before the NBA finals three years in a row, joining the Celtics from 1953-55.

Dumars decided a year ago to bring back key players who have been together since the 2004 championship season, as well as Saunders, while infusing energy with rookies and young reserves. But after the loss in Game 6 of the East finals to Boston on Friday, the likelihood of change grew.

Before coming to Detroit, Saunders was 411-326 with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 1995-05. He led them to eight straight postseason appearances — seven first-round exits and an appearance in the 2004 conference finals. After leading Minnesota to a franchise-high 58 wins, he was fired with a 25-26 mark in the 2004-05 season.

Sources tell Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski that assistant coach Michael Curry is expected to be Dumars’ choice to take over for Saunders.

Once again, Flip Saunders was unable to take a battle-tested team over the top. Of course, it is unfair to place all of the blame on his shoulders, as some of the players haven’t been living up to their end of the bargain either, but there’s got to be a point where accountability is appointed. It was time to move on.

What’s next? Who really knows, but keep your eyes open for a potential roster overhaul.

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Posted By: Dustin Chapman