--Coach Michael Curry is cautiously optimistic that forward Antonio McDyess will return when he's eligible to re-sign with the Pistons. He cannot do that until Dec. 7, while other clubs can make offers at any time.
"The longer it goes, the better chance we have," Curry said. "I figure if he didn't sign last week, he'd get through this next week because of the holiday, so that puts us closer to December 6 or 7, whatever the date is. Hopefully, we can get it done." Until then, Curry will sweat out every rumor. The latest had Charlotte, coached by Larry Brown, chasing after McDyess, though it's very unlikely he would sign with a non-contender. "I get in here last night and I read across the screen at about 2:30 in the morning that he's about to go to Charlotte," Curry said. "I didn't sleep good. I figured they offered him a heck of a package."
--G Richard Hamilton believes the home stand is much needed in order to get some practice time and develop chemistry. He's not happy with the way the ball is moving and how players are rotating defensively.
"We've had a tough schedule so far, going on the West Coast trip, playing Cleveland and Boston back-to-back and things like that," he said. "This is a great opportunity for us to come home and really study the game because that's what we need to do. We need to study not only offensively but defensively. We've got to go back to trusting everybody. Right now, we're not trusting each other on the floor."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This team really thrives on their defense and they really thrive on what I call smash-mouth basketball. We've got to get better at being able to play smash-mouth basketball." -- Coach Michael Curry, on losing to Boston by 18 points.
