Category: Detroit Pistons Blog

Friday night in Detroit, the Bad Boy Pistons had a reunion. Video footage:

The Detroit Pistons announced today that guard Chauncey Billups underwent a successful arthroscopic surgical procedure on his left knee. The procedure, performed by team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stephen Lemos at DMC Surgical Hospital in Madison Heights, was completed to smooth irregularities in the meniscus and alleviate pain and inflammation.

Billups will begin rehabilitation immediately and will be re-evaluated again following a two-to-three week period.

Here’s Michigan Live on the Detroit Pistons, who this past weekend said goodbye to head coach Maurice Cheeks:

John Loyer isn’t going to recreate the Detroit Pistons in time for tonight’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.

He’ll settle for players just giving him the respect he believes he has earned from them in two-plus seasons as a Pistons assistant.

“Players figure things out,” Loyer said today after shootaround at the practice facility. “They know, whether you’re a head coach or an assistant coach, one, whether you know your stuff; two, whether you’re in it for the right things; three, can you make them better; and four, are you a good leader. Guys figure that out and I’ll take my chances with what they’ve figured out over the last few years.”

Loyer, an assistant the last two years under Lawrence Frank, and this year under Maurice Cheeks, was promoted to interim head coach when Cheeks was fired Sunday.

Loyer is expected to serve out the remainder of this season as interim coach and said he is “ready for the challenge” and that Detroit “is where I want to be.”

NBA teams, even the bad ones, generally play fairly well in their own arena. But here’s Michigan Live on the Detroit Pistons’ home struggles:

Here’s how absurd this Detroit Pistons season has become: Andre Drummond finally got his first 20-20 game, the Pistons went on a 30-4 scoring run, and the New Orleans Pelicans were playing short in the backcourt and without four of their top six scorers.

And the Pistons still lost.

Eric Gordon’s driving basket with 1.9 seconds left for a 103-101 Pelicans win wrapped another blown fourth-quarter lead for the Pistons, who were up by 10 with less than six minutes remaining.

As the game ended, with Maurice Cheeks bellowing for a timeout his team never called, the head coach was left to stare into the crowd at a fan who lobbed a vile curse at him for having rookie guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — arguably the Pistons’ best guard defender — on Gordon for the game-winning isolation play.

“I don’t even know what he said,” Cheeks said. “I was focused in on the play itself.”

Cheeks said he stared into the crowd out of sheer dismay after the Pistons (17-26) slipped to 7-15 at home and lost at The Palace of Auburn Hills for the eighth time in their last nine home games.

The Detroit Pistons announced today that the team has recalled rookie guard Peyton Siva and rookie forward Tony Mitchell from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League (D-League).

Siva averaged 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.6 steals in five games (four starts) with Fort Wayne. He recorded 27 points, three rebounds, eight assists and eight steals vs. Iowa (1/3) after having 24 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals vs. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (12/28). Siva has appeared in 13 games this season with the Pistons averaging 0.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 5.8 minutes per game. The 56th selection in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft, Siva won an NCAA Championship and was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team as a senior at Louisville last year.

In six games (five starts) with the Mad Ants, Mitchell averaged 6.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.5 blocks in 22.1 minutes per game. Mitchell turned in his best performance of the stint vs. the Iowa Energy (1/3) when he recorded 14 points, nine rebounds, one assist and four blocks. The 37th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft from North Texas University, Mitchell has appeared in 10 games this season with the Pistons averaging 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.0 minutes per game.

The Detroit Pistons announced today that the team has assigned rookie forward Tony Mitchell and rookie guard Peyton Siva to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League (D-League).

Mitchell has appeared in 10 games this season with the Pistons averaging 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.0 minutes per game. He was drafted 37th overall out of North Texas where he led the Sun Belt Conference in blocks at 2.7 per game.

Siva has appeared in 13 games this season with the Pistons averaging 0.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 5.8 minutes per game. Siva, the 56th selection in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft, won an NCAA Championship and was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team as a senior at Louisville last year.