AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The Detroit Pistons announced their 2010-11 local television schedule today with 80 of the team’s regular-season games being televised by FOX Sports Detroit.  Including one ESPN broadcast as part of the NBA’s national television schedule, 81 of the club’s 82 regular-season games will be available on television.  All Pistons games will be available on either 97.1 FM The Ticket or WWJ 950 AM.

FOX Sports Detroit, beginning its 14^th season of broadcasting Pistons games, is the exclusive local television provider for Pistons Basketball. The network will televise an all-time high 80 regular-season games, and two preseason contests including the premier of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh together for the first time in Miami HEAT uniforms on October 5 at Miami. Most, if not all, Pistons games this season on FOX Sports Detroit and FOX Sports Detroit Plus are expected to be televised in high-definition.

“We are extremely excited to have 82 games available to our fans throughout the State and Northwest Ohio,” said Pete Skorich, Executive Vice President of Broadcasting and Brand Marketing for the Pistons. “Our award winning game coverage along with PISTONS LIVE pregame and postgame programming gives our fans insider access. Also, our new episodes of The Pistons Weekly and Pistons In-Focus will deliver entertaining features on our players, our franchise and our history.”

Highlights of the regular-season broadcast schedule include two games pairing Detroit against Kobe Bryant and the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers (November 17 and January 4), four games with 2010 NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami HEAT (December 1, January 28, February 11 and March 23), four meetings with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Shaquille O’Neal and the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics (November 2, December 29, January 19 and April 3) and three games featuring Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic (November 30, December 3 and January 24). FSD will also air two games featuring Chauncey Billups and the Denver Nuggets (January 26 and March 12) and three games featuring Eastern Conference rival Chicago Bulls and newly acquired Carlos Boozer (December 26, January 10 and April 1).

“Our commitment and enthusiasm regarding the Pistons is greater than ever with a record 80 regular-season telecasts and our comprehensive pre- and postgame coverage on PISTONS LIVE,” said Greg Hammaren, Senior Vice President/General Manager, FOX Sports Detroit.  “Led by a pair of Michigan Sports Hall of Famers in George Blaha and Greg Kelser, our announcers, reporters and production team are committed to providing Pistons fans some of the best coverage throughout the NBA – all in glorious high-definition.”

Twenty Pistons games will air on FOX Sports Detroit Plus, occurring on nights when coinciding Detroit Red Wings games are slated for FOX Sports Detroit.  FOX Sports Detroit and FOX Sports Detroit Plus channel numbers by video provider can be found at www.foxsportsdetroit.com.

Calling the action again this season on FOX Sports Detroit is the popular longtime duo of George Blaha and Greg Kelser, joined by sideline reporters Eli Zaret and Ryan Field.

Accompanying the telecasts is PISTONS LIVE, providing exclusive and extensive pre- and post-game coverage originating from the arena and the network’s high-definition studio. Pistons In Focus, will continue to be part of the game night programming while the popular Pistons Weekly program will premiere each week on FOX Sports Detroit Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.

FOX Sports Detroit’s coverage of the Pistons is available to 3.2 million cable and satellite households throughout Michigan and portions of Northwest Ohio.  FOX Sports Detroit programming is simulcast on FOX Sports Detroit HD, now available 24/7 via cable and satellite providers. Many providers are adding FOX Sports Detroit Plus HD this season.

The Pistons also announced their radio broadcast schedule which includes 34 regular season games on the Pistons’ flagship station 97.1 FM The Ticket and 48 games carried on WWJ 950 AM. All radio broadcasts will include exclusive pre- and postgame coverage.  Additionally, 97.1 FM The Ticket will air special weekly interviews with coaches and players and expanded Pistons coverage throughout each week of the NBA season on-air and online at www.971theticket.com.

Mark Champion will remain as the voice of Pistons radio broadcasts with Pistons legend Rick Mahorn adding color commentary for home contests.

No personal attacks.

Attack the idea, not its author. It’s really that simple. If you don’t, offending portions of your comments will be removed. Repeat violators will be blocked.

Our comments are pretty open right now. We’ll give a lot of leeway on what you can post, but this is where I draw the line.

I enjoy our comments section, and I read all of them. Let’s keep that area below the posts worth reading.

Let me know if you have any questions.

"I loved working in the front office, where I was in charge of issuing fines, among other things. This was during the Pistons and all the Bad Boy stuff. They gave me no choice; I had to fine them a few times. One day the Pistons were in New York to play the Knicks, and the NBA offices are located in Midtown. I was out to lunch when Ricky Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer came by the office. They had a very professional-looking sign with them, and they super-glued it to my door. And the sign said: ‘This office was furnished through fines paid for by the Detroit Pistons.’ Well, we couldn’t get the sign off. We tried almost everything, but that thing was super-glued tight. Finally we got it off, and it made a big hole in the door.

"While I worked in the league office, I’d gone to a game in Detroit; I used to play for the Pistons back in the 1960s. I’m sitting near the court, and during the game on the overhead scoreboard they had a question — such-and-such played for Detroit at a certain time. I really wasn’t paying attention. All of a sudden, I hear the crowd booing and I said to myself, what the heck is that all about? Well, they were booing me. I was the answer to the question. I wasn’t too popular there.

"Another time in Detroit, I was sitting a few rows up, and with about a minute left in the game, a guy walks by and says, ‘You’re a [bleep].’ I don’t say anything, I just let him keep walking. And then this older lady, who’s sitting in front of me, turns around and says, ‘That guy is right. You are a [bleep].’

"I was with Horace Balmer, the director of security, and he says, ‘I’m never sitting here with you again.’"

I don’t care who wrote it. The Free Press should be embarrassed to have published it.

Jeremy Wagner of Roundball Mining Company solicited offers for Melo and ranked them. On behalf of the Pistons, Patrick and I offered Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Austin Daye and a lottery-protected first-round pick.

The Pistons offer didn’t entice Wagner, as he put it in the win-later category and wrote:

Prince is a decent player, but I am not sure how Stuckey would fit in Denver and Daye is a long way from contributing. If the first round pick was not lottery protected this trade would be more appealing, but it is difficult to fault Dan for not making a better offer when there is no chance Carmelo stays in Detroit after this season.

I didn’t expect Wagner to love that offer, but we couldn’t justify the Pistons giving up more because it’s likely Melo would leave Detroit after the season.

Is there a reasonable offer for Melo you think the Pistons could make?

First of all, and most importantly, that’s pretty cool and nothing but a good sign about Terrico White’s chances of NBA success. But before anyone gets too excited, I think it’s an appropriate time to point out recent Slam Dunk Contest winners include Gerald Green and Fred Jones.

The Pistons might become a fashionable pick, even if Tracy McGrady isn’t a factor. Detroit has talented players — it just needs some of them to step up and stop underperforming (looking at you, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva). The Pistons are a bit young. But if point guards Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum perform well, their defense gives effort and if Joe Dumars can resolve the Tayshaun Prince situation, they could find themselves in the playoff picture.

So, that’s the good news. The bad news – unless you’re like LeBron James and keeping a list of everyone who slights you – is the Pistons didn’t get any actual votes for Team Turnaround. (But they got one for Team Turmoil.)

But as soon as I saw the video, I remembered. Check out Sebastian’s post analyzing the play. Definitely one of the highlights of the season.

Sebastian speculates John Kuester drew up the play on the fly, but I’m not so sure. I think there’s a good chance he learned it from his mentor, Larry Brown. When Brown coached the Pistons, under-the-basket out-of-bounds plays were like automatic points.

Also, read what Sebastian says about Rodney Stuckey’s importance in the play. If the Pistons had the smaller, weaker “true” point guard so many of you are clamoring for, Tayshaun Prince may not have come around the screen cleanly.

Postolos, a former special assistant to league commissioner David Stern, is currently president and CEO of The Postolos Group LP, a company that helps with the acquisition of sports franchises.

This won’t be the first time he has tried to purchase a franchise. He also tried to buy the Charlotte Bobcats, who recently were purchased by Michael Jordan.

Postolos also served as the Houston Rockets’ president and CEO.

Conveniently, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop interviewed Postolos in May. Give it a read. Postolos sounds very smart about the business of owning a professional basketball team.

My gut reaction is I’d be happy with him as the Pistons’ owner. Check out this excerpt from an article by Peter St. Onge of The Charlotte Observer:

When George Postolos took over as president of the NBA’s Houston Rockets in 1998, his city was beginning to be worn out on his basketball team. The owner, based in far-away Florida, was complaining about his arena lease. Relationships in the business community were fractured. Fans, smarting from the loss of their NFL team the year before, braced for another heartbreak.

By the time Postolos left the Rockets in 2006, he had changed the franchise inside and out, mended the team’s rifts with the community, and come away from it all in a most uncommon way – as someone almost universally well-liked.

“There are not a lot of sports executives that get as good of a response as George does,” says Bob Lanier, the popular former mayor of Houston.

If only that were the same Bob Lanier, this would be a perfect match.

But in his interview with Abbott, Postolos also talks about buying a franchise only at the right price. Unless Karen Davidson is willing to cut a deal, Postolos might not be a likely buyer.