The Detroit Pistons fired coach Rick Carlisle and will hire Larry Brown, a source within the league said Saturday.

Carlisle was fired late Friday and the Pistons will replace him with Brown on Monday, the source told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Carlisle led the Pistons to a 50-win season and a spot in the conference finals for the first time since 1991. Detroit's playoff run ended May 24, when the Pistons were swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals.

Brown resigned as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday after six seasons. The 76ers released the Hall of Famer from a contractual clause that prohibited him from coaching another NBA team if he left Philadelphia prematurely.

Carmelo Anthony said the other day that he'd rather play with the Detroit Pistons than the Denver Nuggets. His college coach is out to change his mind.

Jim Boeheim, who coached Anthony at Syracuse University, put in a call to Anthony to sell him on Denver. He plans to talk to him again soon about it.

"He'll be all right," said Boeheim, who, as a member of the USA Basketball collegiate committee, is in Colorado Springs this weekend for Pan American Games and Junior World Championships tryouts.

Boeheim saw Anthony's comments in Thursday's Rocky Mountain News in which he said he would rather be drafted No. 2 by Detroit than No. 3 by the Nuggets on June 26. Boeheim told him Denver would be a better fit.

"He likes to win and (Detroit) has a better chance to immediately win," Boeheim said. "But in Denver he's going to play more minutes. Detroit's got Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and (Corliss) Williamson taking shots. They're not going to want a rookie to come in and take 15 to 18 shots.

Fifty victories. A spot in the Eastern Conference finals. It just was not enough to earn a third season in Detroit.

Rick Carlisle has been fired as head coach of the Pistons after two seasons, he told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher late Friday.

Carlisle's Pistons went 50-32 this season, the best record in the East. Detroit advanced to the conference finals before getting swept by the Nets.

Early Saturday morning, a Pistons' official denied to ESPN Radio that Carlisle has been fired.

Carlisle's agent said Carlisle intends to meet with the media on Saturday. Carlisle said he doesn't know if he wants to pursue another coaching position or return to television.

Q. There has been a lot of speculation regarding Coach Rick Carlisle. How do you assess his growth this season?

A: What we all tend to forget, it's Rick's second year as a coach. It's not like he's a 15-year veteran who has seen it all. So a lot of it is new for him. I commend him on stepping in and making the adjustments and doing whatever it takes. I felt Rick got into the playoffs and was willing to do whatever it took to get the win. That's all you want from a coach -- do whatever it takes to get the win, and we'll worry about feelings that are hurt tomorrow. I think Rick did a great job with that.

Q: You expect to have him back, right?

A: I would hope so. The guy's won 50 games two years in a row and we've advanced a little farther. I don't see any problems with that.

Pistons players have scattered like the wind, each off to enjoy their vacations -- hard-earned after another 50-victory season, another Central Division title and the first spot in the conference finals since 1991.

Some won't return. Some will return to far different roles. Only time will tell, but it is conceivable that we won't even recognize this team when it reconvenes next October.

Are the Pistons really going to take Serbian Darko Milicic with the No. 2 overall pick?

Unless President Joe Dumars is putting up the biggest smoke screen ever seen, Darko seems to be the guy, and why not? How long have we been crying for an athletic big man who can score inside and outside? Forever.

Jason Kidd wasn't as offended at the message as much as the messenger.

Kidd certainly didn't want to hear any guff from Piston point guard Chucky Atkins, who said the Nets will always be second banana to the Knicks.

Atkins made his remark Saturday night after the Nets completed a four-game sweep over Detroit.

"Regardless of what they do, they're always going to be in the shadow of the Knicks, much like the Clippers are in L.A," Atkins said as his parting shot.

Kidd fired back at Atkins.

Carmelo Anthony's agent calls it a "lock" that his client will be drafted by the Denver Nuggets if he's available. Anthony, though, wouldn't mind not being available.

"That'd be even better, going to Detroit," Anthony said Wednesday night in a telephone interview from his hometown of Baltimore. "That's a playoff team."

The Pistons, who have the No. 2 pick in the June 26 draft, made it to the Eastern Conference finals. The Nuggets, who will pick third, only made the finals of the draft lottery.

But while Anthony would be happier driving in Motown, don't get the idea he would be a wreck if he ended up with the Nuggets.

IF YOU RUN into Carmelo Anthony anywhere around Baltimore today, you know what to say.

Say "Happy Birthday," for that special day is today.

Say, "Hey, 19."

And say it quick, because not long after the Towson Catholic and Syracuse star blows out the candles on his cake, Melo's going to blow out of Baltimore, maybe forever.

It's rare for the Pistons to have a news conference for a potential first-round draft pick after a workout and a month before the NBA draft.

But Darko Milicic is rare.

The Pistons haven't publicly said they will choose Milicic with their No. 2 overall pick in next month's draft, but the 17-year-old was in town Wednesday, working out in Auburn Hills. The Pistons haven't scheduled a workout for former Syracuse star Carmelo Anthony, their other possible choice, until the week of June 9-14.

Milicic, who's from Serbia-Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) was measured and weighed by the Pistons on Wednesday morning, and he came in at 7-feet-1, 253 pounds.

The Pistons are not getting Kevin Garnett. Not this off-season, at least.

Ideally, it would be a match made in heaven. The Pistons need that one missing piece, a superstar who can dominate on both ends of the court. The addition of Garnett, who averaged 23 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for Minnesota, would be enough to put the Pistons over the top.

If Garnett had been on their roster this season, the Pistons wouldn't just be in the NBA Finals instead of the Nets, they'd also have a real shot to win it all.

There's just one little, er, big problem -- $28 million. That's what Garnett is scheduled to make next season, the last year of his current contract with the Timberwolves. After next season, Garnett, who recently turned 27, will be an unrestricted free agent and can sign anywhere he pleases.