Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the Detroit Pistons have assigned rookie Amir Johnson to the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBA Development League (D-League).

The Cavaliers believe that Detroit's Rasheed Wallace got off extremely lightly after his hard foul on Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas on Sunday.

Coach Mike Brown thought Wallace's foul - he hacked Ilgauskas on top of the head as he drove to the basket with 10:13 left in the first quarter and opened two cuts on his scalp that required five stitches to close - should've been classified as a flagrant-2 because Wallace wasn't going after the ball.  

A flagrant-2 would've meant an ejection and potential suspension for the game against the Pistons game tonight in Cleveland.

``It was the wrong call. I thought Rasheed got upset and hit him on purpose,'' Brown said. ``It didn't look from my vantage point that he went for the ball.''

Wallace became upset when Ilgauskas elbowed him in the chest fighting for position before the ball arrived. After Ilgauskas got the ball and made a move to the hoop, Wallace bashed him in the head on purpose and admitted as such afterward, which might not help his cause with the league.

``Why would I crack that cat in the skull to start the game if I wasn't elbowed first,'' Wallace said.

Joe Dumars, is expected to add another player, ex-Atlanta Hawks guard Tony Delk.

Delk, who was waived by the Hawks on Friday, has to remain on the waiver wire for two days before the Pistons can claim him. If no team claims him by then, he can then sign with any team he wants - with the Pistons appearing to be his most likely choice.

The only thing that might stand in the way of the 32-year-old Delk becoming a Piston is if one of the teams far enough under the salary cap, or one with a large enough trade exception, chooses to pick up Delk - and the remainder of his $2.925 million contract this season -within the next two business days. Only two teams (Atlanta and Charlotte) are far enough under the cap to pick up Delk's contract, andthe Bobcats have no interest in acquiring him.

It appears that Darko Milinic is grateful to be getting a fresh chance in Orlando, but how does he feel about leaving the powerhouse Pistons in his past?

"It was a nightmare in Detroit, and now it is over," Milicic said Tuesday. "It was not good. I never got to play no matter what I did. It was very hard, but it is over now and I do not want to think about it anymore. As soon as I leave Detroit, I get happier.

"This is good for me, I am happy I am here. They're a great group of guys and now I finally get a chance to play."

Prosecutors have dismissed criminal charges against one of the fans involved in a brawl that broke out among Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004.

William Paulson, 27, of Grand Blanc, had been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery, but Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said Friday that videotape from the Nov. 19, 2004, incident and statements from witnesses showed that Paulson was merely defending a friend against then Pacers player Ron Artest.

The brawl started after Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace shoved Artest following a hard foul. After they were separated, Artest was doused with a beverage, rushed into the stands and began beating a man he thought had thrown the drink at him.

The only case still pending is that of John Green, 41, of Oakland County's West Bloomfield Township, Walton told The Oakland Press of Pontiac. Green, who is accused of lobbing the cup that ignited the fracas, is scheduled to stand trial next month on two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery.

Paul Pierce will be the fifth Piston for a day.

?I?ll just try to blend in,? Pierce said after Eastern Conference coach Flip Saunders? announced plans to send him out at the same time as the four Pistons on the roster - Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace. ?It will be fun to be a Piston.?

More specifically, he?ll be Tayshaun Prince, the lone Piston starter not here.

?I like it because Paul is a (6-foot-7) forward, and I just thought that he?d play well with those guys,? said Saunders, Detroit?s coach. ?I think he?ll really fit in with what we have.

?He?ll be the decoy. We?ll run our regular plays when we?re out there. That will be the most relaxing time of the game for me.?

Chauncey Billups, one of the favorites to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, has his own opinion of that competition.

He happens to think he should win it.

"I think there's probably other guys as deserving, but I think I am, too," the Detroit Pistons point guard told a dozen reporters during the media availability session Friday at All-Star Weekend. "And I'm not in any way a self-promoter.

"But I know the season that I'm having, I know the season we're having as a team. I look at how Stevie [Nash] won it last year, which I thought he should have won it. He was the [Suns'] catalyst, and he was pretty much the best player on the best team."

There is a chance that Kelvin Cato might never play for the Pistons. He is 31 and idle because of a broken bone in his right foot. He had shoulder surgery over the summer and has played in only 23 games with the Magic.

The Pistons do not intend to waive him, however. They will use him as trade bait to find another point guard.

The Detroit Pistons traded forward-center Darko Milicic and point guard Carlos Arroyo to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and a 2007 first-round pick, ESPN.com learned Wednesday.

The little-used Milicic appeared in 25 games for the Pistons this season, averaging 1.5 points per game in 5.6 minutes. Arroyo, a reserve guard, averaged 3.2 points and 3.1 assists in 50 games for Detroit.

Cato averaged 13 minutes in 23 with the Magic, averaging 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds.

Milicic didn't play much more for Flip Saunders than he did for Larry Brown, unleashing a new wave of second-guesses on Detroit's decision to draft the Serbian 7-footer over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade ... even though the Pistons won the championship in Darko's rookie season and came within one game of a repeat title last season.

Yet, even if Milicic had established himself as a rotation regular under Saunders, it's doubtful the Pistons could have afforded to retain him beyond this summer. With Ben Wallace bound for free agency in July and Chauncey Billups expected to seek a lucrative contract extension before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2007, Detroit also needed Cato's expiring contract ($8.6 million this season) to create the salary-cap space to re-sign both comfortably and keep together its vaunted starting lineup.

The Orlando Magic have discussed a deal sending injured center Kelvin Cato and a future first-round pick to Detroit for power forward Darko Milicic and point guard Carlos Arroyo.

Magic assistant general manager Otis Smith told FLORIDA TODAY on Friday the deal was in the works. Tuesday, he denied an ESPN.com report the deal was close to finalized.

"I don't have a deal at this time," Smith said. "It's still a ways away. It's 50-50 right now."

Adding Arroyo would give the Magic five point guards on the roster and could trigger another blockbuster move involving Steve Francis. Denver and New York are rumored to have interest in the three-time All-Star.

The holdup is the protection of the draft pick the Magic would be giving up. Orlando wants to retain the pick if it is one of the top seven of this June's draft. If that happens, Detroit would get the Magic's 2007 draft pick.