Pistons guard Richard Hamilton will miss his second consecutive game on Saturday night.

Hamilton sat out Friday's contest against the Thunder with a sprained right ankle and will miss Saturday's game against the Bucks as well.

He suffered the injury late in Detroit's season-opening win over the Grizzlies.

Postgame X-rays on the ankle were negative.

The career of Pistons rookie Austin Daye will begin on Friday night against the Thunder.

The former Gonzaga star, who has a similar build to longtime Detroit starter Tayshaun Prince, was suspended for the first game of the season do to a preseason fight with Milwaukee's Carlos Delfino.

Rather than adding bulk to his frame, Daye is focused on improving both his speed and agility.

"I'm going to concentrate on speed and agility to stay fresh throughout my career and improve on other parts of my game," he said when asked about adding weight.

As one might predict, Daye expects to learn the most from Prince, who is two inches shorter but has 15 pounds on the  super-slim rookie.

While he's far from a finished product, Daye was considered by many to be among the best offensive players in his draft class. When asked about improving his defense, he countered by placing equal weight on both sides of the ball.

"I'm trying to improve on both because I think both are very important. You have to work on both to be successful in this league."

Dedicated is one of the best words to describe Daye, who got some advice from another Gonzaga guy leading up to June's NBA Draft.

"I got a lot of advice from Ronny Turiaf. He's a good friend of mine and he told me, going into the workouts, to work hard and let the chips fall where they may and then once you get into the league work hard to be better than the next guy," he said.

If Daye works as hard as Turiaf, a known blue-collar player, coupled with his skill set, the Pistons just might have a star on their hands in the 21-year-old forward.

The Pistons have ranked among the NBA's leaders in attendance for years, but are bracing for a dip this season.

"We're going to have to work harder," team owner Karen Davidson told MLive.com. "Everything is going to have to be better. We have to give more for the dollar. There's no question about it. You see that everywhere."

The state of Michigan has seen it's economy take a huge hit.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state had the country's highest unemployment rate, 15.3 percent, last month.

Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey has changed his representation.

He was previously represented by Aaron Goodwin.

"It was nothing against the Goodwins," Stuckey told MLive.com. "They were really good people. They're good guys. But sometimes, you just have a change of heart."

Stuckey hasn't said much about his new representation other than it's a childhood friend named "Jared."

"We've known each other for ... forever," Stuckey said.

Pistons guard Richard Hamilton has shed some light on Michael Curry's brief tenure as the team's head coach.

In an interview with the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Hamilton backed Allen Iverson's claims that Curry lied to the team.

"M.C. lied to us a million times," Hamilton said of Curry. "He sat me and A.I. down one time and was like, 'I'm going to lean on both of you the whole year, just don't go to the media. Say you'll do whatever for the team and blah blah blah.' This was a week before he brought me off the bench. He lied. So I feel for what Allen said.

"I think the person that we had didn't know how to take advantage of (our roster). Instead of taking advantage of it, he killed it."

Hamilton also discredited the belief that the team was unwilling to accept Iverson as a teammate because of how they felt about Chauncey Billups.

Joe Dumars announced today that the Pistons have requested waivers on guard/forward Deron Washington.  He averaged 3.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 6.4 minutes in seven preseason games.
         
Washington was drafted by Detroit with the 59th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.  He played on the Pistons? summer league teams each of the last two years and averaged 14.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in 27 games for Hapoel Holon of the Israel League in 2008-09.

Isiah Thomas told SI.com that he is "really hurt" over comments made by Magic Johnson in a new book.

"I'm really hurt, and I really feel taken advantage of for all these years," Thomas said. "I'm totally blindsided by this. Every time that I've seen Magic, he has been friendly with me. Whenever he came to a Knick game, he was standing in the tunnel [to the locker room] with me. He and [Knicks assistant coach] Herb [Williams] and I, we would go out to dinner in New York. I didn't know he felt this way."

The book, titled "When The Game Was Ours," is about the careers of Johnson and Larry Bird.

Johnson said his failed relationship with Thomas is "the biggest personal disappointment of my life ... nothing else is even close."

In the book, Johnson also claims that Thomas questioned his sexuality after he was diagnosed with HIV and retired in 1991.

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has requested waivers on forward Maceo Baston.

Baston, 33, appeared in 27 games with the Indiana Pacers last season averagi

Richard Hamilton doesn't just want to stay with the Pistons, he wants to see his No. 32 in the rafters.

Hamilton isn't worried about having heard his name in trade rumors this offseason.

"Man, we hear our names (in trade rumors) all the time," Hamilton told the Detroit News.

"All we can do is play."

While he admitted the trade of Chauncey Billups was tough on him last season, he says that he never wanted to leave the Pistons.

"But at the end of the day I still wanted to remain here," Hamilton said. "That was the positive thing. I love the city. I love the fans. We brought a championship here and hopefully we can find a way to get back to the promised land."

Now, the guard dreams of the Hall of Fame and a banner with his number in the rafters.

"Man, that would just be awesome," Hamilton said. "It would be awesome to be part of a dynasty, and when you look up into the rafters you not only see Hall of Fame guys but to be a part of it, that would be great.

"And when you talk about the great ones, they are mentioned with their teams. You don't just say Michael Jordan. You say Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics."

Rookie forward Jonas Jerebko started in Detroit's loss to Memphis on Saturday night.

Detroit coach John Kuester opted to start Jerebko over Chris Wilcox and Jason Maxiell with Tayshaun Prince out due to a cut on his right toe.

Jerebko responded with 12 points.