The Pistons have been in contact with representatives of free agent center Earl Barron, league sources have confirmed to RealGM.

Barron is currently in negotiations with several teams.

In seven games with the Knicks towards the end of the 09-10 season, Barron averaged 11.7 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.

The Pistons denied being offered a trade proposal by the Nuggets in exchange for Richard Hamilton, according to a source with Detroit.

Detroit is looking to clear a logjam at shooting guard.

The Nuggets recently attempted to acquire Richard Hamilton from the Pistons, which they hoped would show Carmelo Anthony that the franchise is still capable of adding pieces.

Anthony was less than happy when Denver's only offseason acquisition of note consisted of signing Al Harrington.

The Pistons are planning on adding one more young big man to their training camp roster.

"We've talked about maybe adding one person to training camp and we're discussing that and we're going to make a decision by the end of this week," said Joe Dumars.

Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups wants to become an NBA general manager someday and says he'll follow the mold of former boss Joe Dumars, who runs the Pistons.

"I learned so much from Joe - how to treat guys, how to be honest and upfront with them," Billups said. "He had the perfect balance of knowing when to be cool and friendly with guys, but also an ability to let guys know that this is a job and I am the boss, and there's a way you're going to have to do things here. But it was never like he made people feel he was looking down on them.

"He built that team perfectly, and I don't think it will ever be done in that fashion again. No max guys, a lot of guys teams had given up on. .... No, there will never be a championship team again like we had."

Shaquille O'Neal signed a contract with the Celtics for the league minimum of $1.35 million, but says he could have signed for much more.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world," O'Neal told the Times-Picayune.

"I've had four max contracts in one lifetime. ... I could have gotten $8 million from Atlanta and Detroit, but it wasn't about that. It was about being somewhere and being seen and winning."

Detroit might have been able to offer O'Neal a two-year deal worth $8 million as part of their mid-level exception.

There are four parties in the hunt to purchase the Pistons from Karen Davidson, according to sources.

Entrepreneur Tom Gores, the Ilitch family, former NBA executive George Postolos and an unidentified group of investors from Dubai are interested in the Pistons.

The Ilitch family owns MLB's Detroit Tigers.

Rodney Stuckey will spend the next four weeks working out with strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander in preparation for the starting of training camp.

Stuckey is excited to see what he'll weight when camp opens on Sept. 27.

"I haven't gotten on a scale yet," he said. "The 27th will be the first time I'll be on the scale. I'm looking forward to (learning) how much weight I lost. It looks like I lost a lot of weight, right? I think I just toned up a lot. My clothes fit a lot different. I've got to poke holes inside my belt because I'm losing a lot of weight. I've just been working hard, staying focused and just working out."

Tracy McGrady has been working out with conditioning coach Arnie Kander in hopes of coming to training camp in great shape.

"A lot of players have been in our gym, and that's good news," coach John Kuester said.

"They realize how important they are, and their making adjustments to make themselves better is very important for us. I'll tell you this, what Tracy has done so far is put in a tremendous amount of time with Arnie. I had a chance to watch him work out, and he was moving extremely well."

Detroit would be thrilled even if McGrady became half the player he was five years ago.

"One of the things that we see (in McGrady) is a player that had high potential at one time, and he is somebody that is working religiously with Arnie, and that's so important..." Kuester said.

"McGrady is somebody that can give us a high-risk, high-reward situation."