Joe Dumars admitted that selecting Darko Milicic with the No. 2 overall pick in 2003 is his biggest mistake as general manager of the Pistons.

"All I said about that is that I'll never make that same mistake twice," Dumars said. "That's what you have you do in this business. Whatever mistakes you make, you have to go back, look at it, and see how you made that decision, why you made that decision, and then you have to make sure you never make that kind of mistake again."

Dumars said the Pistons didn't do enough research on Milicic before the draft.

"We didn't have enough background on him before we made the pick. Now we go overboard with background."

The Detroit Pistons have assigned Vernon Macklin to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.

Macklin has appeared in 19 games this season with the Pistons averaging 1.4 points and 0.9 rebounds in 4.2 minutes per game. He scored a season-high five points vs. Dallas (1/10) and collected a season-high four rebounds at Oklahoma City (1/23).

The Nets, Hornets and Timberwolves have had the most players miss games due to injury this season, followed by the Bobcats, Knicks, Grizzlies and Raptors.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Suns, Jazz, Kings, Magic, Rockets, Mavericks, 76ers, Lakers, Warriors and Heat have missed the fewest games.

Following the Heat in the middle chunk are the Blazers, Clippers, Cavaliers, Bulls, Pistons, Nuggets, Thunder, Spurs, Hawks, Celtics, Wizards and Bucks.

Joe Dumars has been active in trade conversations, looking for deals that can improve the Pistons in the long-term.

"In the vaguest terms I can, we tell teams that we're building, we're building for the future, and we're not going to do anything to jeopardize our future, we're not going to do anything to tie our hands going forward," said Dumars. "So with that being the basis, teams understand kind of what's available, and what's not, when you say that.”

Lawrence Frank promised to be forthright with his players whenever trade rumors surface.

March 1st marks the first day players who signed offseason deals can be traded.

"With everything, I've always been very straight-forward with that. ... We've all been through it, and I think the best way is just to be honest," Frank said. "But that's handled by Joe (Dumars) and his group, but when there's times as a coach you just state it as it is. I don't think you ever B.S. anyone about anything."