Two of the places in the game of musical chairs being played by some of the N.B.A.'s most high-profile coaches will officially be taken today with the Detroit Pistons set to hire Larry Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers poised to hire Paul Silas.

The Pistons will hold a news conference to announce the hiring of Brown a week after he resigned as coach and vice president for basketball operations of the 76ers.

"We saw Larry Brown as the perfect guy to come in and establish a strong base for us," Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said yesterday in a telephone interview. "His track record is unquestioned.''

This will be the seventh N.B.A. coaching assignment for Brown, who spent the last six seasons in Philadelphia, his tenure coming to an end with a loss to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals last month.

His time in Philadelphia was marred by public feuds with Allen Iverson. In Detroit, he finds no player with Iverson's most-valuable-player credentials, but a team of overachievers that won 50 games and the top seeding in the Eastern Conference this season under Rick Carlisle. The Pistons were swept in four games by the Nets in the conference finals, but that was tempered when Detroit won the No. 2 pick in the upcoming N.B.A. draft. The Pistons are likely to select either Darko Milicic, a 7-foot 17-year-old from Serbia and Montenegro, or Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony.

Silas, whose selection as the Cavaliers' coach was revealed by an official with another N.B.A. team, faces a see-saw of potential and disappointment. The Cavs limped through a 17-65 season that cost two coaches their jobs; John Lucas was dismissed during the season and Keith Smart was cut loose after it ended.

Silas's primary responsibility as the Cavaliers' coach will be to serve as the teacher for the high schooler LeBron James, who will be taken by the Cavs as the No. 1 choice in the draft. James has been anointed the next Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or a combination of both. The pressure on James may rest equally on his coach with the task overseeing his development, and Silas at least has large shoulders.