The Pistons got down to the 15-man roster limit at Monday?s deadline by waiving rookie Sammy Mejia, something of a surprise since they signed him to a partially guaranteed contract after his performance in the Las Vegas Summer League.

Mejia, a 2007 second-round draft choice out of DePaul, lost out in his battle for the final roster spot with veteran Ronald Dupree.

The waiving of Mejia means the Pistons will carry three rookies on the roster: first-round picks Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo and Senegalese center Cheikh Samb, a 2006 second-round choice who spent last season playing professionally in Spain.

Unless the Pistons can pull off a trade involving Ronald Dupree by Monday night - which at this point, seems unlikely - Detroit will waive the 6-foot-7 forward in order to get their roster down to the NBA-maximum of 15 players. The Pistons may also look to waive rookie Sammy Mejia, but that seems unlikely at this point.

Billups said neither player had shown signs of worry or concern about their future.

"You would never know they were fighting for their life right now," Billups said. "They're just regular, playing as hard as everyone else hoping for the best."

With Juwan Howard bought out and a free agent, the Pistons are a team that would possibly be a landing spot for the veteran forward.

But Joe Dumars has said repeatedly he's not interested in having four veteran big men on the team, which is one of the reasons Chris Webber was not re-signed.

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey had surgery on his left hand Thursday and will be sidelined six weeks.

Stuckey broke his hand late in the third quarter of Detroit's 104-85 preseason victory over the Washington Wizards Wednesday night.

Stuckey, the 15th overall selection in the 2007 draft, scored 10 points in 13 minutes before leaving the game. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder has been a regular part of Detroit's rotation in eight preseason games, including one start.

Pistons rookie guard Rodney Stuckey broke his left hand in a 104-85 victory over the Wizards on Wednesday.

The 6-5, 205-pound Stuckey was injured late in the third quarter when he was fighting through a screen.

"It just got caught and my fingers went the wrong way," Stuckey said on the Detroit Free-Press web site. "I was in so much pain that I knew it was pretty bad."

There is no timetable for his return and the team said Stuckey will be re-evaluated on Thursday.

Richard Hamilton, the Pistons' leading scorer last season, hasn't practice since suffering an ankle injury on Oct. 14 against Denver.

The Pistons have been cautious with Hamilton's return and for good reason. Asked how many practices he would need to get up to speed, Hamilton deadpanned, "One."

"We're doing different types of drills -- balance drills, working on my core," he said, "and just trying to do different things on the sideline."

Hamilton has suffered several ankle injuries but couldn't say whether this one is more painful than the others.

Hamilton said he will be ready for the opener and hopes he'll be his usual self, which means constantly moving without the ball, being able to catch and shoot in a split second, and defending at full strength.

Rasheed Wallace still believes the Pistons are the team to beat.

When asked if the Pistons are the favorite to win the Eastern Conference, Wallace told the Boston Herald, "That's how we feel about it. "All those teams made changes to try and get with us -- Boston, Chicago -- all those teams are trying to catch up with us. I am not worried about what they do. I am confident here with this camp."

Wallace showed up to training camp some 25 pounds lighter this season.

The Denver Nuggets have discussed trading J.R. Smith to Detroit for Flip Murray. However, there are a couple of issues that make it unlikely the deal will be completed.

Detroit wants to include Ronald Dupree, which isn't necessarily something the Nuggets want. In addition, there are some concerns on Detroit's part about whether
Smith, who has had his share of problems on and off the court, would be a good fit with their current roster.

Former Pistons' guard Carlos Delfino has looked at this upcoming season as a make-or-break year for his career.

The native of Argentina believes that if he doesn't play well enough this year, his first with the Raptors after being traded in the off-season, he will probably be done in the NBA, according to a story from Sportsticker.

"This is my last season under contrac,t and if I don't do things well, next year I won't clinch a good contract and will have to return to Europe," Delfino told the Ole newspaper in Argentina. "If I am outstanding, I'm sure I will sign an even better contract."

Delfino, 25, was among the biggest stars in Italy but never received much playing time in Detroit.

Tayshaun Prince scored 13 points and Chauncey Billups added 12 to help the Detroit Pistons beat the undermanned Miami Heat 103-86 in the exhibition opener Monday night.

The Heat were missing Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning, who all stayed in Florida to deal with injuries. Udonis Haslem and Antoine Walker spent the night on the bench.

Detroit had its regular lineup, other than unsigned Chris Webber, and dominated from beginning to end.