Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the team has signed free agent guard Alex Acker to a contract. Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Playing overseas the last two seasons, Acker averaged 6.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 30 games for FC Barcelona last season and 14.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists with Olympiacos in 2006-07 Euroleague play.

The 6-foot-5, 185-pound guard played five games with the Pistons during the 2005-06 season, averaging 1.8 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. He was drafted by Detroit with the 60th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft.

Pistons' Coach Michael Curry plans to tinker with the team's rotation in hopes of keeping the team fresh for the second half of the season.

He also wants to reverse what he believes to be a recent history of underachieving.

"Let's first understand that this group of guys has been really successful," Curry said. "There's not a lot of major things with the game of basketball that you are going to come in and teach or show them. But what you can do is hold them accountable to doing all the little things they need to do every day. When you do that, you get the best out of your guys and you don't feel at the end of the year that maybe your team underachieved."

He wants to focus on strength and conditioning, but not to excess.

"We aren't going to just run guys into the ground," Curry said. "The vets and the heavy-minutes guys might not do as much on the court on some days, but strength and conditioning and player development is going to be a fixture. If you do it every day, then your conditioning is going to build as the season goes on, and we will be sharp throughout the year."

Rodney Stuckey says that the feeling around the Pistons as they enter training camp is a lot different than it was last year.

"Things are just different around the practice facility," said Stuckey. "Having a new coaching staff in here and spending more time around Michael Curry ... things are just a lot different.

"The vibe is different. It's been good, though. I think we're all ready to get started and get back to the grind."

Stuckey averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 assists during the regular season but broke out in the playoffs last spring.

"I'm ready for any challenge that comes up," Stuckey said. "I'm always ready. You're always going to hear that from me. I know they are going to be expecting a lot more out of me, but it's a challenge."

Pistons' guard Rodney Stuckey says the team is going to pick up their defense this season, according to Flint Journal.

"Things are gonna be the same offensively with stuff like that, but I'll tell you one thing, our defense and defensive standpoint, things are going to be a lot different," Stuckey said. "We're gonna be picking up full court, trying to get back to our old ways of playing Bad Boys defense. That's something to look forward to this coming year."

Stuckey averaged 7.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in his rookie campaign.

The Pistons' coaching staff is excited about the potential of Kwame Brown heading into his first season with the team, according to Detroit News.

"I've been studying big men in this league since 1970, and I am going to tell you this, Kwame Brown, at his size, moves faster and with more control than any other guy that size that I can remember," Assistant Coach Dave Cowens said.

Detroit is hoping Brown will excel in a less-pressurized environment.

"He's been really good," Curry said. "If the kid was not the first pick in the draft, I wonder what everybody would say about him? I have a list of guys who make $6 million, $7 million a year who haven't done nearly as much as he's done in this league, and we got this kid for $4 million."

New Pistons' Head Coach Michael Curry has stressed that he wants the entire team, especially Rasheed Wallace, to get in better shape heading into the 2008-09 season, according to Detroit Free Press.

"We talked about focusing more on our strength and conditioning program," Curry said. "Arnie Kander [strength and conditioning coach], who we feel is one of the best in the business, I don't think we've taken full advantage of him over the last few years."

"I want him (Wallace) to be able to maintain his conditioning throughout the season. You can get in basketball shape, but you can play the whole season but not be in great conditioning, as well."

"That's when teams become champions, when you can dig down and you got that extra strength to be successful," Curry said.

Pistons president Joe Dumars has taken the team's stars off the trading block as he plans to keep the nucleus together, according to Associated Press.

"We talked to teams this summer, but nothing was presented to me that would make us better than we already are," Dumars said. "This can be one of the elite teams in the league that contends for a championship."

When coach Flip Saunders was fired shortly after the team's demise in the postseason, Dumars claimed that Rodney Stuckey was the only untouchable player on the roster.

"Whatever I said at that press conference wasn't new to the players," Dumars said. "They know where I stood then and where I stand now, unhappy about how last season ended."

Pistons' President Joe Dumars has told the media that he will not apologize for the lack of moves that his ball club has made this off season, saying that offers received did not benefit his team, the Detroit News is reporting.

"I said we would look to make changes, but we wouldn't do a bad deal," he said. "The deals that were presented were not good deals for us. You don't make deals so you can walk in here on a day like today and say, 'Hey, we made a deal.' You want to resist that, and I did and I make no qualms about it."

The Pistons, who have gone to the Eastern Conference Finals six straight years but made the NBA Finals only twice, will rely on the emergence of guard Rodney Stuckey, who received rave reviews while playing for the U.S. Select team against the Gold Medalist American National Team.

"I am ready for any challenge that comes in," said Stuckey, whose minutes are expected to increase significantly. "I am always ready. I told you guys, I am never scared. They are going to be expecting more out of me, and I love that challenge."

The Pistons will keep rookie Walter Sharpe in the NBA this season so they can watch him develop, according to Detroit News.

"He needs a year here under our watch," Curry said. "He needs structure and stability every day. A guy like (center) Cheikh Samb needs basketball hours -- he's a guy that would benefit more from the D-League. Walter will benefit more from being in this structure every day."

The Milwaukee Bucks have joined the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons as parent NBA clubs for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for the 2008-09 season, according to Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The Bucks previously had an association with the Tulsa 66ers, but the 66ers were purchased by the owners of the Oklahoma City Thunder.