The first major change to Palace Sports & Entertainment's business affairs under the ownership of Tom Gores came down today: President and CEO Alan Ostfield was relieved of his duties.

“We have made some changes as part of an overall realignment of the business side of the organization,” Platinum Equity representatives Phil Norment and Bob Wentworth said in a joint release. “We appreciate Alan’s contributions, but have decided to move in another direction. The search for a president of business operations will be completed as quickly as possible. PS&E is also looking to expand its sales force and is in the process of hiring additional sales representatives.”

Norment and Wentworth are partners in Platinum Equity, the Los Angeles-based private equity firm founded by Gores. They are based in Boston but will handle PS&E affairs until a hire is made.

Mike Woodson is hoping for a third and final visit to Detroit after interviewing for the Pistons' coaching job a second time this morning.

This time, he met for about two hours with Bob Wentworth and Phil Norment, the Boston-based partners of new team owner Tom Gores at Platinum Equity.

“I thought the meeting went very well," Woodson said.

“They asked me some personal things, and they asked about my coaching background and philosophy. They were kind of getting to know me. Hopefully, I’ll be able to meet Mr. Gores one day.

“I wore my best suit," Woodson joked. “They didn’t really give me a timetable. I don’t know what’s going to happen yet. They said they were going to go away, and I’m sure they’ll talk to Mr. Gores and figure out their next move, I guess. All I can say is that I thought it went well."

The Free Press has learned that former Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson will be in town Thursday for his second interview with the Detroit Pistons.

Woodson, 53, is one of five known candidates for the team's head coaching job, along with former New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank, Milwaukee Bucks assistant Kelvin Sampson, former Pistons Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer and Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing.

They are competing to replace John Kuester, who was fired this month after compiling a 57-107 record in two seasons as Pistons coach.

Dave Checketts, former president of the Knicks, is serving as a basketball consultant to new Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, according to sources close to the situation.

The news of Checketts' involvement coincides with Patrick Ewing's emergence late last week as a candidate for the Pistons' coaching vacancy.

Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars continues to serve as Detroit's lead basketball decision-maker, with Gores announcing when he officially took control of the franchise earlier this month that "we're going to lean on [Dumars] pretty heavily."

Checketts was president and general manager of the Utah Jazz before coming to the Knicks.

Brandon Knight adds to the logjam in the backcourt with Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum. At times it seemed none was happy with his role or minutes, and the addition of Knight would only seem to complicate matters.

However, it gives the Pistons some flexibility to decide what to do with those players, and Dumars made a point to say he'll continue to add young talent.

It wasn't a shot at Hamilton per se, but it's no secret Dumars would love to move the Pistons' all-time leading playoff scorer, who's on the downside of his career. The Pistons won't give him away, but they are shopping him.

The Detroit Pistons have expanded their head coaching search by interviewing Orlando Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing, according to league sources.

Ewing, 49, has long desired to be a head coach, and has decried what he viewed as pigeonholing him as a “big man” assistant, a role he has undertaken while an assistant coach in Houston with Yao Ming and in Orlando with Dwight Howard. Ewing has said that he does a lot more than just work with bigs and is ready to run a team. He badly wanted to get a shot with the Knicks, the team for whom he became a superstar after being taken first overall in the 1985 Draft.

“It’s disappointing that I haven’t moved to the next step to getting a head coaching job, but all I can do is keep working hard and keep on preparing myself for whenever that opportunity arises,” Ewing told the New York Daily News earlier this month. ”A lot of people try to pigeonhole me into just a big man’s coach and I’m just not a big man’s coach. I’m a coach.”

Brandon Knight slipped on Draft Night, falling to the Detroit Pistons, who took him with the eighth overall pick. 

The former Kentucky star felt he’d be the next guard off the board after Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick, but he appeared surprised that he lasted as long as he did.

“The draft is inexact. You can’t think about it,” Knight said. “From now on, it’s just about making people pay that passed up on you. That’s really what it’s about.”

When pressed about his feelings on landing in Detroit, he kept the same tone.

“I was kind of surprised,” he admitted. “I didn’t think it would come from them, but like I say, the draft is inexact. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Knight did not work out with the Pistons.

The Rockets are attempting to use the 14th and 23rd picks to move into the top-10 of the 2011 NBA Draft. Detroit owns the No. 8 pick and is in talks with Houston.

Tristan Thompson is believed to be the primary target, according to sources. Bismack Biyombo would be the other main option, as Kevin McHale looks to add a big to the roster.

According to a league source, the Wizards will be in New Jersey on Sunday to watch athletic forward Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic.

The 6-foot-11 Vesely wasn’t expected to work out for NBA teams in advance of the draft, and the Wizards were among a handful of teams in attendance when he scored 18 points to lead Partizan Belgrade to the Serbian title last week. Toronto, Utah, Cleveland and possibly Detroit are expected to witness Vesely’s lone workout for NBA teams.

The Wizards have been high on Vesely for some time and some scouts believe that he would be the perfect fit for a team that likes to run and push the tempo (or rather a team with John Wall playing point guard).

The Pistons have already started interviewing for their head coaching position, and started with Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank.

Frank was New Jersey's head coach from midway through the 2003-04 season and was fired after a 0-16 start in 2009-10. He became Doc Rivers' lead assistant in Boston this past season and is known as a defensive specialist.

Pistons president Joe Dumars interviewed Frank on Wednesday.