Struggling Pistons Might Grant the Lakers’ Wishes

Once, the Detroit Pistons had the Bad Boys. Now they’re the Small Boys.

Their center retired to an island off Africa and they don’t have a replacement. Their record is bad. Their crowds are dwindling.

Not that things feel hopeless, but after their first win, which followed four losses, Coach Alvin Gentry joked, “At least we won’t go 0-82.”

They’re now considered the No. 4 pro team in hockey-mad Detroit. The team that rarely had an empty seat in the 21,000-seat Palace in the early ‘90s announced 13,157, 14,266, 12,683 and 15,377 for the last four games.

Nor are the people who are showing up in a good mood.

“It’s embarrassing, it’s sickening, it’s frustrating,” Jerry Stackhouse said after they were booed off the floor in a 17-point loss to Toronto. “This is home, these fans are supposed to be our sixth man and help us get over the hump and that’s not the case.”

Next, the Lost Boys?

Like Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, the other big star of the 2000 free-agent class, doesn’t want to go anywhere. He tells Piston officials he’d re-sign right now if he could.

Of course, the officials know this just might be Hill, who hates to hurt anyone’s feelings. Unlike Duncan, however, Hill might not wind up with much of a choice.

In Detroit, everyone is predicting doomsday scenarios these days, Piston officials included. Speculation centers on two options, San Antonio or . . . drumroll . . . the Lakers.

The Spurs are capped out, but Piston management worries that if Hill leaves, his first choice might be to take short pay and one-year deals to join Duncan, a friend who has the same agent, Lon Babby. The Pistons would wind up with nothing, as they did when Allan Houston left.

The Pistons are hoping that, worst-case scenario, Hill will consent to a sign-and-trade, which would get him a big contract.

The Spurs have no one the Pistons want, assuming Duncan and David Robinson won’t be available. The Detroit Free Press’ Chris McCoskey suggests dealing Hill to the Lakers for Glen Rice, the former Michigan standout.

“They dump [Lindsey] Hunter, [Christian] Laettner, Loy Vaught, Don Reid, Eric Montross and clear as much cap room as possible,” McCoskey wrote. “Then go after free agents Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose--both have told friends they want to play here--in the off-season and market the hell out of the Detroit connection. Your 2000-2001 ‘home-grown’ Pistons would feature Jerry Stackhouse and the Motor City Five, Taylor, Rice, Rose, Terry Mills and Jermaine Jackson.”

Hill, of course, would be wonderful in the triangle but he’d look pretty good in San Antonio too, making cuts off Duncan.

When Hill broke in, GQ ran a cover piece, asking if he’d save sports. Picking up his cue, Hill put out a book, “Change the Game.” He turned out to be very good and very nice, even if he couldn’t even save one little franchise.

The next thing he changes may be his address, so you Laker fans may want to cross your fingers.

WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE? OH, HELLO, MR. MARBURY

Speaking of bad career choices . . .

Stephon Marbury was part of a promising Minnesota team but felt $70 million was intolerable if Kevin Garnett got $128 million. So he forced the Timberwolves to trade him to the New Jersey Nets, where his agent, David Falk, had several young clients and was working on “synergy.”

Garnett is now a budding superstar, the Timberwolves seem to have survived and the Nets, as usual, are a disaster area.

Rifts are springing up everywhere, as losses mount. Last week, Keith Van Horn (Falk client) said management “pressured” Kerry Kittles (Falk client), who has been recovering slowly from knee surgery, into playing.

Then Coach Don Casey, desperate to change their luck, took his 6-foot-8 center, Jamie Feick, who was among the NBA rebounding leaders, out of the starting lineup.

“I don’t know what Casey told you,” Feick told reporters, “but he’s disappointed in some people’s play and I’m the one that he wants to bring off the bench to help them out and give them a break.”

Feick meant Van Horn, who was shooting less than 40%.

The Brooklyn-born Marbury is surrounded by an entourage the size of an army, but needs a lot of cheering up these days. Net General Manager John Nash even sat down with him last week, to assure him this would work out.

“It’s a bad situation right now,” Marbury said, “but it won’t be a bad situation for long. I’m very happy I’m here. By me making the decision to come here, I’m a true Net now. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die a Net.”

He’s already dying as a Net. Marbury also hinted Casey was going to make more moves. “Stay tuned,” said Marbury, a franchise player, at last.

FACES AND FIGURES

They’ll be sorry: The Atlanta Hawks finally suspended Isaiah Ride, and General Manager Pete Babcock promised to look around for a trade, if that’s what Rider wants. However, insiders say the Hawks will not simply cut him, which would make sense, since they have Jim Jackson to play that position and Rider is odds-on to be more trouble than he’s worth. The reason: Rider is making $5.1 million and the team isn’t going to pay him for doing nothing. . . . Big Daddy: Shawn Kemp, after getting three shots blocked by the Milwaukee Bucks: “They know my plays and where I’m getting the ball.” Gee, you don’t think weighing about 280 has anything to do with it, do you?

Orphans: The Nuggets’ sale to billionaire Donald Sturm has stalled, because Sturm won’t promise the city of Denver, which helped build the Pepsi Center, that he’ll keep the team and the NHL Avalanche in town for 25 years. This is embarrassing for GM/Coach Dan Issel, since the team could revert to Ascent Entertainment, which Issel characterized publicly as “cheapo SOBs.” Said Issel last week, remembering when a downtown landlord evicted a former owner of the team for not paying rent: “I thought I’d seen everything when they put Bertram Lee’s furniture out on the street, but maybe I didn’t.”

Phoenix Coach Danny Ainge, on Shaquille O’Neal: “Garnett and Duncan are more complete players, but he’s more dominant . . . the most dominant player in the league.” As if to prove his point, Ainge then single-covered Shaq, who went for 34 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocks. . . . Phil Jackson used to hand out books he had selected for his players on the Chicago Bulls’ West Coast trips. Maintaining the tradition, Will Perdue said on this trip, he gave out “books with all pictures in them. That makes things a little easier. We have enough trouble learning the offense right now. We don’t need these guys thinking deep inner thoughts.” . . . Washington Coach Gar Heard, grinding his teeth at his team’s dispirited play, has had it with alleged team leader Rod Strickland, who has been fined twice and last week called in sick after a 22-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. “I would never question a guy when he says he’s hurt or sick,” Heard said. “It’s up to him to question himself or up to his teammates to question it. He was here to watch practice, so that’s all I can say.”

Hard guys: Jerry Sloan, not inclined to sadly watch the Utah Jazz fade away, went home to his McLeansboro, Ill., farm for two days after they started 3-3. Karl Malone called a players-only practice and the Jazz then beat the Spurs and New York Knicks. “Coach made it clear,” John Stockton said. “We have to make a decision. Do we want to be a great team, or do we want to be an OK team? It’s easy to be an OK team.” . . . Coach Tim Floyd, on the meaning of the Bulls’ first win: “It means my really close friends can stop the 0-82 talk, for starters.”