Detroit, MI

Former assistant returns to Detroit as Pistons finalize coaching staff

Published

1 year ago

September 23, 2024

Former assistant returns to Detroit as Pistons finalize coaching staff

With about a week before the start of training camp for the 2024-25 NBA season, the Detroit Pistons have officially announced their new coaching staff, which includes the return of a familiar face.

On Monday, the Pistons announced that Luke Walton, Sidney Lowe, Fred Vinson, Vitaly Potapenko, Kevin Burleson, Jerome Allen, and Josh Estes will serve as assistant coaches under J.B. Bickerstaff, who is entering his first year in Detroit.

Pistons add longtime NBA assistant to revamped coaching staff

Multi-time NBA champion joins Pistons coaching staff

Additionally, Jarrett Jack and Steve Scalzi, who were part of former head coach Monty Williams’ staff, have been retained as assistant coaches. For the past two seasons, Jack has served as coach of the Pistons’ Summer League team.

Of the names mentioned, Allen, a veteran NBA assistant, is not only a familiar face in Detroit but also a name that hadn’t been previously reported as part of the new staff.

From 2021 to 2023, Allen served as an assistant under former head coach Dwane Casey. Despite working as a pro personnel scout for the Boston Celtics last season, Allen was regularly seen at Pistons games at Little Caesars Arena, largely because he remained in Detroit. He follows Sidney Lowe, who is now in his third stint with the Pistons.

Estes is another name not previously reported as part of Bickerstaff’s staff. He spent the last four seasons (2020-24) as a coaching analyst and analytics coordinator in Cleveland under Bickerstaff.

From 2019-20, Estes served as an assistant coach at Amherst College, helping lead the Mammoths to an 18-8 record and a semifinal appearance in the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championship. He also served as an assistant coach for the Brampton Honey Badgers in the 2023 Canadian Elite Basketball League season.

The Pistons will begin training camp and host media day on Sept. 30, where Bickerstaff, president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, and the entire coaching staff are expected to speak.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit Pistons injury report: Jalen Duren out vs Miami Heat

Published

17 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Detroit Pistons injury report: Jalen Duren out vs Miami Heat

Detroit Pistons big Jalen Duren will miss their road game against the Miami Heat on Saturday, Nov. 29.

The fourth-year center is out with a lower leg contusion, according to the team’s 1:30 p.m. injury report ahead of the 8 p.m. tip-off (FanDuel Sports Network Detroit Extra). It will be Duren’s third absence in what has been a breakout season, averaging 19.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, two assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

The first-place Pistons (15-4 overall) will be shorthanded when they face a Heat team that has won six consecutive games and sits third in the Eastern Conference. Caris LeVert (right knee soreness) is listed as questionable.

Detroit is coming off of consecutive close losses following a franchise record-tying 13-game winning streak, with Friday’s 112-109 home defeat to the Orlando Magic knocking them out of NBA Cup contention.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit police investigating report of baby left on porch; New details add context to situation

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Press Room

Detroit police investigating report of baby left on porch; New details add context to situation

Terell Bailey

November 29, 2025 / 12:06 AM EST
/ CBS Detroit

The Detroit Police Department confirmed that it responded to a call concerning a baby found on a porch on Thanksgiving night.

Police responded to a home on Cruse Street near Fenkell Avenue. Police said their child abuse unit is investigating.

However, CBS News Detroit spoke with a source who confirmed the child wasn’t left on the porch. A teenage family member at the home, in fact, gave birth to the child, according to the source.

On Friday, a family member told CBS News Detroit that a teenager living at the Cruse Street home was pregnant, and that the family was unaware of the news. When the family initially received the news that a child was on the porch, the police were contacted.

Attorney Jeff Abood with Abood Law believes charges could be forthcoming.

“If somebody were to abandon an infant or child, then they could face criminal charges,” Abood told CBS News Detroit.

In 2001, a safe delivery law was implemented in Michigan. It allows parents to surrender their newborn child, no more than 3 days old, to any uniformed on-duty employee at a hospital, fire department, or police station. State records show nearly 400 babies have been safely surrendered in Michigan.

“You could do that without any sort of criminal responsibility, assuming it was done properly and done right,” Abood said.

With these latest developments, Detroit police haven’t said what will happen next.

According to the family member who talked to CBS News Detroit, the baby and mother are in the hospital and expected to be OK.

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Detroit, MI

The Packers got away with one but Detroit Lions still need fixes

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

The Packers got away with one but Detroit Lions still need fixes

The hole and the wink aren’t related. Not really.

Well, maybe.

OK, they are.

Just not how you think. And not how you want.

There is cause-and-effect. There is coincidence.

What happened at Ford Field on Thursday, Nov. 27, when the Green Bay Packers benefited from the officials’ mistake – or two – also exposed the Detroit Lions.

Again.

The Lions haven’t been good enough this season – in the trenches, on the margins – and it’s jarring, as reality so often is.

On Thursday, they couldn’t pressure the quarterback, they couldn’t protect their own quarterback when they absolutely needed to. They couldn’t convert on third-and-short or fourth-and-short, and Green Bay could – and did.

The difference in the game, said the man who winked – Packers coach Matt LaFleur. The difference in the game, said the man who mentioned the “hole” – Lions coach Dan Campbell.

As in: “We are in a little bit of a hole. That’s just what it is,” Campbell said after his team’s 31-24 loss. “There’s nothing more than that. All we got to do is worry about cleaning up this and then getting to the next game and finding a way to win the next one.”

The next one is, of course, against the Dallas Cowboys. Right back at Ford Field. Also a Thursday game (on Dec. 4). This time at night. Another must-win.

Though there are must-wins and there are must-wins. The Lions aren’t at the latter just yet. Too many games left. Too many possibilities.

The season isn’t finished, even if it feels like it will be soon. Then again, that feeling is also a way to cope, to deal with unmet expectations, to deal with being in “a hole,” to say: It’s over … and move on to college hoops or hockey, or even the Pistons.

Or to silence in your basement.

A wink and a nod from LaFleur

Which brings us back to the wink, which many will relate to the “hole,” because behind the wink, there is acknowledgement of a gift, from an official.

No, not cash or anything so direct or gauche. But the gift of a gathering, where folks dressed in black-and-white stripes huddled to discuss whether LaFleur had called a timeout before one of his offensive linemen jumped offsides, and concluded the timeout came first.

“Of course, they got it right,” said LaFleur, who winked as he said it. “What do you think?”

And:

“Yeah, I was calling timeout. … We call it a delay situation. Obviously, it was a timeout that we were going to use if they didn’t jump offsides, so we were going for it there regardless.”

If the flag stays, maybe the Packers convert. Maybe they don’t. But for LaFleur to act like fourth-and-6 is the same as fourth-and-1 is well, worthy of a wink.

That’s a tough look for the NFL, and an exasperating look for Lions fans. But so is the lack of a pass rush, and the season-long inability to make the play or two needed to win against the better teams in the league.

All of it can be true. The Lions got jilted. The Packers thought it was funny. The Lions still need to play much, much better.

Yeah, he winked. That’s indisputable. Nor is proof hard to find. Search “LaFleur and wink” and watch it pop up quickly – everywhere. Or at least everywhere the NFL and its officials are discussed, or everywhere the NFL is discussed.

And now everywhere the Lions are discussed.

The refs blew it. Then said they didn’t. That’s maddening, too. That’s also not why the Lions lost and fell further into their hole in the NFC North and overall playoff standings.

That could change. A lot needs to change with the Lions first.

“It all starts with you doing your job, which is us, and finding a way to win the next one in front of us,” said Campbell. “It really is that simple. Don’t make more of it than need be. It’s frustrating, it sucks, it’s tough, but we did it to ourselves and we’re the only ones who are going to get out of it as well.”

Wink …

… or not.

Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

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