AUBURN HILLS -- Coach Michael Curry likes the look of his "small ball" lineup, which has 6-foot-9, 215-pound Tayshaun Prince at power forward.
Curry has no major problems with his more traditional starting five, which includes 6-11, 270-pound Kwame Brown in the frontcourt.
Being versatile enough to play both lineups, Curry believes, will be instrumental in Detroit's success this season.That's why as Detroit prepared for this season, many practices involved work with both lineups.
"We want to be a team that is prepared to play a lot of different ways," Curry said. "The more ways you are efficient at playing, the better off you are at handling all situations."
Although Curry and his team haven't been winning as much as they had hoped, they believe the experience they are gaining with multiple lineups and rotations will pay off later in the season and in the playoffs.
"When you got a team that has so many different ways they can play, it can only help," Detroit guard Arron Afflalo said. "You look at the really good teams through the years in this league, they can hurt you in a lot of different ways."
Pluses about plus/minus
When Curry evaluates his team, one of the many statistics he analyzes is the players' plus/minus numbers.
"It's like a lot of other statistics," Curry said. "It can help paint a picture. But by no means do I think it paints a total picture."
And while it is broken down individually, Curry said his focus is more on how different combinations are playing together.
The new-look Bobcats
Although tonight's game will be the second meeting this season between Detroit and Charlotte, the Pistons will face a team that looks a lot different than the one they defeated last month.
Saginaw native and former Michigan State star Jason Richardson, along with Jared Dudley were traded to Phoenix in exchange for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Sean Singletary.
Although the roster changed, Curry expects Charlotte's style of play to remain the same under former Pistons coach Larry Brown.
"Larry's teams pretty much play the same," Curry said. "He's going to throw a lot of guys out there. They're going to play extremely hard, and try to get after it defensively."
Back-to-back success
Friday's game against Indiana followed by tonight's game against Charlotte is the third back-to-back set of games for Detroit this season. In the previous two, Detroit has a 3-1 record.
When asked what has been the key to Detroit's back-to-back success, Curry said, "(Getting) that first win. Our guys have been good in those situations."