Pistons still waiting to come together with Iverson

"What A.I. has given us the chance to do is, we've shown some brilliance," Curry said. "We've gone out and beaten a Laker team on the road, a San Antonio team on the road. We've come from behind to beat a really good Cleveland team. At the same time, we've had games in which we've been disappointed -- (the Knicks), the Minnesota game, some games at home that we haven't taken care of. Some of it is adjusting to the change. Some games we've had growing pains with playing a lot of young guys."

And though it's difficult to see through the prism of the Pistons' uncompromised run of success, the young guys look pretty good. Curry said Sunday he would take Stuckey over any guard in the NBA who has played fewer than 100 games -- including Bulls rookie Derrick Rose. Afflalo, the only Piston who showed up from the opening tip Sunday against the Knicks, shined with 17 points off the bench. Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson will take over quite nicely in the frontcourt after Wallace's contract expires this summer -- if not before then.

And there's plenty more to come. Dumars has positioned himself not only to rebuild, but to build something better than he had before the Billups trade. Over the next two years, he has two first-round picks and four second-round picks and is one of the few executives with enough cap space to lure LeBron and another top-tier free agent to come with him.

But then there is the little matter of 63 more regular-season games to play with the team as it is currently constructed -- plus, yes, the playoffs. If the Pistons haven't found the Answer in 15 games with Iverson, when is it fair to start wondering if they ever will?

"That's a tough call," Prince said. "Usually when you make a trade during the season, you would want that player in training camp with your team to go through those things. When you get a great player in a trade, a veteran guy who knows and understands, you'd think it wouldn't take the team too long to establish ourselves and get what we need to be. You say 15 games; you would think that'd be enough for us to get going, but it hasn't."

The same question was posed to Curry as he stood outside the visiting locker room at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, grim-faced and serious, but not the least bit panicked.

"We look at everything at the end of the year," he said. "Everything here is for the postseason."

That's good, because whatever happens this May or June, the Pistons are prepared to make a lot of noise in those months for years to come. Maybe more noise than before.