NBA | Michael Curry is latest coach to be fired by Pistons

DETROIT — All or nothing seems to be the formula for coaching the Detroit Pistons. Bring home a league championship or hit the road.

Michael Curry was fired Tuesday after one season, and the Pistons are in the market for the sixth coach in Joe Dumars' nine years as president of basketball operations.

Dumars had called the 40-year-old Curry's status a nonissue after a 39-43 season and a first-round playoff sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But Dumars said in an e-mail Tuesday: "As we've continued through this transition, it's become clear that we need a more experienced coach for where we are right now. I asked a lot of Mike as a first-year head coach."

Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey, a graduate of Kentwood High School who was a college standout at Eastern Washington, said, "He [Curry] was a good guy, and I learned a lot from him. But at the end of the day, it's a business."

When Dumars took over the decision-making role in June 2000, George Irvine was the coach and lasted one season. Irvine, an ex-Washington Huskies player, was succeeded by Rick Carlisle (two 50-win seasons), Larry Brown (two seasons, including the 2004 league title) and Flip Saunders (three seasons, losing in the East finals each time).

Ex-Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, a former Sonics guard, reportedly is among the candidates to replace Curry.

There is speculation Doug Collins, a TNT analyst and former Pistons coach, also is a candidate.

Notes

• Teams were able to start talking to free agents Tuesday at 9:01 p.m. PDT and can sign them to offer sheets beginning July 8.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he planned to meet with guard Jason Kidd the first minute he could. Cuban wants to keep Kidd, 36, in Dallas. Other teams reported to have interest in Kidd include the New York Knicks, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers.

• Utah forward Carlos Boozer and center Mehmet Okur declined to become free agents.

• Swingman Damien Wilkins, a former Sonic, will return to the Oklahoma City Thunder said his agent, Mark Bartelstein.

• Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao became an unrestricted free agent.

• Some observers expect the free-agent market to be relatively quiet this summer because the class of 2010 is so appealing. Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Toronto's Chris Bosh and Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire can all become available next summer, and therefore teams might not want to use salary-cap space this year.

• A judge in Millstone, N.J., sentenced Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith, 23, to 90 days in jail for causing a 2007 auto accident that killed his friend, Andre Bell, though Smith will likely end up serving 30 days.

Municipal Judge Debra J. Gelson suspended 60 days of the sentence providing Smith performs 500 hours of community service.