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Last Year's Rank: 8
Title Track: 26
Ownership: 44
Coaching: 114
Players: 107
Fan Relations: 93
Affordability: 25
Stadium Experience: 54
Bang for the Buck: 36

The Pistons took a tumble in our standings because of fan impatience with rookie coach Michael Curry and his maddeningly underachieving team. Dealing popular Chauncey Billups for a fading Allen Iverson clearly wasn't the answer. At FireCurry.com, fans are asked to vote on who is the bigger problem: Curry or AI? The coach leads in a landslide. On the plus side, the team's brass has shown compassion and savvy in the face of a tanking economy: After hiking the average ticket 18.2% last season, the Pistons held the line on admission, concession, parking and program prices this year. The club also offered four upper-level tickets for $44 as well as any five games for the price of four and featured a giveaway at every home game. As a result, the Pistons led the NBA in attendance for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. How did they fill an arena in a city that's been devastated by the recession while fielding a sub-.500 team? "We've learned to forget the rules," says team president Tom Wilson. "The rules used to be that you couldn't comp any tickets or offer too many discounts, because you cheapen the product. But there are no rules when no one is coming."