by The Philadelphia Inquirer

At the time of the Sixers' coaching search, Kuester was in the middle of a playoff run with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he was an assistant coach.

Kuester spent seven seasons as an assistant with the Sixers : six under Larry Brown and one under Maurice Cheeks .

Before yesterday's 88-81 Pistons victory over the Sixers , Kuester said no one from the Sixers had contacted him about their opening.

"I have great memories in Philly," Kuester said. "Philly was very good to me and my family, and I wish them all the best, but I'm very happy to be in Detroit."

The Pistons job is Kuester's first head coaching position.

Mo for Sam

Sixers coach Eddie Jordan replaced Samuel Dalembert with Marreese Speights at center to start the second half.

Dalembert was not injured; the Sixers just called it a "coach's decision."

After the game, Jordan said it had been a strategic move. He wanted Dalembert coming off the bench to match Detroit's reserve big men, Kwame Brown and Jason Maxiell .

Missing

The Pistons won without two veterans, guard Richard Hamilton and forward Tayshaun Prince . Hamilton has a right-ankle injury and Prince a lower-back injury.

The rotation

The first Sixers big man off the bench was Speights, who checked in for Dalembert with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first quarter. Veteran guard Willie Green was the first guard off the bench, checking in for Elton Brand with 1:51 left in the first.

Jason Kapono and Jason Smith didn't check in until the second quarter.

Brand's minutes

On Friday night against the New Jersey Nets, Brand played 19 minutes and sat for the game's final 17 minutes.

Before yesterday's game, in which Brand played 29 minutes, Jordan said he was not concerned about keeping up Brand's playing time.

"You have to be hard to live in the NBA," Jordan said. "You have to be mentally strong, physically strong. It's an emotional roller coaster, so emotionally you have to be strong. And he's gone through all of that. . . . He's going to hit some bumps in the road. Look, he's still a starter for us, and we'd still like for him to get going."

- Kate Fagan

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