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Some observers say the decline was accelerated when longtime owner Bill Davidson's almost-daily walks through The Palace executive offices stopped. Davidson died March 13, 2009, and the team was taken over by his wife, Karen Davidson, his family and minority partners. Bill Davidson was the glue that kept it together between basketball team president Joe Dumars and Pistons and Palace president Tom Wilson. Detroit News

Detroit Pistons, Karen Davidson, Bill Davidson 

Davidson rarely made demands. He gave constructive criticism. He simply wanted to know what was going on. And seeing the owner just about every day energized the staff. When Davidson died, some of the brain trust that made the Pistons the talk of the sports marketing world began to leave, including many to rival Mike Ilitch and Olympia Entertainment. Ilitch still remains as a potential buyer of the team. "When Mr. Davidson died, it put so many things out of place at The Palace," former Pistons coach Ray Scott said. "People began to leave that made the organization. Much of that brain power was lost. That staff was lost. Now you have Joe sitting there, who wants to pull some deals, who cannot until the pending sale is complete." Detroit News

Detroit Pistons, Karen Davidson, Mike Ilitch, Bill Davidson 

Early in your days as Mavericks owner, the late Detroit Pistons owner, Bill Davidson, scolded you in an owner’s meeting for being too vocal. What do you remember about that? Cuban: “He said, ‘You haven’t done [expletive] in this league. Shut up until you’ve done something in this league.’ And everyone told him that’s not right. I didn’t care. I walked into the very first board of governors meeting thinking, ‘It’s going to be great. There are 28 other owners and they are all smart, successful business people. It’s going to be a blast.’ Most of the owners didn’t even show up and most of the ones that were there didn’t say a word. And I was like, ‘What the [expletive]?’ I asked David [Stern] and he said, ‘If you got something to say, say it.’ Not everybody liked it. But I kept on saying it.” Yahoo! Sports

Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Mark Cuban, Bill Davidson