THE SIDELINES : Pistons Form Youth Foundation

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. â€”  The Detroit Pistons have teamed up with the Palace of Auburn Hills, where they play home games, to establish a foundation to support youth programs in Detroit.

The Pistons/Palace Foundation--first of its kind involving an NBA team--hopes to organize fund-raising programs with major corporations, said Thomas S. Wilson, the team’s executive officer.

Wilson said the foundation was not formed in response to a Detroit civil-rights leader, the Rev. Jim Holley, president of the Detroit chapter of Operation PUSH, who accused the Pistons of abandoning Detroit and offering “plantation basketball� to wealthy white suburbanites.

“We felt there was no validity to those criticisms,� Wilson said Sunday. “But we recognized that we can always do more and that more money and effort can be put into the community.�