But now Petro plays against some of the top big men in the league as a starter and is the target of scouting reports. And he has not regained the intensity he played with coming off the bench.

"I have to start the game with energy," Petro said. "You know, get more offensive boards. Get more boards. And basically try to play better defense than I'm doing, and try to make the shots I have, because I kind of have been missing those easy twos, and that's not good for me. So I need to try and make those shots."

Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo says the rest of the season is an audition of sorts for Petro, who could earn consideration as the future starting center for the Sonics should he perform well the rest of the season.

Petro finished with eight points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of work against the Pistons.

"He can make a case for himself, and he can make how we look at him when preseason starts next year a little bit different," Carlesimo said. "But in reality, what he's going to do from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1 and then on is going to be much more of a factor than now.

"But yeah, he can change what we're going to say in the off-season, and what we're going to do in terms of drafting and stuff like that. Like we've got six or seven weeks left, and (after that) we can say, 'You know, he can be a starter for us next year.' Or we can say, 'We don't know what we have yet, but we we're encouraged by what we saw.'"

PISTONS 100, SONICS 97: The Sonics ran out to another early lead, but could contain a veteran team in the Pistons, who are looking forward to their matchup at Boston on Wednesday. The Sonics shot 82 percent in the first quarter Tuesday and led 41-28 at the end of the first. But Detroit outscored Seattle 25-13 in the second quarter and only trailed 54-53 at the half. The two teams played even in the third quarter, but the Detroit pulled away midway through the fourth and held back a late rally by the Sonics to preserve the win.