11:00pm: Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reported that a deal between Maurice Cheeks and the Pistons could materialize over the weekend. Ellis opines that when Nate McMillan - who was also a candidate for Detroit's head coaching position – surfaced in speculation regarding the Nuggets' vacancy earlier, it gave the indication that the Pistons had already made their decision on Cheeks.
7:40pm: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports that Maurice Cheeks has emerged as a strong frontrunner to become the Pistons' next head coach. He also mentions that ownership and management came to the consensus on Cheeks, and that discussions on a contract could begin soon. Earlier this evening, Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News said that Cheeks was his best guess to be Detroit's top choice and just reported that a deal could get done tonight (Twitter links).
Before he became an assistant with the Thunder in 2009, Cheeks was the head coach of the 76ers from 2005 to 2008, where he compiled a record of 122-147 in just a little over three seasons in Philadelphia.