The battle for playing time ... may not be a battle at all. From Chris McCosky's blog:
Don't read anything into the fact that Jason Maxiell didn't play in the first half [against the Spurs]. That was a function of Duncan playing and Curry wanting to test [Kwame] Brown. The way this rotation is going to work, Johnson and Maxiell are essentially sharing the starter's minutes at power forward. Johnson will get introduced before the games, but the two are splitting that role down the middle. Against bigger frontcourts, Maxiell's minutes might be reduced to allow Brown to get some run.
On a side note, there's been a lot of chatter (both in the comments here as well as around the blogosphere) about Maxiell's contract status. I haven't really mentioned it in awhile because it seems like a great, big non-issue: no matter what happens, the Pistons will have the right of first refusal on Maxiell next summer, and given the market for restricted free agents the last few years (and Maxey's stated intent to return), that virtually guarantees that he's going to return in 2009-10.