Chicken Little, I'd like you to meet the Detroit Pistons fan base. You'll fit right in

The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Good Lord, the Pistons lose 2 games in a row and you'd think that they were suddenly a .500 team, not one that is playing at an .830 clip for the season. Even one of the most level headed Pistons bloggers around, Natalie at Need4Sheed is, at the very least, nervous and ready to start drinking...

People, people, people... If any of you had read my state of the Pistons post a month ago, you would not be nearly as concerned. But I felt the need to calm Pistons fans jangled nerves after hearing the media at large this morning.

I think what really set me off were two things. One, I'm cranky as Hell as I'm still sick as the proverbial dog with the flu. Two, I was flat on my back this morning listening to Pat Caputo and Drew Sharp and their overreactive ranting on WXYT about Pistons worst case scenarios. I would have punchured my eardrums if I have had the energy. Caputo starts with his overbaked schtick of "Dumars must trade Darko NOW" and get a sharpshooter for him, which is an old-old-old Caputo bit. Sharp goes on about how he feels that if the Pistons don't make any changes, the Spurs are his favorites to win the NBA title. That's even without the Spurs having home court, despite the Pistons winning both their meetings easily. Caputo and Sharp, please stop the damn MADNESS!

Are there some small issues that make me nervous? Sure. Depth at point guard is one. When Carlos Arroyo got extended minutes Saturday night against the Pacers, saying he was innefective is being generous. He fell back into his old habits of dribbling too much and taking bad shots late in the shot clock.

Lindsey Hunter coming back will help, mostly on the defensive end. Bigger is having another PG that can take a few extra minutes off the load Billups currently carries. Hunter can also take minutes from Arroyo whenever he laspes into those bad habits that drive us all nuts.

Should Dumars drop the hammer and trade Darko to shore up the bench? I'd do it only for a high draft pick or a younger player that is already established. Clowns like Caputo would have you trade Darko for pennies on the dollar, looking for any available perimiter shooter. He's thinking much too short term. Darko is their most valuable bargaining chip, you sit on him till the right deal comes along. (See Cleaves, Mateen and White, Rodney) If that means waiting till the off season, so be it... I can live pretty happily with the current bench. The Pistons may not have the best bench in the association, but they sure ain't pikers either.

All teams have slumps. The Pistons are currently having theirs during the dog days of the regular season. That's if you consider a 2-3 stretch a slump. The Mavricks are red F'n hot right now, which exascerbates the Pistons current status. But don't expect Dallas, or San Antonio for that matter, to keep up their torrid paces either. The Pistons are still most likely to win the home court, thanks to the weak Eastern Confrence. And isn't having home court thru the entire post season that all we really wanted before the 70 win hype began?

The All-Star break is coming at a good time. For both the Pistons and all of us fans. Let's calm down, take a breath, get a little perspective. The Pistons are still the best team in basketball. Detroit still has the best overall record, even with the Mavs and Spurs playing out of their minds. If the Pistons fall into a month long malise similar to those they stumbled through last season, then I'll become more concerned. Till then, I'm still going to enjoy the ride.

A nice win over the Clippers tonight will soothe everyone's psyche. But if they lose to the Clips tonight? Lord help us all with the gloom and doom we're going to hear tomorrow. So everyone, please-please-please remember just one thing...