Detroit fishwrap comment of the day - Fire Flip!

Good god damn Lord, the Pistons lose an awful game against the 76er's, and you can hear the fans and sports talk radio hosts douchebags screaming from Auburn Hills all the way down to Toledo.

Flip needs to go! Fire Flip! Saunders can't control the team, fire his ass now! Flip SUCKS!

A typical example of the knee-jerk reaction caused by last night's loss to Philly is from azio0818 at the Freep.

i am sick of flip saunders if he cant motivate this team he needs to go i pray its his last year i have yet to see him cheww somebody out they shot like six three pointers in the third makes me sick anyone who thinks this teami s ready think again were the hell is lindsey hunter at least he plays defense

azio0818 was so upset, he lost all ability to spell and use punctuation! The only thing missing was his intense missive being typed in ALL CAPS!

Do I have issues with Flip Saunders? Sure I do. He appears to be a doormat when it comes to handling Rasheed Wallace, took 2 seasons to realize he has a bench and for all his supposed offensive gurudom, the Pistons all too often have scoring funks.

Does that mean i think Flip Saunders deserves to be fired? No. Not yet, anyway.

It's mid-March, and the Pistons are in fine shape. Flip has this team comfortably ensconced as the 2nd seed in the East, 1st in the central, and is one of the favorites to make it to, and win, the eastern conference finals. Yet many, like a certain loudmouthed New Yorker I heard this afternoon on WXYT-FM, want Saunders kicked to the curb today, if not sooner.

Please, enough of the dramatics. It's not going to happen, Saunders is going nowhere. Joe Dumars doesn't work that way. Neither does Bill Davidson. In no way would they pull a Pat Riley. That meaning shitcanning Saunders before the season ends, and have Dumars take over. If they, being Dumars and Davidson, feel it's time to make a move, it's going to happen after the season ends.

Would Flip deserve to get the ziggy if the Pistons fail to make the NBA Finals? If there is another collapse, as there was against the Cavs in 2007, I'd say yes. But let's say the Pistons lose a hard fought, 7 game series against the Celtics. Would Saunders get canned? To be honest, I would seriously doubt it.

But another question to ask is, would Flip want to stay? Odds are quite good this season may be the final run for the Pistons as we currently know them. 'Sheed will be going into the last year of his contract. His expiring contract could make him awfully enticing trade bait for a team in need of an enigma who can shoot treys and defend in the post. Rip Hamilton seems to have plateaued, and could be the most expendable of the core group of Pistons. For that matter, Tayshaun Prince is another Piston whom could bring a nice return in a deal.

Let's say the worst case scenario happens. The Pistons fail to make it out of the east...again. I think it's safe to say, in that scenario, there would be big changes in store for the Pistons. The core could, and probably would, be blown up. Would Saunders want to work with a younger, rebuilding team? Would Dumars think Flip would be the right choice for a Pistons team that would have several new pieces? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if he would be.

But we're getting way ahead of ourselves. I'm not getting out the "Jump to conclusions" mat just yet.

One game, even if it's possibly the worst played game of the season against your likely opponent in the 1st round of the playoffs, is not going to cost anyone their jobs. Flip Saunders is safe till June.

Let's wait for the rest of the season to play out before anyone gets shitcanned, fired or run out of Aubrun Hills on a rail.