Darko Goes To The Magic !!Finalized!!

[Matthew]

Nobody is questioning if Darko has talent, but as Kwame and Isiah Rider have proven before, talent is only half of it.

its such a shame though, they could have had melo, wade, or bosh or hinrich, and they ended up with cato for that pick? yeah what a genius. I wish people realised the reason for detroits sucess has been the hard work of the players, like ben wallace, chauncey and rip. sure dumars made some nice deals, like getting rasheed and prince, but people treat him like he's red aurebach.

[Matt]

and wonder how many minutes Cato will get in Mo-town.

could be waived.

[Immali]

Potentially a great trade for the Magics. If Darko develops they'll have a great duo. And if he doesn't, all they lost is a mid 1st round pick....
I really don't know what the pistons were thinking when they drafted darko over carmelo......i don't say wade because he was not the player he's now and you may not imagine it....but carmelo....come on everybody knew he was going to be a great player

[Fenix]

Well, you have to turn the time backwards to understand that:

Pronounced (MILL-eh-check)

Strengths: Solid athlete who can run the floor and jump like few others his size ... Creative scorer who understands how to set-up his defender off the dribble ... Excellent finisher when receiving the ball on the break or out on the perimeter as he can cut to the lane and even dunk in traffic ... On defense he is an excellent help defender who shows promise of being an adequate shot-blocker ... Does a very good job of using his long arms to grab most rebounds around his area despite usually being physically out-matched by his opponents ... Can be a nightmare for opposing players to defend due to his versatility as he is too quick for most power forwards and too tall for most small forwards to defend in the post ... Excellent ball handler for his size ... Plays extremely aggressive and wont back down from a challenge ... Competitive, he'll do whatever it takes to win ... Shows court awareness beyond his years as he will adjust his game according to how the defense plays him ... Can shoot the ball from 20 feet with consistency and even has the ability to extend out to the three point line ... Has a very high basketball IQ and sees plays before they occur ... Good passer who is blessed with solid court vision. Double teams rarely bother him ... Shows soft touch around the basket ... Owns a solid hesitation dribble move he uses to bait his defender out of the paint. As soon as his defender plays his shot, Milicic will dribble into the lane for the quick lay-up ...

Weaknesses: Has problems at times holding his position on the low blocks due to his lack of body strength ... Offensively his back to the basket skills are still in the developmental stages as he prefers to face the basket ... Needs to continue to improve his upper body strength although this should be no surprise when you consider his age ... Unlike most young players defensively he shows above average skills but it's the basic stuff he'll need to improve on ... Perimeter defensive skills such as anticipation and playing the passing lanes ... As far as working on his low post defense, strength and experience are the main detracting factors ... Tends to put the ball on the floor a little too much after getting an offensive rebound ... Ball protection is a area of concern as he can get careless at times ... Needs to work on getting rebounds out of position ... When posting up Milicic should improve on getting wider so he can give guards a bigger target when they pass into the post ...

Matthew Maurer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Milicic is aggressive, he has an all around game. He’s strong on the boards. He has good ball-handling skills. He is quick, with a great understanding of the game (he is smart as a fox). He can kill you from the perimeter but he’s never gonna be a center. It would be such a waste for such a talent to be battling against 280 pounders. No Nowitzki, no Gasol should ever be playing in the paint. Only when playing against a zone defense of 2-3 or 2-1-2 is it logical to have an all-around tall guy causing troubles in the weak side of the opponents’ defense. 2-4 is for him. He's tough as nails against tall men of 210-220 pounds. I don’t see many PFs’ of 210 in the NBA. He will never play center in the NBA because it would be a waste of his talents.

-Dimitris Armadoros

He is one of the biggest hopes of Yugoslavian basketball in his generation and that alone is something, considering the strength of Yugoslavian basketball. Very tall, agile, mobile player with tons of upside. Just has to continue to develop and he's a future NBA player. His outlook is very good considering the Yugoslavian basketball system is very good at developing players. He was thrown into the Seniors level this year and did a very impressive job for 16 year old.

-Uros Velkavrh

Possibly the top NBA prospect at any age in Europe. He plays in Hemofarm. He dunks in traffic, dribbles and goes 1 on 1 like a guard, scores on the pull-up jumper, passes well and blocks shots. I've never seen a player like him at 16! NEVER!

-Cristian Biagini

Notes: Has an incredible 7-5 wingspan.

From nbadraft.net.

Darko's dismal career takes a brighter turn

By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider

Whether you think Darko Milicic is the biggest bust in the history of the NBA or you see him as a superstar in embryo, Wednesday's Detroit-Orlando trade is one of the most compelling stories of the year.
Detroit Pistons president Joe Dumars may never shake the rap that he should've taken Carmelo Anthony or Dwyane Wade with the No. 2 pick of the 2003 draft. And, before the 2003 draft, the Pistons' first choice after Darko was Chris Bosh.
Hindsight being 20-20, it's impossible to claim that the Pistons made the right decision when they chose the 18-year-old 7-footer from Serbia.

But Dumars wasn't alone in his belief that after LeBron James, Darko had the most upside of anyone in the draft. NBA scouts had loved him since discovering him playing Vrsac, Serbia, at age 15. Don and Donnie Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks were so intrigued that they illegally worked him out and were fined and suspended by the league.


Allen Einstein/Getty Images
Things started harmlessly enough with Larry Brown back in 2003.



By the time Pistons international scout Tony Ronzone and I arrived in Serbia in December 2002 for what would be my first look at the 17-year-old, Darko had a pack of scouts following him wherever he went. After Darko's dominant performance in Greece at the FIBA Final Four, it became a given that he would be a top-three pick in the NBA draft.
Just 67 hours into his arrival into the U.S., the deal was sealed on May 23, 2003. I happened to be there to chronicle it all. The Pistons were practicing at the John Jay College gym in New York for a playoff game with the Nets. Darko was working out in the adjacent court, behind a curtain. One by one, the Pistons, including Dumars, head coach Rick Carlisle, Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups, trickled in to watch him work out. What was supposed to be a casual shootaround became a full-on workout in minutes. Darko put on a show that day, hitting shots from everywhere in the court, showing great footwork in the paint and doing everything at a furious pace.
"That's a freak of nature right there," Dumars told me just minutes after the workout was over. "And he's just 17. Seventeen."
"We could really use him," Richard Hamilton said. "That kid can play. Too bad he can't suit up tonight."
Jon Barry agreed: "He'd be perfect for us. Perfect. The thing I like about kids like this is they only have one agenda, and that's to play. They take this job seriously. It's their way out of a bad situation, and they're not going to squander it."
That night, the Pistons unexpectedly moved up in the draft lottery, securing the No. 2 pick in the draft. Dumars bumped into Darko again at the Plaza hotel. It seemed like destiny had put Darko in the Pistons' lap.
Darko would follow up with another strong workout in Detroit. While the Pistons momentarily flirted with the idea of drafting Bosh after his own stellar workout in Detroit, Dumars' heart was set on Darko.
Meanwhile, right until the draft, Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe was actively trying to swap picks with Detroit so that he could select Darko ahead of Carmelo.
All in all, about half of the GMs I talked to in the days leading up to the 2003 draft had Darko ranked No. 2 on their draft boards, behind LeBron. Everyone else I talked to had him third or fourth. No one I talked to had him ranked behind Wade.
USA Today's David Dupree wrote weeks before the 2003 draft that some NBA GMs told him they'd take Darko ahead of LeBron.
But I was Darko's biggest advocate in the media. I was also the only member of the U.S. media to have seen him play in person before the draft. While I believed the Cleveland Cavaliers should take LeBron James with the No. 1 pick, I wrote several times before the draft that I thought that Darko had just as much potential as James. I even compared him to a young Wilt Chamberlain.
Now, three years later, Darko is a punchline. LeBron, Wade and Bosh are in the All-Star Game, and Carmelo will be there soon enough. Darko's career stats: 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.8 minutes per game.
Darko's failure has sent shockwaves throughout the league. That year, NBA teams drafted a record eight international players in the first round and another 12 in the second round. Only one of them, Boris Diaw, is having solid success in the league. A few others, such as Zaza Pachulia and Mickael Pietrus, are making strides.
By 2005, the number of international players had been halved to four in the first round. This year, only three international players are projected as first-round picks. Scouts even have a name for the dwindling number of international players coming into the league: the Darko Backlash.
It's enough to make you forget that Darko is just 20 years old. That he's grown an inch and now stands at 7-1. That he's added 20 pounds of muscle and spent the last three years practicing against Ben Wallace on a daily basis.
Darko's story in Detroit might be over. But if all the scouts and GMs that loved Darko before the draft were right about him, then his career might be far from over.
The Pistons will move on. Dumars' team won a championship in 2004, pushed the Spurs to seven games in the Finals last season, and look like the best team in the NBA again this year. His legacy is in sound shape.
But what about Darko? He still has a long way to go.
I've always believed Darko would've been a star by now had he landed on a team that could have played him and given him confidence.
To look at one counterexample: Given how ugly Dirk Nowitzki's rookie season was in Dallas, I wonder what Dirk would look like now had he been drafted by a championship contender like Detroit.
In Dallas, Don Nelson almost lost his job after Nowitzki's rookie year because he stubbornly let Nowitzki play through some awful stretches. It paid off for Dallas in the long run.
In contrast, Darko's first NBA coach, Larry Brown, has long been suspicious of rookies and wanted Darko to forget about doing all the things that he, like so many other Euros, did well -- play the complete floor game. Instead, Brown wanted him to play with his back to the basket.
Would landing in a place like Denver (a developing team that needed a big man) or Toronto (a city with a large Serbian population) instead of Detroit have made a difference for Darko? Maybe. We'll never know. All we do know was the mix of circumstances in Detroit, combined with Darko's reaction to it, led to failure.
Even without Brown's skepticism, there was hardly any chance for Darko to play in Detroit. The Pistons peaked just as Darko entered the picture. For more than two years, the Pistons' starting five has been as solid as any other in the league. No one was breaking into it -- especially not an 18-year-old big man.
So Darko sat. And stewed.
He lived alone, one of his first mistakes. He got homesick. Started listening to the hecklers. Lost his passion for the game.
By midseason of his rookie year, he spent more energy living the life of an NBA player off the court than playing the game that an NBA player is paid to play. When he did get into the game, typically only seconds before everyone went home, he looked out of place.
"Awkward" barely captures how lost the big kid looked. He tried to do too much, with too little time. Then, after a while, he just quit trying. He was awful and he knew it. The shame and embarrassment of it all, for a kid as proud as Darko, was too much to bear.
By the end of his rookie season, Darko looked nothing like the 17-year-old kid I saw dominating players 10 years older in Serbia in the winter of 2002. He was timid and mechanical and just plain scared.
Larry Brown's harsh treatment of Darko only escalated his problems. Brown often made Darko the focus of practices. Brown rarely rewarded him with playing time after a good game.
Darko grew more inward. Dumars' attempts to mediate the conflict with the two usually ended in kind words, but not more playing time. Dumars never pushed his coaches to play Darko more because he wanted Darko to earn his time. For his part, Darko believed that no matter what he did, he wasn't going to get the opportunity he thought a No. 2 pick deserved. Something was lost in translation.
When Brown left the team this summer and the more easygoing Flip Saunders replaced him, Darko's biggest excuse had walked out the door.
I saw glimmers of the old Darko this summer at the European Championships, and then in the Pistons' preseason. But once he started off the regular season with a stumble, and Flip Saunders buried him at the end of the rotation, the writing was on the wall.
The Darko experiment was over. He hadn't progressed to the point where he could earn minutes on an elite team like the Pistons. He was under contract for only the next 18 months. The Pistons didn't see anything changing in the near future.
Dumars quietly sent out word that Darko might be available for the right price several months ago. A number of teams were interested, including Dallas, Minnesota, Phoenix and Memphis. All offered combinations that included young players, expiring contracts and first-round picks.
When the Orlando deal became a possibility, it was the one that made the most sense for the Pistons. The Pistons would get a lottery pick to replace Milicic and major salary relief. The team almost pulled the trigger several weeks ago. But after a meeting with Milicic's agent, Marc Cornstein, Darko responded with several fantastic practices. Dumars held back.
His concern: Was he giving up on Darko too early? After a few more weeks of reflection, and plenty of DNPs for Darko, Dumars finally got back on board and said yes.


Ned Dishman/Getty Images
With a fresh start in Orlando, things may be looking up.



For the Pistons, believe it or not, this trade is all about the future. Pistons owner Bill Davidson isn't James Dolan. He has not authorized Dumars to exceed the luxury tax threshold in payroll. With Ben Wallace hitting restricted free agency this summer and Chauncey Billups looking for a contract extension, Dumars needed a way of clearing some money off the cap.
This deal clears $9.2 million off Detroit's payroll next year. With Ben Wallace figuring to earn a starting salary of about $10 million per year, the Pistons have found a way to re-sign him without incurring the luxury tax.
They also found a way to replace Darko for the long term with the Magic's No. 1 pick in either 2007 or 2008.
Whoever the Pistons select is probably looking at a two-year stint on the practice team, but at least the Pistons get to reset the clock, given that Darko was approaching free agency. Furthermore, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the next draft pick. Rasheed and Ben Wallace are both 31. They cannot play big minutes forever.
The deal is equally interesting for the Magic. Darko is a calculated risk. But the Magic have little to lose at this point. And it's easy to see the upside, still.
Had Darko stayed in Serbia the past two years and continued to produce the numbers that he produced when he was 17 years old, he likely would've been the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft. The hype around him would only have grown, assuming a normal progression. So the Magic ended up trading a lottery-protected pick for a guy who likely would have gone No. 1.
Darko, theoretically, should be the perfect complement to Dwight Howard.
Howard does almost all of his work from within 10 feet of the basket. Darko prefers playing from 10 feet out or more.
Howard is one of the best rebounders in the league. If there's been one positive from Darko's brief stints on the floor, it's that he's proven to be a very good shot blocker.
He also should get the playing time. The Magic didn't give up a lottery pick and take on more cash to sit him at the end of the bench. They have roughly 18 months before he hits restricted free agency. By then, they have to have a handle on who he is. Can he play, or was he just one of the most overhyped players in the history of the draft? Look for Darko to get 25 to 30 minutes a night in Orlando.
Most important, he'll get a fresh start on a forgotten team. For that reason, no one makes out better on this trade than Darko. After years of bad break after bad break, the basketball gods are smiling on him again, it seems.
What will he do with the opportunity?
For once in his NBA career, it's all on him.
Can he shake off the rust of the last three years? Can he let the past go and rekindle the flame -- the red-hot intensity -- that once impressed so many? Did he learn anything from his three years in exile? Or will he fade quietly into the night?
I know that I don't know the answers the way I thought I did when I first fell for Darko 3½ years ago. I don't think he knows the answers either.
But despite his failures, I'm still cheering for Darko. The kid has too much talent, has overcome too much in his life, to fail now.
I still remember the wide-eyed kid from the Serbian ghetto, the one who had left his mother when he was 14 to support his family by playing pro basketball while his father was at war. I still remember the kid who played every minute like it was going to be his last. The kid who, when he was done with a killer workout, would stay on the floor and shoot jumpers for hours because the basketball floor was his home.
That kid hasn't shown his face here in a long time. Can he find himself again in Orlando?
Darko's story is far from over. Here's hoping for a happy ending.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Dimitris Armadoros

He is one of the biggest hopes of Yugoslavian basketball in his generation and that alone is something, considering the strength of Yugoslavian basketball. Very tall, agile, mobile player with tons of upside. Just has to continue to develop and he's a future NBA player. His outlook is very good considering the Yugoslavian basketball system is very good at developing players. He was thrown into the Seniors level this year and did a very impressive job for 16 year old.

Ha! never trust a Greek making future predictions. Chances are, he's bullshitting you.

Unless I am that Greek, of course. Of course.

[Immali]

VanK, thanks for the articles....

[maes]

Nobody is questioning if Darko has talent, but as Kwame and Isiah Rider have proven before, talent is only half of it.

its such a shame though, they could have had melo, wade, or bosh or hinrich, and they ended up with cato for that pick?

I was thinking about Kwame myself, everything that's being said about Darko's potential and athleticism and change of environement was said about Kwame & the Lakers last year. Ditto Eddy Curry. Heck, even Shaq called Curry the center of the future.

Picking Darko #2 is a classic case of drafting for position instead of talent. They knew LBJ was out of the picture, which left Darko, Melo, Wade. They didn't draft Melo because they had Prince at SF and they didn't draft Wade because of Billups & Rip.

It's the going to be remembered as the modern day Sam Bowie pick over Michael Jordan. Wade on the Pistons, Jordan in the backcourt with Clyde Drexler, perhaps it's better for the league neither happened.

[Sauru]

i am happy to see darko moving on, i look forward to seeing him get some good playing time to see if he is even worth talking about anymore. like mentioned a million times in the past it was such a waste of a pick for detroit, but on the other hand, if they did draft wade he would not be who is his today. he would have been good still imo, but would not be a starter and would be ridding the bench alot. i think if they took melo (more likely than wade) he would have helped them alot more. in hind sight if wade or melo explode into a hall of fame type of player this will be looked at just like the bowie pick of portland many years ago(also mentioned already in this thread).

in the end the pick was darko and they got nothing from him, so we cant talk about what could have been or should have been but what is, and what is now is a wasted slot that yielded you no production. this trade is good for both sides if you ask me, more so for darko though. i honestly believe they could have gotten better for darko (not much mind you) but i think all they wanted out of him was cap room, so it seems everyone is happy. good luck is all i can say about it

[Fenix]

First of all, Kwame doesn't have Darko's talent, length or hands. And the difference between Darko and other 'busts' is that their problem is heart and basketball IQ. Milicic doesn't have that. His problem was just that he was burried on the bench. I have seen him play in meaningful minutes and he showed passion for the game and huge heart. I really hope those two years of sitting on the bench didn't hurt his potential and that he'll still become a star in this league. This guy has it all. Height (7'2 with shoes), length (over 7'5 wingspan), great hands, shotblocking instincts, athleticism, great court vision plus good passing ability, ballhandling, superb midrange game, range all the way to the 3pt line... Just abot anything you would want from a basketball player. He doesn't have any of Dirk's deficiences (D, passing, low post game) and I only hope that he'll be capable of playing on his level some day. If he starts playing 20 minutes per game in Orlando, he'll become what Bogut means for Jae. I'll be his biggest fucking fan.

[mAgoTT50]

nice , maby darko can get some PT. it is easier now that he is stuck behind t.battie
and not ben wallace and dale davis,, i hope he do good. only time will tell..

[Rip32]

Good for Darko, I hope he gets to be a monster with D-White. But Ive heard rumblings that Kelvin Cato will never play for the Pistons. Joe D is shopping him for a PG. I would love to get like Mike James or Speedy Claxton (Best back-up PG in the L imo)

[Matthew]

First of all, Kwame doesn't have Darko's talent, length or hands. And the difference between Darko and other 'busts' is that their problem is heart and basketball IQ. Milicic doesn't have that. His problem was just that he was burried on the bench. I have seen him play in meaningful minutes and he showed passion for the game and huge heart. I really hope those two years of sitting on the bench didn't hurt his potential and that he'll still become a star in this league. This guy has it all. Height (7'2 with shoes), length (over 7'5 wingspan), great hands, shotblocking instincts, athleticism, great court vision plus good passing ability, ballhandling, superb midrange game, range all the way to the 3pt line... Just abot anything you would want from a basketball player. He doesn't have any of Dirk's deficiences (D, passing, low post game) and I only hope that he'll be capable of playing on his level some day. If he starts playing 20 minutes per game in Orlando, he'll become what Bogut means for Jae. I'll be his biggest fucking fan.

You have to love Homer's, and I dont mean the resturant.
Kwame doesn't have the length that Darko has? He's one inch shorter.
Kwame doesn't have the hands darko has? Theres no real way of proving that other than turnovers. But Kwame has played alot more minutes, so i divided minutes by turnovers to get the following:
Kwame 16 minutes per turnover
Darko: 12 minutes per turnover

Once again, theres no real way to prove either has better hands. But Darko is more turnover prone. Plus he usually played in garbage minutes against other scrubs. Kwame plays starter minutes. There is a difference.

Lol what heart and basketball iq? If Darko had all this talent, and all this heart, he would have been kicking down ben wallace's starting spot by now.

This guy has it all

Which is why two highly respected coaches wouldnt give him any minutes. WHat are you basing him being such an excellent playmaker and shooter on exactly? His missed dunks? His bricks off the window from 10 feet? His amazing 23 assists in 4 seasons?!

If he starts playing 20 minutes per game in Orlando, he'll become what Bogut means for Jae.

See, Jae isnt blinded as to what Bogut is. You dont see Jae saying "well bogut is a great 3 point shooter with great footspeed to press up guards in the backcourt" do you? Becuase its never happened. The same way you say Darko has 3 point range, when he hasnt hit one in a game in 4 seasons!

[air gordon]

good posts by Matthew, Maes, and Sauru. I agree

The magnitude of Darko's bust level normally sets back franchises several years and gets GM's fired

Basically Joe Dumars had the winning lottery ticket, cashed it in, kept the money in his pocket for 2yrs, and then traded all that money in for another lottery ticket

Joe Dumars should be so lucky that pick was basically handed to them by Vancouver.

[spreeul8r]

Well, you have to turn the time backwards to understand that:

Pronounced (MILL-eh-check)

Actually thats how you dont pronounce his name...Its Mill-Li-Chich

[Fenix]

You have to love Homer's, and I dont mean the resturant.
Kwame doesn't have the length that Darko has? He's one inch shorter.

With length I don't mean height. Sure Darko is an inch taller, but his standing reach is a whooping 9'3 1/2''. Kwame's is 9'.

Kwame doesn't have the hands darko has? Theres no real way of proving that other than turnovers. But Kwame has played alot more minutes, so i divided minutes by turnovers to get the following:
Kwame 16 minutes per turnover
Darko: 12 minutes per turnover

Once again, theres no real way to prove either has better hands. But Darko is more turnover prone. Plus he usually played in garbage minutes against other scrubs. Kwame plays starter minutes. There is a difference.

You can't just take stats of someone who doesn't play at all or he plays only in meaningless minutes and that multiply them to suit your needs. It doesn't work this way. I have seen Darko play in EC, and he has huge, soft hands and he always catches entry passes, good ones or bad ones. Kwame doesn't.

Lol what heart and basketball iq? If Darko had all this talent, and all this heart, he would have been kicking down ben wallace's starting spot by now.

Darko shows heart and desire when he plays when it actually matters. In EC he hustled and played with fire 90% of big men can only desire. He made good decisions and played smart. My theory and theory of a lot of others (Chad Ford - I know, I know ) is that he just feels offended when playing meaningless minutes or in meaningless games. A lot of people are like that, but he reportedly always plays hard in practices, he has great work ethic and he left everything he had on the court in the EC. Coaches doesn't play him, because he isn't a player for garbage minutes.

If he starts playing 20 minutes per game in Orlando, he'll become what Bogut means for Jae.

See, Jae isnt blinded as to what Bogut is. You dont see Jae saying "well bogut is a great 3 point shooter with great footspeed to press up guards in the backcourt" do you? Becuase its never happened. The same way you say Darko has 3 point range, when he hasnt hit one in a game in 4 seasons![/quote]

He tried four times. He played under Larry Brown for two seasons. Are you fucking retarted? He can shoot threes, I have seen him do it regulary when playing for Hemofarm. Sure, it isn't NBA range, but people say/write that he does it in the practices. So he most probably can shoot them, he just doesn't do it, because coaches want him to shoot from the midrange more or bang in the post.

[J@3]

Actually I don't think the coaches want him to do anything. Hence his 4mpg or whatever it is.

[Laxation]

Actually thats how you dont pronounce his name...Its Mill-Li-Chich

you quoted a shitload of unneccesary stuff just to say something that isnt even right in the first place?

his name IS pronounced Mill-eh-check, on NBA live they have it wrong
all european names that i know of with 'cic' in them are pronounced check

[Matt]

actually it's Mill-Li-CHICK, hahaha Go Darko!!!! The time of pwnage has begun!!!!

[Laxation]

no... its check

[1CenT]

Darko is just, different, scouting reports him to be Lebron equivalent, or greater than Dirk Nowitzki, or even young Wilt Chamberlain? So that is like 30 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks?

I"ll like to see him turn it around like Jermaine O'neal did.. Like 13/9 guy next season, then 19/10, and all-star from then on.. I wanna see a tough euro guy, Darko's got the body, and foot speed and size... He reminds me of Elton Brand but taller ..

[Laxation]

Just read that when Darko was on the court, we were outscored by 37.8 points for every 48 minutes he was on the floor.

[Fenix]

Actually thats how you dont pronounce his name...Its Mill-Li-Chich

you quoted a shitload of unneccesary stuff just to say something that isnt even right in the first place?

his name IS pronounced Mill-eh-check, on NBA live they have it wrong
all european names that i know of with 'cic' in them are pronounced check

No, he's right.

[Laxation]

For the record, it is pronounced Darko MILL-eh-CHICH. The man himself said it.

rats...

maybe darko is wrong then

[benji]

Once again, theres no real way to prove either has better hands.

Kwame has small hands, this has been established by tens of millions of scouts. (I may have exaggerated slightly) This is his major physical flaw. In that one Jordan book it mentioned how he couldn't palm the ball correctly because of it.

Darko has very nice hands, infact I can feel them all over my body right now and...oh, sorry. Lost focus.

His amazing 23 assists in 4 seasons?!

What's truly amazing is that's he accumulated four seasons in just two and a half years. Darko is simply a god among men. That's why he looks so disinterested. There is no challenge playing with mere mortals.

The problem, is that he's merely a demi-god, so he won't be called up to the big leagues with Zeus and crew, he's forced to toil on Earth. So he loses interest a lot. Like Tim Duncan.

[maes]

For kicks i dug up the nbadraft.net notes about darko, they're interesting considering Detroit is trying to use him as a dunking/rebounding big man.

Milicic is aggressive, he has an all around game. He’s strong on the boards. He has good ball-handling skills. He is quick, with a great understanding of the game (he is smart as a fox). He can kill you from the perimeter but he’s never gonna be a center. It would be such a waste for such a talent to be battling against 280 pounders. No Nowitzki, no Gasol should ever be playing in the paint. Only when playing against a zone defense of 2-3 or 2-1-2 is it logical to have an all-around tall guy causing troubles in the weak side of the opponents’ defense. 2-4 is for him. He's tough as nails against tall men of 210-220 pounds. I don’t see many PFs’ of 210 in the NBA.

He will never play center in the NBA because it would be a waste of his talents.