Behind-the-scenes progress by Milicic impresses Pistons

http://www.detnews.com/2003/pistons/0312/01/d04-338606.htm


Rookie, 18, responds to tough love from coaches, teammates

By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News


Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News

Darko Milicic currently weighs 263 pounds, up from the 246 when he first came to the Pistons.


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NEW YORK -- For Darko Milicic, the Pistons' highly-publicized second overall pick in the draft last June, progress isn't measured in minutes, points and rebounds.

Not yet. He isn't getting any.

No, progress for the 18-year-old Milicic is measured in terms of his size, strength, conditioning, work ethic and, perhaps most significantly, by his fortitude.

And by all accounts, he is progressing remarkably on all fronts.

"I really do think he's improving," said Pistons assistant coach Herb Brown, who works with Milicic every day. "He's getting settled in. He has a house now, a license and a car (two cars actually). That has made life easier for him.

"He has really dedicated himself to being a better player, and to adjusting to the NBA way of doing things and to the American way of life."

Milicic lives alone, and he spends just about every waking hour doing something basketball-related. He works out with strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander before and after every practice and every game.

If the team's game day shoot-around is at 10 a.m., he is at the arena working with Kander an hour before everybody else. After games, he is in the training room, riding a stationary bike and lifting weights.

"Before I go to bed, I have to do 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups," Milicic said. "I have to do this every night or I cannot sleep."

Herb Brown tells the story of the Sunday the Pistons returned home from their four-game, five-night West Coast trip. The team had gotten back into Detroit in the early morning hours and the players were given the day off.

"It was Sunday afternoon and I went into the office to get some work done," Brown said. "Darko was there. He said he wanted to do some shooting. The thing is, he didn't have his license yet, so he had to hire a private car to take him there and bring him back. That's initiative. That's being a self-starter and that's very important.

"I took him to dinner that night. He's really growing and he really wants to get better and that's the first step. He wants to get better and he's willing to put in the extra time."

His diligence has impressed everyone in the organization, especially Ben Wallace.

"I told Arnie that he (Darko) needed to get in that weight room, and I set up a couple of programs for him," Wallace said. "He's been in there working every day. Every day."

Stronger, faster

The results have been unmistakable. His is a long way from Wallace's chiseled physique, but Milicic's chest is thicker and his arms are much more cut and defined than they were.

He weighed 246 pounds when he first came to the Pistons. He now weighs 263. He came in with 7 percent body fat. That is now down to 5 percent.

"He had a 24-inch vertical leap, which for a 7-footer wasn't bad," Kander said. "But he was always a single-footed jumper. If you looked at the tapes, every jump was off one foot. In the NBA, as a big guy, you can't be a one-foot jumper. There is a lot of two-feet, repetitive jumping. And he had to learn to do that."

Kander said Milicic would be good on his first jump, but then fall off dramatically on each successive jumps. He would hit 24 inches on his first jump, then 23, then 17 and down.

Now, Kander said, his first jump is 30 inches and he is able to keep his second and third jumps at 26-27 inches.

"He's gotten so much better," Kander said.

The one problem area that remains is his aerobic conditioning. Despite all his work, he still struggles to play at an NBA pace for longer than three- or four-minute stretches.

"His stamina isn't where it needs to be," Herb Brown said. "But he is an 18-year-old kid who is growing very rapidly. I don't think his aerobic conditioning has caught up to his physical growth."

Kander said the problem is partly related to his European training background.

"He is just now learning about NBA conditioning," Kander said. "In Europe, he was used to doing a lot of slow, endurance conditioning. We do all speed work. But in the weight room, we slow it down and build strength. In Europe, he did just the opposite. He was doing real fast repetitions in the weight room. It's a 180-degree turnaround for him."

Perhaps the area in which he has grown the most, though, is in fortitude.

"He no longer grabs his arm or his leg after he makes a mistake or misses a shot," Kander said. "He is much better at fighting through things."

No quitting

That might have been the first lesson Milicic learned. During one of the first summer league practices in Orlando back in July, Milicic was really struggling. He was getting banged around and he was messing up one drill after another. At one point, frustrated, he grabbed at his ankle and started limping around.

Not a single coach, player or trainer asked if he was hurt or if he needed to sit out. He was like a child seeking attention, and he was ignored. He was the loneliest player in the gym at that moment, but the tough-love message was clear. You don't quit, you keep playing.

"He's made big strides," said Wallace, who has roughed up Milicic often in practice. "When we first started practicing, we would bang him up a little bit and after he'd miss a shot he would look over at the coaches, you know, because he thought he was getting fouled. Now I think he understands that he ain't getting any calls. We bang him up and he keeps coming back. He keeps playing. That's a good sign."

It can't be easy to be the second overall pick, have all the hype and accolades coming in and find yourself stapled to the end of the bench. Not for a 22-year-old, and certainly not for an 18-year-old.

"It's a discouraging thing to be the second pick and not be playing," Herb Brown said. "That said, a lot of people in that position would just be going through the motions, figuring two or three years down the road they would be playing. But this kid wants to play now and he's been working very diligently to try to make himself a better player."

To his credit, Milicic seems to understand what he is up against.

"It is not easy to sit there, but I am not frustrated," he said. "I am waiting and working. I will be ready."

You can reach Chris McCosky at (313) 222-1489.

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Size, strength, conditioning and even vertical leap, they all sound so familiar to us. Does Yao have the same work ethics? Do our coaches have any well-planned program to develop yao? How about teammates to help out each others?

I hope we can we get similar information.