Darko Milicic is cut loose by Orlando (UPDATE: Signs with Memphis)

My two cents are to offer Darko the MLE. He's more proven than Amir at the very least and has the ability to block shots and rebound - sore areas for our team. Plus he's extremely young and has gifted passing ability along with nice size as a PF/C combo.

I know it's a risk..one that we've been burned on before, a la Swift. However, Adelman may be the first coach who can actually relate to the poor guy. Plus the pressure won't be as burdensome when he plays alongside Yao. That would allow him to focus defensively and contribute offensively when he's in rythem.

With the shortage of quality big men available within our price range, I would rather go for Darko than risk a retread (Joe Smith) or a project (Amir). Truth is, I would be satisfied with all 3, but for the MLE I go with Darko.

 

not a good fit? how do you figure? Post play is preferred in an offense where we utilize Yao's high post passing and vision, not to mention his 89% free throw clip. This allows us to have a post presence regardless of where Yao is on the court. Throw in that Darko can pass pretty well and the two (Darko and Yao) are interchangeable in this offense. We don't require Darko to do more than a traditional PF. If you're looking for versatility, please tell us who out there is affordable with such a skill set minus the baggage.
If you're wanting a Brand or Boozer shooting PF, we've got one in Landry - though considerably less polished.

 

What? Darko when at the combine had one of fastest lateral quickness of the draft even faster then melo.

 

The upside to getting Darko would not be on the offensive end. It would be his long arms on defense. But it's not necessary that our PF score a lot of points, so really we just need another shot blocker, which Darko is.

The downside would be his lateral movement on help defense.

 

again where do you get Darko has low lateral quickness? It is one of his strenghts. If you watched him play in Orlando he was quite effective guarding the pick and rolls.

 

Most PF's have a midrange game.

 

Probably, Darko is the best PF we can get this summer. But we should be patient.

 

Does Orlando retain ability to SnT?

 

Thinking on it, I can't dispute that really. Though I will say usually only All-star PF's are actually consistent with the 8-14 footers. Seeing as how we don't require an all-star PF, I'm content with a limited, albeit effective, offensive arsenal.

 

Uh, all you guys looking for a sign and trade might be out of luck. If the Magic are indeed relinquishing his rights today, we won't have anyone to sign and trade with. A straightforward free-agent signing would be the only hope.

 

We do not want Darko posting up and Yao floating around the perimeter; it should be the other way around. Yao is one of the two best post players in the game today, according to Shaq (Duncan being the other). There is no good reason to pull him up top for DARKO, of all people. Darko would be the one that plays up top in the high post, and as the hotzones show, he is not that good shooting from those zones. Darko and Yao should NOT be treated as interchangeable parts, because Yao will always be the superior low-post option by a longshot.

 

... I'm sure he'd still do a sign and trade with the Magic, if it gets him more money. It's just a matter of if we have something the Magic want, and are willing to pay that for Darko. But, it's probably a risk worth taking, if we can't get Amir Johnson. But, I'm not very sold on Darko. His dad said it best, "if he'd just play basketball as hard as he does video games, he'd be an all-star."

... just not sure he's motivated to be the best, like Yao and TMac are. Same problem we had with Swift, and probably the same results. But, at least he'd have trade value, if someone thought he could still do better in a different situation.

 

Orlando rescinded the qualifying offer and dropped his bird rights. There will be no sign n trade. The only way Darko can make more than the MLE is if Charlotte, Memphis or Milwaukee sign him to more outright.

 

No, this isn't true. A FA can be renounced, and then an S&T can be worked out.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm

See Item 76.

 

In this offense with adleman you can play them together and intercgange them because of the way the offense is ran. The high post can be ran on both sides. In sacramento you had vlade and chris webber both at high post positions and the intiator whoever it may be the 1,2,3 would enter the basketball 2 either of these positions. As a result you have guy's running off of the high post players,you have guy's going back door, you have high screen and rolls and the big guy's would need to hit those 15 footers to keep the defense in honest creating a triple threat.


Versatilty is big in adleman's system. Really all 5 guy's will need to be able to shoot and pass and even dribble the baksetball in his sytem. Vlade would bring the ball up the floor, webber would bring the ball up the floor and they both would even be the middle guy's on fast breaks.


Darko would fit perfect, he would get a chance to use his passing skills that lay dormant. he would use his ability to hit the 15 footers, he would use his skills to be a good screen and roll offensive player all skills which are Big in adelman's system. Defensively he is faster than dirk playing screen and roll and really overall foot speed wouldn't be that big of deal because his + outweighs his negatives. Darko and yao would be monsters together along with battier,t-mac and mik james. They would be the best starting 5 in the game.


The negative in this whole scenario is that Darko isn't worth more than the full MLE. He hasn't proved a thing yet, but if he were to come to houston with the MLE he would have his best season's yet as a Pro.

 

Great find, SPE. Thanks.

Item #33 says: "After renouncing a player, the team is still permitted to re-sign that player, but they must either have enough cap room to fit the salary, or sign the player using the Minimum Salary exception."

I wonder if that still applies on a sign and trade of a renounced player.

 

Darko..yeah I'd do it. He'd be a good addition. Hey we need two 7 footers. Look at San Antonio. They got Francisco Elson 7-0, Fabricio Oberto 6-10, and Duncan 6-11. Darko doens't have to play all the time. Just having him on the roster gives us another weapon that we can match up with other teams.

 

I'm still waiting on his potential to fully come out.

 

I always find it funny when guys who have obviously been on this board for a while say things like this. If Orlando is out that makes the Grizzles the only team with cap and intrest. If the Grizz decide to go with a more affordable rout say Andy(which has been rumored) that is a guranttee Darko will be an Mle player. I really do not understand how you guys think Darko with net 9 mil with one team that if they even have intrest will be bidding against themselves.

Plus you Morey bashers can go f**k yourselves all he has done for this team is get a valuable player for our team(mj) in return for a stupid contract and convince an assest in Bonzi to stay. The draft was questionable but that has been his only shaky ground!

 

Seattle rec'd a huge TE in the Shard deal, meaning they could get Darko via an SnT (as best I understand the arcane renouncement terms).