If Deke decides to retire after this season, perhaps we should make Detroit an offer for Darko Milicic. He's been trapped on the bench since being selected #2 in the draft, his contract expires next year so we really have nothing to lose. If he doesn't turn out to be the talent he's supposed to be then we simply refuse to re-sign him the next year, he'll be a free agent. If he does pan out, we become the deepest team in the league at the 5, in an age when centers are hard to come by.
Well they basically have no use for Darko right now so I doubt they would be asking for much. Plus his salary is just about $3.6 million. Obviously they have enough big men on their roster, but they might be inclined to take one or two of our guards in return.
I doubt we could get Darko on the cheap. Even Kwame Brown got traded for a decent young player like Caron Butler. And if the Pistons would want Luther for Darko, I'd probably turn it down. Luther has shown that he can play in this league and has made a number of clutch plays in just his rookie year. Even with Flip Saunder's "players coach" type style, Darko is actually getting less minutes than last year. He'd be a risk, and the last thing we need on this team is to trade away a nice little piece like Luther, for a very possible bust in Darko.
Darko may go down as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, busts in NBA history. Has there been another No.2 pick who only played in garbage time in his 3rd season? He is not helping his team in any way at all. Well, may be you can make a case that there are some really good big men in the Detroit team, but still a No.2 pick in his 3rd season should at least be in the regular rotation of his team.
Darko can play and has plenty of talent, he only needs the right coach and the right setting. In Detroit , Coach Brown never liked rookies. Darko who was very young and need guidence and coaching in the NBA game has been without either and left to fend for himself. if the Rox gained Darko then he would need to be developed and JVG might not be the right person.
Yeah, this is the thing though. We know he has the talent - he can shoot well, he can rebound, he can block shots. Question is how effective he can be in an NBA team. People say he's a bust but the fact is nobody knows yet because he has gotten no playing time at all. Between the two Wallaces and McDyess the Pistons have virtually no use for another big man. They interviewed him and he basically says the only way he can develop or even "prove" himself is to get playing minutes on the floor, but he isn't getting any. Maybe he hasn't found the right coach, but who's to say JVG isn't that coach? My thinking is, Detroit really doesn't value him anyway and he doesn't have a big contract. Why would they demand a lot in return? It's a win-win for us too. At worst he doesn't pan out and gets limited playing time off the bench (possibly have Swift filling in some of Yao's backup minutes if he's still around), and at the end of the year we just don't offer him a new deal. Even then he's still going to be a 7 foot center giving us lots of size and presence in the middle, which is an advantage for us anytime. At best he shows us just how good he really is, and we get two terrific centers with lots of offense.
Here is the reality check: Other teams may want Darko. Some of these teams can offer much more to the Pistons. The Pistons will take the best offer. It doesn't matter what they think of Darko; what matters is how much they can get for him. He won't be a Rocket unless we offer them the best deal. You can apply the above logic to any player you want from another team. If the Rockets don't make the best offer, we won't get the player in a trade. Simple as that.
Come on! Detroit wont trade Darko now. He is the insurance in case Ben Wallace leave via free agent this coming summer!
That's very true, but then, he isn't exactly going to be a hot commodity. More likely than not it won't be an easy trade to make, but it could turn out to be a big steal if we succeeded. And I have a feeling Ben Wallace isn't going anywhere.
Interesting thing about the Wallace boys and Antonio McDyess. They are within 2 weeks of each other in age. All 3 are 31, will be 32 in September. I can see the more reality in Detroit moving one of those 3, probably McDyess, as they get a little older and then plugging in Darko. I can't see Dumars repeating the Jermaine O'Neal Portland Trailblazer blunder. O'neal spending 4 or 5 years with Portland right out of H.S., in no ways ready to play, and then about the time he hits 22 or 23, they let him go to Indiana and blossom. Detroit is in an enviable position. They are deep. If they have a key injury to the 3 perimeter starters, their front court depth allows them to go get another quality perimeter player if need be. if not, just play on, win some mroe rings, and whoever ages first, gets moved, plug Darko in, and go on down the road.
Just a guess, but either Darko, McDyess or Ben Wallace won't be with the Pistons next season. My guess is either one or both of Darko and McDyess will be gone. I agree their front line is aging and Dumars will address that over the summer.
No one has even mentioned that Darko is sitting behind the aging Davis too. Detroit will not give up on him though. They will eventually make him a legitimate big man, it just might take another 3 years to do it. Their fans will be very upset if the man picked before carmelo, bosh, wade, ford doesn't pan out. I don't think he will ever be an allstar but I can see him being a good player one day and at this point Detroit has to be happy with just good. Saves them a little face at least.
Next year he's going to be a free agent. Either they trade him now or they give him some significant playing time next year (which is less likely except in the unlikely scenario that they don't re-sign Ben Wallace to a new deal). In which case, even if he doesn't get traded this year, any team with a good offer will have a very high chance of snatching him -- he's already very discontent and probably bearing a lot of resentment towards the Detroit organization for letting him rot away for 4 years without any playing time. He certainly won't be looking forward to re-signing with Detroit once his contract's over.
he practices against the best front court in the world and never got any better. and don't give me that "larry brown doesn't like rookies" because he is starting 3 of them right now.
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/milicic_050728.html "Milicic signed through the 2006-2007 season Pistons Exercise Team Option On Center Darko Milicic AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the team exercised its team option on the contract of center Darko Milicic. Milicic’s contract is now extended through the 2006-07 NBA season." He'll be a restricted free agent after that. --------------- To your credit, some Pistons fans agree they should move him now. They typically package him with Arroyo, who annoys Pistons fan. You can find the boards and blogs. They are assuming, of course, Big Ben gets his extension this summer. I'd rather have LaMarcus Aldridge - same height, weight, quicker, plays closer in. So, I wouldn't give up the pick. You'd think Detroit would prefer to look more to a team like Atlanta or Charlotte for a trade of a player and pick.
Yeah that's why I said "next" year, not this year. Next year is 2007, remember? I know his contract is through 2006-07.
