1) Rashard took almost 10M more than the MLE to go to Orlando. THAT is a big deal and Orlando WILL be a winner in the East with Rashard. 2) Milicic will be taking a small pay cut. He's not going to get mroe than 8M per year from anyone anymore. 3)Read my salary cap posts dude. There is no sign and trade. They renounced him. He can't be signed and traded. He has to sign elsewhere. Bottom line: Darko will either play in Charlotte or Milwaukee for 6-7M per season or take a full MLE from someone. This guy has been screwed over for 4 years now. I'm in fact certain that he will give up a million or two for minutes, and you're right, maybe a winning team is the least important factor of the bunch. But if you devise a formula where money is most important, then minutes, then winning... We would still be one of the top teams in contention to land him. Oh and if your'e banking on our team getting through SA, PHO and DAL despite being lesser, then I'm glad you're not the GM. It's nice to be a Cinderella story in the playoffs and beat the bigger teams but the fact of the matter is talent and homecourt are the most important things. More talent, more wins, homecourt in more rounds, more championships. I can imagine it. Morey saying "yeah, our team is decent, but I'm banking on a ****load of luck to compete with the top teams."
While Orlando renounced Darko and made him an unrestricted free agent, they kept ahold of his bird rights and can still sign him and go over the salary cap. I don't know how that all works but that is how it's been precieved in the media from what I've been reading.
We don't know what his market value is yet. Even if its 6 million, over 5 years that **** adds up. Its probably going to be like 8 million though and could be as much as 10 million. 3 million dollars isn't a "small" paycut. He's going to take the money. When was the last time you've had a guy as young as Darko that could command 6-10 million in salary to just dump it in order to be the 3rd option on a contender? Well, I'm assuming we get SOMEONE to play backup PF at least. I mean if we do no more moves we are screwed yea. If we can get a half decent PF that can fill the shoes Howard left, we should be fine. We would essentially be the same team except have the addition of Mike James, a healthy Bonzi and have a new coach with Yao starting to enter his prime. I don't see why we can't beat the big 3. We don't need to sign a big name like Darko to be contenders.
I think Darko would be a great fit for this team. We're always talking about size at the power forward spot and how we need a shot blocker, well Darko is that guy. He brings various skills to the team that if used properly can be very beneficial. I don't see anyone we could trade for that provides the skills, age, and contract that would be better than Darko, remember he's only 22 yrs old. He could be our PF or at least a developing back-up to Yao. I love Dikembe but he should retire, and Big Jake is not the answer also NO to Joe Smith, Raef Lafrentz, Jamal Magloire, K-Mart, or any other run down vet. Go young, Go DARKO!!!
No thanks to Darko guys. Here's a little quote I picked up on while listening to the radio here in Orlando. And I'm paraphrasing so take it for what its worth. Darko was told by his father that "If you took the NBA as seriously as you did Video games, you'd be unstoppable." Darko just doesn't care. He is completely about making just enough money to be doing what he wants to be doing.
Darko Milicic has the astounding ability of being 7' tall, weighing 270-280 lbs, and a great athelete... and still remains invisible on the court for long stretches. There was a guy who had similar invisibility superpower as Darko on this team, we traded his ass to Memphis along with a pick for Battier to free up more minutes for a guy who doesn't have this ability.
Great post. I have been greatly amused at the posts slamming Lewis for not forgoing $10 million a year just so he play next to Yao & Tracy "It's on me" in their ongoing quest to get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. All of those folks who were hoping against hope that he'd give Houston a whopper of a hometown discount have now turned on him with a vengance I see. I must confess that I'm completely ambivalent about Darko. He has the size and the offensive skills but I feel there's something lacking in him - attitude maybe? Nevertheless, at this point in time he's probably one of the better options they have left. The only other alternative I can see would be a trade with Atlanta for one of their forwards but none of those guys really excite me either. I agree that what they've done so far in signing Hayes & drafting (yet) another undersized forward in Landry is not going to enable them to get through the teams they have to compete against in the West. At this time all we can do is speculate and wait for this little drama to play itself out. However, I would not be surprised in the least to find all of us right back in this same spot one year from now.
I am starting to the think that Team Rockets has the idea that Yao and TMac have to raise their level of play to take the team forward. After all, they make the big money, and "we" are not going to break the bank to give them "all star" role players. With Morey, it is clear that the "Cato contracts" are history. In a way this is a good thing, but, so far, Team Rockets has not found the right combination of "budget" role players. What do you think?
I guess I dont wanna be "just fine". It's time to pick up the trophy. It would've been nice to get out of the first round last season, but we are at the stage in yao/mac's window where we need to be making the finals. Standing pat ain't going to help us. Who can we sign? Webber? Joe Smith? You ask what his market value is. Well, we can offer over 6M per season (starting at MLE). Other teams will offer what? 7M per season? Fact of the matter is, only two teams can offer this guy more than the MLE. One is loaded with big men and need their money to retain their guys (Milwaukee) the other is Michael Jordan (Charlotte). Are you implying there's no way Daro doesn't sign with one of these two? Again, there is no sign and trade.
After reading all the info from the media about Darko, I really do get a feeling that this guy is very gifted but at the same time, he is just a normal 22 years old who doesn't always give his best, which translates into that he would slacks off when he is not motivated.. Attitude is a very big thing in my book, no matter how smart ones are, they need to work hard to success... Anyway, if there is someone that's nearly as gifted but with a hard working attitude, I will definitely take that person instead of Darko..
I think that they are caught in a very bad cycle one that they really can't break out of unless they decide to move Yao or Tmac. Since that would signal yet another rebuilding campaign which would be bad for business, that's not an option. Ever since the McGrady trade, the primary objective for this organization has been to find that right combination of budget players. They've tried cheap older players, cheap younger players and now it seems they are pining their latest hopes on fat quitters and undersized players. Meanwhile, the West just keeps getting stronger and stronger while it's all the Rockets can do to barely keep pace. My heart I would like to believe that they will bust through next season while my head tells me otherwise. It's an unfortunate situation but I feel that they have simply made too many mistakes over the past 7 years and those mistakes have caught up with them. Look at Utah as an example. In the past 7 years, they watched the Stockton-Malone era come to an end and they are out of the playoffs for a number of years. They stick to their plan and use the draft and free agency to rebuild their team. This year, they made it to the WCF and it's all because they had a plan and stuck to that plan. Here, it has been the head coach who has taken the fall when things don't quite go according to plan. First Rudy T, and now JVG. It will Adelman's turn up next if he can't work a basketball miracle of sorts. Over the past 7 years, the Rockets found themselves in the NBA lottery 4 times which has yielded them exactly one player (Yao). Their drafts have failed to stock the roster with young players so they have been forced to look elsewhere with mixed results. The repercussions of the 2001 draft debacle are still being felt here. The big trade bringing Tmac here gutted the team at the guard & forward positions in ways that have yet to be fully addressed 4 years later. I am not being nasty here, just candid. In this league, the margin for error is small and the type of mistakes like the ones they have been making for years now will always come back to haunt a franchise for years to come.
LOL you're all thinking it so I"m gonna say it. Yao's video gaming with Darko's video gaming and you'd have the unbeatable 7 foot Warcraft tandem. LOL Seriously, curfew for Darko!!
