I'm not point out the stats. I'm pointing out all the games he played REAL minutes in, and the fact that we WON them all. I don't care about the stats. Though I figured I didn't have to hold your hand through that one despite the fact that that was EXACTLY what I said in the post.

Whoaa, hold on there Prince. I meant no disrespect. I understand those were games and not "stats." I was complimenting you on taking the time to post them. No offense to you personally, I just disagree with ya on the HVC.

Darko was benched because of his "effort level". Flip said it himself after the New York game I think it was. I am not comparing them as players, I am simply stating that there are other players on our very team that have effort issues at times. I don't think anyone is expecting him to be equal to Sheed right now. If you are, you were setting yourself up for disappointment from the start.


I know this isn't the end-all be-all, but...

Rebounds Per 48 Minutes
Rasheed: 8.873
Darko: 9.810

Darko may be a bad rebounder, but Darko would have a hard time staying away from "half as many rebounds as Sheed". Sheed is one of the worst rebounders at his position.

This is a team with a starting 7 footer that has taken 265 threes in only 49 games. In fact, 41% of Rasheed's FG attempts are from three point range. To tell Darko he can't play in his comfort zone (mid-range) is the first mistake Larry Brown made with him.

If its done then I cannot see this in any other way then a simple cap dumping strategy.

Kato is an FA this summer so we move Darko's 5.5 mil and Arroyo's 4mil. Not going to get us under the cap but it will avoid any luxery tax. Not sure how close we will be to it this summer, anyone know? With Prince's 7.5mil and Bens 10+ we could be close to it at around 70 mil. Then Chauncey in 07 I think would defiently push us over if Darko is retained.

I think we need Arroyo though. I don't buy that we do not need him when Hunter returns because we traded for Arroyo last season because Hunter was not getting it done by himself. Who else do we have? Acker? Slidding Prince over to backup PG? Delfino?

This is only the 2nd time in francise history where we have a shot at homecourt throughout the Finals. I would hate to see us blow it just so Big Bill can avoid luxery tax in the future.

Prince has a right idea about letting Darko play in his comfort level. Take for example the Phoenix Suns, when they got Boris Diaw they knew he had some faults in his game that Atlanta tried to strengthen but with no great enough results -

Phoenix on the other hand embraces Diaw's talents and what he can do, not what he can't. That allows the player to play to his best potential and when he realizes this he'll step up his game to the next level and improve on his weaknesses.

That's why rookies don't have coaches breathing down their necks for every single play they do wrong. Giving them leeway and knowing that they'll make mistakes is part of the learning process.

__________________

I don't know what else someone can write about Darko. Everything has been covered. For some reason the kidds not playing and there does not appear to be a plan to play him anytime soon.

I doubt any trade with Orlando actually goes down, especially one involving Darko, however could you imagine that front court in a few years? Dwight Howard + Darko Milicic? They would compliment each other so well with Dwight dominating the inside, and Darko playing the perimeter. Howard is on pace to becoming the best PF in the game, and Darko will be a Top 5 Center and possibly defensive player of the year.

Thats why the trade will never happen, we don't want to get run over by that freight train.

Well I heard that Darko has had an ingrown toenail ever since the infamous "workout"... this has effected his mad hops and dead-eyed shooting.... the only real reason he's not playing is because he said something to Joe D' wife in Serbian.... translation "hey baby put a lil Serb in your curves... once you have a Serb ya got the nerve"

Serbian legend stories are welcome here

how are you so convinced darko isn't the answer?? he's a mixture of sheed, ben and mcdyess. he can shoot the j like sheed and mcdyess. he can block shots like ben. he rebounds like sheed. he passes like sheed. he's unselfish like sheed. he can hit free throws better than the rest of the bigs.

if you didn't notice ike diagu wasn't a starter when he came in and took it to our bigs. foster takes it to our bigs on a regular basis. scott pollard isn't a starting big in this league yet he was dogging our boys on the boards. don't point out darko's faults cause they are the same as the starters. the starters have more experience to lean on. darko does a real good job on these young guys just playing on raw talent alone.

diop on dallas is now starting. darko posterized him. rasho nesterovic has started off and on for san antonio. darko routinely dogs him. dikembe mutumbo got punked and blocked by darko. alonzo mourning got posterized by darko. shaq couldn't score on darko in the post. i disagree with your opinion that darko hasn't gone up against real talent.

both of these guys have 4 other all stars playing around them to carry them when they have off games. i'm sure the 4 starters could "carry" darko against the hawks. they are just on the court to contribute without stats. darko could do the same thing. darko does a lot of things that don't get on the stat sheed either. he gets out on pick and rolls, he intimidates shots, he moves the ball well on offense, he's a legit threat on offense so his man can't play zone like they do against ben.

darko actually comes in and shuts down the paint on defense. then he goes to the foul line offensively maybe. sheed shuts down the paint on defense then doesn't come past the 3 point line on offense. why do you think that darko won't grab the same amount of boards as sheed when they play very similar. prince may not be saying it but yes i'm saying it darko would grab more boards than sheed would if they played equal minutes.