Lets see what he does against zo, and walker this saturday maybe even Shaq. Great test.

I can all but gurantee Darko gets stuffed 2-3 times by Zo on Saturday. Zo will be especially "up" for this one on saturday, and he's already been blocking shots at an insane rate.

Last time I checked, "all but guarantee" equals no guarantee.

Going to be an interesting game, that's for sure.

Less people will challenge Darko as they see he can block shots. Just like with Ben, people will have to actually watch the game to see how good Darko is. A whole lot of shots never go up because Ben is in the game, and a whole lot of plays don't even get tried on Ben's side of the floor due to his long quick hands. We are going to see the same thing with Darko. It won't always be in the stats.

So far, Darko does not show anywhere near the ability that Ben has to both get the block or shot alteration and also get the rebound. Of course, noone in the league is like Ben in this regard. What I want to see from Darko is more rebounds while still getting his fair share of blocks.

. . . the blocks per minute played stay about the same. Of course, as his rep gets better, fewer players will challenge him, but on the other hand, he moves his feet so well and jumps out so well that he may get some that way.

I noticed quite a few times in the latter stages of last season and in the playoffs, opponents were very open on threes because our guys were not jumping out as quickly and with their arms raised. That is one reason that I believed that they were tired.

It just has to make people alter their shots if you have a 7+ footer with good hops and long arms jumping out on trey attempts. The other night, he did not give up on that one in the corner and he either got a finger on it or just altered it, but he was nowhere in the vicinity when the shot was started. By the release point, though, he was there and prevented a good shot.

He has one thing that I have noted that the good shot blockers have. He can be jumping out or running with the shooter, but no matter which way he is running, he can hop the right way on the block. I have seen him, and Ben is so good at it, can leap either toward or back from the shooter, as the situation demands. Great control on the hops, just like Ben.

He will undoubtedly get fewer minutes so if he can get a couple of blocks per game, I will be very happy, if he can also get some boards and a few points. His respect-quotient will grow and he will be called for fewer fouls, too.

I think we'll see Darko's blocks and fouls per minute go down as he gets more comfortable.

Right now he's trying to block everything that comes near him, which although great to see from the aggressive stand point, is sometimes not the best decision given the situation. He picks up a lot of defensive fouls from being too aggressive and looking for the block when it isn't there.