That won't happen. The Darko thing in my opinion was a cultural clash especially with Big Ben.

Darko just did not want to work. Amir is different, however lets hope he gets more of a role than the new HVC or White Towell as we have had a
few more bloweouts the other way this season.

We know exactly how many minutes Darko got and when. Let's see if the kid will sit through the CWebb/DaleD/Dyess era?
Hopefully Orlando won't snatch him for Battie or worst.

The Pistons can and will pay this kid the most money. Our frontline is old. Opportunities abound.

No need to be a paranoid. I think Joe is a lot smarter after the Darko-era and will find ways to handle this better.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

Nice Amir Johnson puff piece on Pistons.com

PISTONS: Amir: A Positive Force

Just read the article on Amir on pistons.com and all I can say is........PLAY HIM!!!!!! He deserves a shot to fail. We lack foot speed, energy and athleticism in the starting lineup and he has all these things. It seems as if he has literally done everything asked of him, give him some spot mins, who knows he just may succeed, but at least give him a shot at failure.

I would even give AJ minutes at the expense of taking a seat back this season. I don't believe that would be the case if the kid play.

I keep going back to Joe's comment on the possibility of Amir playing this season... he directly said "Yes, the season is still young"... I would read this to mean that there will be a move to clear room for him... that's why I won't be concerned until after the deadline passes.
I think we can now say that the league woke up on this kids potential... no sense trying to keep his value down.
Just recently read that there is a contingency in Dices's contract that he will be signed through 2009 (if he plays 60 games prior season) and Joe said he won't be trading him this year.
The other options to clear room for Amir is...
A) Move Sheed or Brahma
B) Play Sheed less minutes.
C) Play Sheed more at the 5
D) Play Amir at SF

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With politicians the future lies ahead

Adding to that. Or

e) play McDyess and Webber less

f) play JMAX at small forward.

g) keep Davis out of the rotation until a bit closer to the playoffs, although this time, really do start using him as the playoffs approach.

h) Drastically reduce Sheed's minutes for the moment, giving his ankle / knees plenty of time to heal.

i) Just play the guy. It does not have to be a lot. It does not have to be every game. Just play the guy. If you take 30 seconds per game away from Tay, Sheed, Dyess, Webber, on average, that equates to a 6 minute stint for Amir every third game.

It really is that simple. No reason why he should not be getting 5 MPG. Not like he is likely to hurt the team out there.