I'm not debating that he was a legit #2 pick. As written, I was excited when we drafted him. I believed the hype.

But 2 years from now he will be into his second contract, and whlie it may take that much time to validate his draft position, it was the right move for the franchise to move him.

The financial aspect of paying a guy a healthy salary and not getting production from him is big. I'm not saying it was entirely Darko's fault, but that's reality. If we had kept him, he would have become a very expensive bench player at the rate he was developing given the minutes we could provide.

Believe me, Darko is truly happier in Orlando. He gets to play, and he will get his chance to get paid. I hope he sends Joe Dumars a thank you card.

__________________
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."

What about Sheed? Has got paid $11.5 million this year. Career lows in points per game, field goal percentage and career high in technicals.

DMC at this point is a better player than Sheed. I know it is hard for people to face that, but Sheed has worse head problems than DMC and is certainly one of the most overpaid players in all of pro basketball anywhere.

Of course many people will disagree with me, but $11.5 million this year for these results. The biggest heist by a player in pro basketball this year.

Buddhafan, with all due respect and I do respect your bball knowledge, Darko doesn't live in the same area code as Sheed when it comes to court sense, man defense or teamwork.

Yes he is younger, yes he has more athleticism. But DMC does not have a go to move (like Sheed does), he does not have 3 point range (like Sheed does) and he doesn't have a lot of experience (like Sheed does).

One day, Darko will be better than Sheed, but that day has not yet come. Meanwhile, Joe Dumars didn't give Sheed $11 million to win regular season games or put up gaudy stats. He did it to give the franchise a shot at a title.

__________________
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."

Thanks. I heard it on some sports show that he was 23, thought that was kind of old.

Anyway. The DMC pick did scare a lot of GM's away from selecting Euro players with no experience so high. Of course there is the age restriction now.

I hope you are right.

I see Milicic as purposefully trying to have a stoic demeanor... ala Duncan, or Oden. With Orlando, he seems to always be doing the dirty work, helping on D, tipping rebounds out, etc... not the actions of a dispassionate player. But there is also a huge unselfishness to him, which adds to this. He never chases stats and seems to get as much enjoyment from passing the ball as scoring. In that respect, he is very Sheed-like. This characteristic was why he felt so self conscious playing garbage time bball for Detroit. He thought he was better than that, and he protested by not going out there and looking to show off.

But the dude does have a short fuse (remember Mutumbo?). There have been a couple examples of Darko's temper this year. The latest was when he was about .5 seconds away from strangling a ref and got hauled to the locker room by some teammates.

__________________
"Will was rolling, wasn't he? I roll with the guy that's hot." MC

That ref wouldn't have been Joey Crawford by any chance? Then DMC would really be Duncan like. LOL

Buddhafan, sheed is on fire.

__________________
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."

Be glad we don't need to see Sheed dominate a game, means we are one diminsional. But I would like to see him go 15 for 30 and 10 boards a couple times a year, just so I know he can.

DMC will put up another double double before Sheed does.