Does not look like Darko is exactly burning up the league there with his stats. 7 pts, 6 boars, 1.7 blocks in 24 mins.

Couple of things. LB has been able to mend relationships with players in the past. As long as Darko is willing to work this time which appears that he is then the 2 should be fine. Also the Grizz do have a financial commitment to Darko now. There are not the kind of team that can afford to have a guy making 7 mil/per benched.

Darko got 22 points, 12 boards, and 4 blocks tonight. He was part of an excellent defensive run, 16-2, late 3rd, to give Memphis control of the game in a win over the Lakers.

Darko has been injured a lot this year. Plus its his first year starting on top of that. Even with the injuries, there were some brutal stretches for him as far as playing too many minutes. (Not being in condition due to the injuries) Just lately, Darko has had some pretty awesome games. His defense has been solid all year. His offense is really coming around. Like a recent 9-10 effort at the line showing he is getting comfortable at the free throw line finally.

I feel blessed to be able to watch this guy play. A ton of fun to do so. League Pass is fantastic.

Looks like he was so excited by the LB rumors that it gave him extra motivation to go out there and prove that he can achieve his dreams!

(That and LA has 3 injured centers.)

Just a few really bad stats from Darko this year.

Only 4 free throw attempts in December, despite playing in 14 games (starting in 12 of them) and getting 324 minutes. That means 1 trip to the line every 7 games. Not good.

18 games this year with 2 or fewer points. 9 games with 2 rebounds or less. 33 games with more turnovers than assists (Sheed did that 17 times). Went 13 consecutive games without a steal.

On the positive side:
15 games with 3 or more blocked shots (Sheed has 18).
11 double doubles (Sheed has 10).


** I just give Sheed's info for perspective, since we see him every game.

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

I did not realize I had so many typo's in my last post. Geez.

Lee, if he avg that then I would be impressed. Always seems to be a ready excuse with that guy.

How'bout compare Darko and dice? Their salaries are similar(6-7 mil) and they play same position - C, though both aren't true centers.

Darko is as true a center as you can get. 300 pounds plus. 7-2. There is nothing of his game anymore that even hints at another position besides center. Both his offensive game and defensive game are 100% inside these days.

The problem with Darko is for every 20-10 game, he goes 0-6 and fouls out in 15 minutes.

Part of the problem is he plays with ball hogs that don't play D. So Darko doesn't get a lot of easy buckets, except put backs; and he is constantly getting fouls because the others guys are always letting their man drive to the basket.

Kobe dropped 53 last night on Mike Miller last night.

His teammates are jealous of him (excuse number 583).

i was at the memphis / warriors game a few weeks ago. Darko didn't get in and not much D was played on either side. But they did run a lot of high post work through Hakim Warrick...Warrick doesn't strike me as a good passer and the amount of contested jumpers he took (he did hit a fair amount) kinda reinforced the whole scorers mentality. It would have been interesting to see darko in the high post distributing the ball.

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The problem with that idea is that even though Darko's a good passer, he's an awful jumpshooter and is not a threat to drive. Playing through Darko on the offensive end is like plaing through Ben Wallace.