I don't think Darko's offense is there. He is way further along defensively. I don't think Flip trusts him offensively. What we need to do is turn him loose as a shot blocker for short stretches--play to his current strength. Our bench players need to have defined roles. The Lakers had a weak bench but there guys had defined roles and it brought three rings. The bull's bench had defined roles.

i agree one of the problems with our bench is they don't have defined roles. i think if flip told delfino and evans to come in and run and gun with arroyo things would be bettter. told darko he's the # 1 option on offense in the halfcourt. darko's offense is there i think he just defers too much. like someone said maybe he needs to come in the game like the black hole (jmax) and look to score every time he touches it. i think flip needs to go down the line with the bench and tell them exactly what he wants from them. if he told darko every rebound he gets adds another minute of playing time. darko might be a rebounding madman. just a thought.

I like that! LOL Darko needs to be in the game more. I'm all for doing this in the framework of the teams goal but dang man did he block mutumbo's hook shot staight up? huzzah.

I don't think Darko's ever dominated in the way that most NBA players did in their younger days. Because of his height and physical abilities, he's been stuck in places beyond his actual abilities and therefore he's always been a project. Its always been: one day he'll be great.

__________________

I think that Laimbeer should be hired as Darko's motivational coach.

I am with you. Lambs would be perfect because he was a player who, despite limited capabilities (like no hops, lack of quickness, etc) made a real name for himself and was a huge contributor to the Pistons championship years.

I we could add the motivation and mean streak to the abilities Darko already has, we would have a winner. I am tired of this disappointed feeling I get when DMC comes off the floor. He should be making a real impact already, on both ends of the floor.

If he doesn't watch out, those footprints up his back are going to be from JMax. I am beginning to believe that a young player in this league needs to be more selfish. When Darko comes in, it seems to me like everything he does is designed to be team-oriented. Running around setting picks, slapping balls out to other players instead of grabbing the boards and jamming them back in. He needs to be more of a selfish, score first player, until he is told different.

It seems that you need to do that to get noticed, and maybe to build trust that you CAN to those things. Leading the league in shot-blocking has not done it. One reason is that when you position yourself to block shots and accomplish that, you are not in position to get the rebound. You create those ops for your teammates, but don't really get much trust or credit built up.

Evewn when he has been blocking shots and the other teams have been running the lane with wild abandon, Darko was not put in. Maybe he is not trusted yet, but it seems like in those situation, you need to start trusting your player. So the player needs to do something else to get noticed and trusted.

I think you both make very good points.

The more I think about it, the more I want to see Laimbeer as an assistant coach. I think he would be a great fit and would be a perfect compliment to what I perceive as Flip's more laid back approach.

OK, the streak is over....play the bench already! If they can't hack it we need to know now so Joe can work his magic and rob some other team.

Speaking of Laimbeer and trades... if I recall, McCloskey got him from Cleveland with some other guy (I can't quite remember who it was...some pf I think), but anyhow, I think Laimbeer was just the throw in guy in that deal. Heck of a throw in, eh?

__________________

In that 2nd quarter, a hot team that had just scored 40 points was held to 16 points. And Delfino was out there for a good deal of the quarter. He contributed good solid D.

I've been impressed with Delfino's effort on D. He's looking much more comfortable out there and is trying hard.

In 1981-82, the Pistons acquired Bill Laimbeer and Kenny Carr from Cleveland for Phil Hubbard, Paul Mokeski and two picks. Hubbard and Mokeski were decent for Cleveland but Laimbeer was the Pistons starting center for the next ten years, made four All-Star teams, and maxed out at 17.5 ppg and 13.1 rpg.

__________________

i agree if darko isn't adding 10 points to those couple of blocks he gets he might be glued to the bench. he has the offensive skills it's time to use them. i too am sometimes left with a bad taste in my mouth after darko plays. it's like he's so much more than a defensive presence. but then again he's probably been told that defense will get him playing time and he's focusing on that. it's just the playing time isn't being given.