For 50 grand a day, you bet!

Honestly, I think it lasts until his contract is up. Plus, the difference is, that when I had the opportunity to do things that were degree related, I did the absolute best that I could. I guarantee that Darko would have had more playing time if he would have truly "brought-it" while he was on the court.

I watched part of the Sonics game last night, and I couldn't help but notice that as the Pistons were standing around a bit, Mo Evans was flying out of bounds trying to grab the loose ball, or crashing the boards hard for the rebound. Even when he didn't have much of a chance of getting it.

If Darko would have taken all that talent and played with that kind of heart for 3 minutes of garbage time, I guarantee you he wouldn't have been sitting on the bench. I never saw that kind of effort out of the guy. Ever.

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"Eastern Conference regular-season champs, baby," said Chauncey Billups. "This is what we set out for when we started the season in training camp. We did it and we're happy." (2003)

Here is where we completely disagree. I feel like whatever Darko did (good Euroleague, good preseason) he was never gonna play. His coaches even said that he was playing hard in practice and they said that needed to get him PT but they NEVER FOLLOWED UP. 3-5 minutes stints every 3rd-4th game won't give you much time to "find your game".

Just look at Carlos Delfino. All we have heard is that Flip loves him and his effort but yet he is still racking up DNP-CD's. No one complains about CD's effort or game.

Dice did not start the season on fire. He was DECENT at best but yet he gets his minutes added to and Darko loses his? Dice wasn't hustling everywhere. He had some 2-3 rebound games and got beat on D alot. But because Dice was a vet he got a free pass.

For everyone who says that Darko didn't didin't "earn his pt" they need to remember that Darko was on the roster for 2.5 years and he was practicing everyday and he PATIENTLY waited for over 2 years for his turn before GIVING UP. I think that's alot of patience for a #2 overall pick and 20 year kid.

Why use Dice and Delfino as examples?

The smoking gun is the fired up guy sans metro-sexual haircut in Orlando. A complete attitude and hairstyle makeover. His first 10 minutes in Orlando was more productive than his last 30 minutes of Detroit basketball.

But now he's on a squad that will be able to afford top dollar when he's a RFA. That's fact. I watched a little Orlando ball with DMC, and he NEVER played like that in Detroit. The only one unleashing DMC was himself.

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Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

Zo, if he slacked off do to his untenable situation, he was sandbaggin'. I think people can see effort or lack of said.
Is the fact that Lee is having the last laugh with his sandbaggin' term. eating at you?

If you read G-mans article he does not specify that Darko lost it during games. Yes he would have some great moments in the sparse PT he did get only to lose his spot for something he was doing or not doing off the court in practice.

Nonone knows the true story. Maybe someone will write a book in 20 years but for now we can only guess. Maybe he was not showing up on time or refusing to do certain drills - who knows? It is still early in Orlando.

Darko made a dumb comment. Most players who get traded under stressfull circumstances do slip out dumb comments. G.Hill made plenty of them on his way out.

One thing we can admire is that the kidd did not go Artest on us. He went through the proper channels in requesting a trade and we ended up with a potentially decent pick in return.

Micro I don't remember you ever saying Darko was a Max-O guy six months back. This is new for you, nice to see you adjust.
...Lazy, I'll check you on the money thing, if Darko learned anything here he'll sign in the 55-65 mi$. area. If he is a me guy he'll sign in the 70-80 range. Check those numbers.

Three TFD, what makes me think that he is a team-first guy and will take less than the max: Even when he was getting such a low amount of PT, he spent his time passing to teammates, setting picks, and especially passing to and setting up rookies. He would take and make one shot a game. He jumped out on pick and rolls and blocked shots

own in Orlando, he is doing the same and still scoring, but not as much as he will do later.

Another thing that is misleading, in my view is that he just goes so slow during times when the action is not on. I don't know how many of you guys remember Jim Brown, the Cleveland NFLer. He would drag himself to his feet and back to the huddle after running and getting tackled. It was like he could not summon up another drop of energy. But when he ran the ball on the next play, he would explode into the line.

Just watch Darko's feet when he is like going to the foul line or on and off the court. Then watch them when he jumps out on the pick and roll and then gets back to his man before the ball can get there.

Well, the story is not over yet. And it surely does cause some conversation on the forums.

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Things appear to be at their darkest . . . . . . . . . just before they go totally black!!

Ok enough with the BSing please. If he took and made one shot a game, he'd be a perfect shooter, which he wasn't.

Who cares how fabulous his footwork is? Detroit was his nightmare. He couldn't earn enough cold hard cash here, and his butt cheeks fell asleep trying to stay interested in a championship drive.

I absolutely cannot wait until it comes time for him to negotiate a new contract in Orlando. We'll see how interested he is in being a team guy, leaving some salary scraps on the table for Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson to pick up...

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Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

This is going to be a hard pill for some of you to swallow but the Pistons screwed Darko. If the Pistons are the epitome of selfless team play as many of you claim them to be, there should have been no reason that Ben could not have given some of his pt to Darko. Same goes for Sheed and Dyess. If they cared about this team the way some of you think they do which is to bleed Piston red white and blue this should have been a simple thing to do.

If Darko had gotten the 10-15 minutes a game that he needed to develop then he would have become the player we all thought he could have been when Joe drafted him. We all know that there are games that players like Sheed have a hard time to get up for because the other team sux. These are the games when developing Darko would have been easy to do. Hell games where we had at lead a 10 point lead in it would have been a good time to put in the kid and let him learn to play through his mistakes. If the game got to close for comfort put the starters back in and boom your back in the lead you won the game and your human victory cigar is 1 step closer to ridding himself of the nickname.

Imo he never stood a chance because he was never given anything other than garbage time. I agree with Zoso on this one completely no matter what he showed he was not going to take time away from the big 3 so what did it matter. Speaking of big 3's if you want to look at it from a metaphorical sense you can compare them. The automaker big 3 got to full of itself and then wham someone else was making the cars that people wanted. The Pistons big 3 won’t dominate much longer and could have used young Darko to keep them at the top.

The argument will only intensify if Darko proves he can play. With each game Darko gets a solid double double and 3-5 blocks and Bens rebound total goes down it will be really hard to put a positive spin on it from a Pistons standpoint. But hey if you want to fit the definition of a homer to a T and say it was all Darko’s fault then be my guest.

My nightmare will be when Ben goes down in a heap and we have to use J-max as a center.

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" Either you play with a sense of urgency, or you will be leaving. It's that simple." Joe Dumars
Ok Joe it's time to prove it!!!!!!

I see some serious denial here. First people said Darko sucked, now that he doesn't suck, they say he sandbagged. Also I here people saying that if the coaches new he was this good they would have played him, because coaches want to win, they'll play there best players.

As to coaches playing there best players, does anyone remember the triple overtime loss against NJ, where Ben had fouled out, and LB put in Darvin at center over Okur? Was LB playing the best player to win or his favorite player? Be honest. A lot of coaches would rather lose their way, than win with guys they don't like.

As for sandbagging, get real. Sheed is quoted as saying a lot of you cats are going to proven wrong about Darko, he's the real deal. If he was sand bagging why did Piston player think he was really good. And for sandbagging real pt, Darko had a handful of real pt in 3 years, and I'd say a majority of those games he did OK. He had one horrific game against NY, and he never played again.

As far as GT, he's playing GT with guys looking to pad their stats, and do you guys remember when he broke his hand in GT in the finals, and LB wouldn't let him come out? Do ya think Sheed plays hard in GT? He admitted to taking regular season games off.

And as far as going for the cash, let me get this straight, Detroit has pretty much treated him like crap for 3 years, yet he should be willing to sign for much less in Detroit than he could get anywhere else just for the privilege of being in Detroit? Ben, I understand, Prince I understand, we treated them right. Can you honestly say we treated Darko right?

Think about it, he could resign in Detroit for about 5 or 6 mil a year, sit the bench, and be called the human victory cigar, or go somewhere else, sign for 10+ mil a year, start, get endorsements, and receive recognition.

And last, this is a Detroit trend, Houston signed with the Knicks without even allowing Detroit to match. GHill told the Pistons not to match. What makes you think Darko would want the Pistons to match. Somethings up with the org, we treat some guys right, but for some reason we really mess up with other guys that could really help the team.

And unfortunately we're repeating the same mistakes with Delfino, Acker, and Johnson.