That may be the real story, Ben, Dice, and Sheed may have complained about minutes and guess who loses? Darko. I know Dice was complaining at the beginning of the season that Darko was taking his minutes, he blamed that on his poor play at the beginning. (Check the stats, Darko was out playing Dice the first month).

The same may be happening with Tay and Delfino. Tay is in slump, no need to put in Delfino who might challenge for minutes, play Evans, no threat to Tay.

Can you honestly say that Darko treated Detroit right? The premise of the article is that if you collect the paycheck, you show up and do your job. Basically the foundation of Detroit basketball. If you don't get minutes, but the team is still winning, you collect your check, smile/sign autographs and you do your job.

Ok, so you do grasp the premise of the article. Darko did what was right by him, not what was right by the Pistons. That's fine. I don't have a problem with it, because we ship players with that mentality out of town. Everyone should be happy. Which is why I cannot understand why there is a bombardment of "look at Darko in Orlando", when this team is still on track to win a title, and now has the cap room to compete for a couple more years without any major overhauls.

Houston left under another management regime. He also never won anything playing with HOFers for a HOF coach in NY.

I'd say losing Grant Hill turned out pretty good. We got more for Darko than we did for Hill considering the relative position of the club at two different times.

No, we're not repeating the mistake as you put it. Delfino is being worked into the lineup. He's also bringing a Grade A effort everytime on the court, which will endear him to Joe.

Acker and Johnson, for those of you too busy following the Orlando Magic are tearing up the D-League. That's right, two late second round picks who could easily have been undrafted FAs if not selected by the Pistons are playing for min contracts and putting out in Fayetteville.

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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

Wave, 2 points
Nobody, and I mean nobody, signs for 5 mil below fare value. And guarantee this, Darko, because of this trade will be the #1 Free agent next year. Orlando is already doing a Joe, 3 blocks in 3 minutes tonight. Orlando yanked him, thinking oh crap, he's good, how do we resign him on the cheap. Too late, the cat's out of the bag.

Two, Detroit is working Delfino out of the rotation, inspite of doing everything the right way this season. Delfino is as gone as Darko.

Lots of good points here.

In my opinion here are the facts:

• Detroit's coaches, both Brown and Flip, have done a poor job of integrating rookie talent into the lineup. Flip's decison to play Evans over Delfino and continue to play the starters in the fourth quarter when we are ahead by a large margin prove these points.
• Darko didn't do much to help his cause. Where Flip has an obvious affinity for Evans, he had a similar appreciation for Darko at the beginning of the season. Darko stopped working hard and eventually became disinterested in playing. Chauncey even admitted that this was the truth. This is not conducive to the "be ready when my name is called" mentality that helps win one minutes. Darko was payed a helluva lot of money this year to be ready when called upon. He wasn't. Unacceptable.
• Darko, given minutes, has shown tremendous upside in Orlando. Its obvious that Darko is excelling in his new situation. The jury is still out though fellas. Can you say Dampier, Blount, Gadzuric, Swift, Nestorivich...? The list goes on and on. These are players that actually posted amazing numbers just to fizzle out over time when the motivation fades. Please hold off in placing Darko in the Hall of Fame just yet.
• Darko was never going to succeed here. I think everyone can agree with this point. His effort, the coaches mismanagement, and unrealistic expectations prevented Darko from ever being a part of Detroit's long term plans. Darko has a new lease on life. I'm glad I no longer have a vested interest in his success. That roller coaster ride was beginning to grow old.

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Got Jokes?

You know why Darko was traded?

It's because of uncertainties like this. This topic and this subject. The kid himself. His work ethic, his excuses, his lack of effort, his sandbagging, his playing time among other things.

He was traded because he didn't bring it every night.

He didn't bring it every night because he felt he deserved more.

TO his credit, maybe he could have been given more time.

But that is why he was traded. Too many what ifs and no tangible performances in the regular season to speak of.

He will bloom in Orlando, as he is, and he will prove that he wasn't as wasted a pick as we all thought.

He wanted the change. We wanted to facilitate that and get something in return.

These are not rose-shaded spectacles I'm looking through. These are plain, black rimmed, fair view of what I think went on.

Darko: Immature, too much pressure, too great a hype to live up to, no time, no effort on court, gave up and waited for his contract to run out so he could go to a team where he will be given minutes.

Pistons: Those spectacles G was talking about, thought that everybody they brought in bought into the selfless system they so cherish, a coaching staff who was bent on making Darko earn minutes hence no playing time, and a cap to think about.

I'm not saying it was all Darko, and it was definitely not all Pistons. It was both, and when you see that it is not working, you got to let it go and find something else that works.

I'm not angry G. I'm disappointed. But I still believe in Detroit. As much as I rooted for the kid to do well, he is enemy now and hate him as much as you do, in a competitive way.

G's article is right on the money! I feel the same way. The cat flat out STOLE money while he was here. His legacy as a Piston did not eclipse Chuck Nevitt or William Bedford.

The biggest disagreement over Darko had to do with interpretation of his play. All he had to do was step on the court and the Darko lovers would swear he was playing "fantastic." It's like they were really looking at Sheed and imagining a #31 jersey on him. Or vice-versa. Exhibit A is all the comparisons to Sheed, i.e. "Sheed gets away with "X," why can't Darko?"

How does a super-hyped lottery pick let a same aged, same sized, no-hyped, no playing time scrub like Peter John Ramos flat out DOG him out? INEXCUSABLE! And that's just ONE example.

I am SO GLAD this clown is out of here! I wish him well in Mickey Town where if he approaches the second coming of Shawn Bradley; those fans will appreciate it. Our expectations are higher than that in these parts.

Quit beating around the bush, Mad. Just come right out and say what you mean. !!!


Everybody is allowed to be completely wrong, sometime.

EXACTLY RIGHT MO!!!

The "Darko Experiment wasn't one persons fault. Its a shared blame. Joe D, LB, Flip and Darko ALL deserve some of the blame for this.

Joe drafted Darko (at the time, it looked like the right decision, so I won't fault him for that)

Darko expected PT to be handed to him (Darko's fault)

LB compeltely destroyed the kid emotionally (LB's fault)

LB and Flip wouldn't give him enough opportunities (LB's, Flips, and Joe's fault for allowing it to happen)

Darko didn't take consistent advantage (Darko's fault) of the few chances (LB and Flip's fault) he did get. He gave us flashes, but couldn't sustain it.

Darko wasn't rewarded when he did perform well. The organization talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk. (LB's, Flips, and Joe's fault for allowing it to happen)

Darko gave up completely (Darko's fault)

The fact that we're still talking about Darko (our fault)

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Yeah Lazy, I know complaining about Darko is

Everytime I read a comparison of Darko to Sheed I hear

Everytime I hear that he wasn't given a chance, I also hear

Makes me

Darko was given the he got. No wonder Joe

I'm cause we could have spent that pick (and $) on ______.

I knew Darko was after that inspired performance in the summer leagues. You can him if you choose.

I look forward to our game with the Magic so we can Darko and Arroyo while Orlando.

Say....aren't these "smilies" cool?

Bill Laimbeer (the real one) refers to guys like Darko as "stealing money".

Nice piece, G.