http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5388484

Mods...feel free to combine this with another thread if deemed appropriate.

Would have liked to lay this one right on top of Lee's Darko recap... but in all honesty I think Charlie was being a little rough on the Beaver.

Darko looked fairly active on defense... he was clearly bothering Boozer and Memo... A couple of times he rooted Memo off the block.
I agree with everything Rosen said about Darko's offensive attack (or lack of)...
We would wonder why his teammates wouldn't pass him the ball ... well the same thing is happening in Orlando... he's not moving off the ball at all... he gets in one spot and just raises his hand like it's owed to him... then you watch Howard putting the defender on his hip and riding him on his heels... he's in gr8 position to make a move and receive the ball.
The scoring wasn't that much of a concern as his effort was there on defense... he needs to create his own opportunities (move to the basket as the shot goes up or move without the ball).

Today's grade:
Offense D-
Deffense B

Pretty much reiterates what I saw in Detroit over the last couple years. I was reading the article and I kept waiting for the DHOF club to jump in and explain away all his shortcomings.

wow that's a completely different account than we heard from lee on detnews. according to him, the orlando run in the 4th quarter was 100% darko (even though he contributed 0 points, 0 boards, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 0 assists, etc. during that time), and that orlando lost the game because darko subbed out (even though they actually caught up and tied the game without darko in there).

interesting to hear the story from both a biased and unbiased point of view. sounds like exactly what i saw from darko in detroit as well.

Which is precisely why you should avail yourself of as many information sources as possible. Reading any one recap only could lead to malformed opinions.

Charlie Rosen is tough on everyone he critiques, that's why we read him. To get his "edge" on things. I have to say I noticed dozens of times that DMC (and Memo) broke off screens much earlier than Ben, Dice or Sheed. The article confirmed that I was not imagining that.

I like Rosen's comparison of Darko to Will Perdue and Stacy King. And of the possible reasons for Darko's lethargy, I'm leaning towards the kid just doesn't like to play basketball all that much.

Of course I haven't read the Leecap yet...that could change my mind on the whole deal.

Actually watching the game is also a good way to find out what happened.

It is sort of being tough on him to say he had a bad game when he was 1 for 3 shooting. It's different than being off and continuing to chuck it. 2 for 12 would be a back game.

Imagine how McDyess would look out there if nobody passed it to him... that was DM.

On defense, he had some tough assignments. Okur burned him twice and they took Darko out. Okur then proceeded to burn everyone else that guarded him all night. Darko's biggest defensive attribute is that they don't elect to challenge him very often because of his height/ shot blocking potential. Boozer and Kirilenko were pretty quiet when DM was on them.

He basically looks like a talented rookie who is feeling his way around and doesn't have the confidence to take control offensively.

In reading the Rosen article, I found myself remembering each of the things he talked about and will have to admit that I saw the same things. I was disappointed in that DMC did not make more of the opportunity when Mattie got the two early fouls and Darko was brought in early.

I think Rosen was a little hard on him because I felt he did bother quite a few things Utah was trying to do, including what was said here in earlier posts.

Where Rosen lost me is when he began attbributing all these thoughts DMC was supposedly having to fool himself and others. Rosen cannot possibly know Darko's thought processes in watching him in one game.

While I was watching the game, I thought Matt Goukas was much closer to the truth, and coming from a former player, I believed it. He was talking at some length about young players coming to the end of long, arduous road trips, 5 games in 7 nights in 5 different cities. He talked about the fatigue factor that sets in especially with young players. And I also remembered that this is the first road trip DMC has had with a team on which he played extended minutes in all those games. I can see that it would be "fatiguing" as Matt said.

I also think that when you look at the stats and the fan and team acceptance he has mustered in his short Orlando stint, it is much more than most fans believed it would be.

And he is still only 20.

Charlie Rosen > Matt Goukas > Darko Milicic

Isn't Rosens game description EXACTLY why Joe D said Darko needed to go. :doh:

I paraphrase, While in a championship hunt we don't have the luxury of allowing Darko the playing time needed to work through his mistakes.

That was the type of performance which turns Ws to Ls.

Maybe now Joe D will get some understanding. :frusty:

This is the first game Darko didn't fill every stat. I'm thinking Memo may have served some papers on how to play Darko. Did they ever play together?

Did they ever play together?


Two of the main cogs in our Championship run.

I paraphrase, While in a championship hunt we don't have the luxury of allowing Darko the playing time needed to work through his mistakes.

That was the type of performance which turns Ws to Ls.



On the other hand, Augmon's veteran performance gets ignored:
17 minutes/ 0-4 shooting/ 1/4 free throws/ 2 rebs/ 0 assist/ 0 steals/ 0 blocks.

If you watch the Magic, it is obvious that they are getting outplayed in almost every part of the game. They had 8 to's in the first quarter. What was Darko's +/- in the game?

1 more quick point- The Jazz had 1 FG in the 4th quarter. When Darko was on the floor, which was about 8 mintues, the Jazz scored 3 points.

If you watch the Magic, it is obvious that they are getting outplayed in almost every part of the game. They had 8 to's in the first quarter. What was Darko's +/- in the game?

-1 ; -12 and -4 the previous two games.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20060306&game=ORLUTH

Thanks for the link. That is a great site.

I usually look at 82games, but they don't have the results for each game like that.

C'mon now. Everybody knows the reason DMC didn't get more rebounds is because the rebounds never came to him. :doh:

The gospel according to Lee. :hail:

I thought the article was a little unfair. It took DMC's worst game so far and tore him a new one. Hell the old one still has Joe's shoe print all over it.

We can take any one of our guys on a given night and you could write the same article. He's allowed to have a bad game and look bad out there. That's part of why he's there. I'll take Lazy's posts about the game over Lee180 AND Charlie rosen.

I think you also have to factor in that a lot of the camera angles were a bit off.

I thought the article was a little unfair. It took DMC's worst game so far and tore him a new one. Hell the old one still has Joe's shoe print all over it.

We can take any one of our guys on a given night and you could write the same article. He's allowed to have a bad game and look bad out there. That's part of why he's there. I'll take Lazy's posts about the game over Lee180 AND Charlie rosen.

i agree.

this was an obvious attempt to write bad things about darko. he chose the worst darko has played since being traded to the magic to write an article about. so what darko had a bad game. so what he hasn't found his role in the offense in 10 games. i'm glad this gave the haters some fuel cause darko was shutting mouths the previous 9 games.

if everyone is so upset about darko's lack of effort on the offensive side of the ball. we need to call tayshaun out for the same thing. he stands out there waiting for the rock also but it's ok for tay right?? sheed also used to be a non factor on offense last year you had to force feed him or give him a tech to get him to be aggressive offensively. the only reason he's shooting this year is because flip lets him jack up 3's.

man you're delusional

if everyone is so upset about darko's lack of effort on the offensive side of the ball. we need to call tayshaun out for the same thing. he stands out there waiting for the rock also but it's ok for tay right?? sheed also used to be a non factor on offense last year you had to force feed him or give him a tech to get him to be aggressive offensively. the only reason he's shooting this year is because flip lets him jack up 3's.

I like your logic. You know, my neighbor keeps parking really close to my car. Every morning, I have to pull some super moves just to get out of the parking space, just because this guy always wants to park right up on my bumper.

Using Jay's logic, I think tommorrow morning, I will go out and shoot him in the face. I mean, we gave the Vice President a pass, so I should get one too, right?