"Avoiding Another Darko"

I've been seeing this in a couple of threads related to the draft this year, and I thought I should just state my thoughts on this in it's own thread.

What I'm referring to is the idea that we should trade down in the draft in order to avoid another "Darko situation". But I'm struggling to see how that applies to this team at all. Almost non of the parameters are the same in our current situation. First, this isn't the 2003 draft. While it is true you cannot judge the production of a draft class before they enter the league, but you know when I draft has a chance to be historic. That feeling isn't around this draft. Nor are we drafting with a pick that isn't our own. What made the Darko situation hurt so was the opporitunity to add a franchise player for Otis Thorpe. A franchise player to a contending Eastern conference team, then with a young core and a great coach.

This current team is far from a playoff team, let alone a contender. We have new additions who we aren't exactly sure how they fit. We're picking with our pick coming off a season of much disapointment with a first year coach whom the jury is still out on. Not to mention in a conference with a bonafide megastar and a dominant big man. Darko wasn't a failure on pure basketball talent, rather a perfect storm of problems. A coach who doesn't have a great history with rookies, a team with an established & proven rotation, an unknown quantity in a mysterious European big man over college basketball's National Championship supserstar, a young player who expects playing time based on draft position rather than previous team success, and a wrist injury hindering an off-season when time would actually open up due to free agent departures. Just typing that out reminded me just of how much went wrong.

To tie that all in to my main point, all draft busts aren't Darko Milicic and I think we're doing ourselves a disservice to equate them. Draft busts are more a part if the draft than the studs, and the team shouldn't be afraid to wiff on a pick if the reward makes the risk worthwhile. And until this team gets a high draft pick that lives up to the high fan expectations, we're likely to hold onto that Darko memory. This really is our first chance at atonement, so to speak. But whoever we pick is not Darko, they'll likely get the opporitunities that escaped him and won't be under the same pressure. We were a marquee team back then, now we're largely out of the minds of the casual fan. We play like on national television maybe twice. I'd like to think the organization has learned from their past mistakes from the Darko situation and has a chance to prove themselves here.

I know Roscoe has previously disagreed with my assertion that there isn't even a Darko in this draft by saying, "there's a Darko in every draft" but I wholeheartedly disagree. Darko just represents more to me than a high draft pick who never contributed to his team. Let's just not do anything in the spirit of "avoiding another Darko" because frankly, we aren't even in the same position to get one.

Picking 7th can result in another Rodney White....

Not sure if this article from 3 weeks ago was posted somewhere on the forum or not, but it addresses the Pistons issues and Joe may have his hands tied for awhile unless he is lucky in the draft and he can swap rip or tay for a better fit to mesh with his new guys....

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=15753

Most people who don't follow the draft have no idea who Donatas Motiejunas or Jan Vesely are, I wouldn't exactly call them overhyped. I doubt people have even seen them play, me included.

And this draft is loaded with 3/4's.

Yeah no one saw Darko play either in the Piston camp..it was just all hype that joepiston.org fell for...as well as some of us on this day of infamy, June 26th 2003....a day that shaped and still affects the Pistons to this day..

It's always best to go with the known commodity/factor where sane witnesses can corroborate their potential greatness

If the Pistons picked up a stud PG and a stud big, as well as got rid of Rip, I could enjoy watching this team and could picture them at least back into the playoffs:

PG - _______________, Bynum
SG - Gordon, Stuckey
SF - Prince, Daye
PF - Jerebko, Villenueva, Summers
C - _________, Ben Wallace

Me too, but what year??

LOL. How about 2010-11? Think positive, Dre.

Have to agree with you, the combination of Darko's hype, lack of anyone actually having seen him play competitively, Wade, Carmello, and Bosh being drafted after him, and LB being his rookie coach is kind of the perfect storm that will never happen again. Also, I don't think Darko is a bust as a player, he was just drafted too early, had he been picked after Bosh, no one would be talking about him.

On the other hand, I do think there is a Kwame Brown in every draft. A hyped kid, given all the minutes in the world, and he still can't play. See Adam Morrison and Hasheem Thabeet. These are the guys I hope we avoid.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2010mock_draft

That's one mock draft. Who else has us taking DM?

Best way to avoid another Darko situation is to draft someone you will play and then let him play. When a team and a player get off on the right foot, that player usually works out.

Just because you do not see a place for a player at that time and at that position does not mean that you should draft him, let him rot on the bench, and totally waste a draft pick.

If you are not going to play him, do not, I repeat, do NOT, let me stress that, DO NOT DRAFT HIM.

Joe even said that Darko was for the future, and hired a coach who would disrespect him before he ever met him, and would never in a hundred years, play him. Would not play him even a few minutes a game.

Simple as that!!

thats a good question because of it is very stupid fanmyth here that "JD was hyped by predraft workouts and he drafted Darko"

When you're in NBA draft, it says that many believe in you. Higher pick - more believers. Kiki Vanderweghe offered for no 2 pick : his no3 and anybody from his Denver roster. That shows how high GMs were on Darko.

To be honest though, I don't think there is nearly as much hype around this kid as there was around Darko, unless his pre-draft workouts are off the charts. I don't think they will be because Darko was around 250lb in 03, and this kid is like 215lb.

I don't think we need to worry about Joe drafting him. At least I hope not. It's just funny to mess around with the idea, because it's so ironic that here we are with our first lottery pick since the Darko incident, and such a similar player has the possibility to fall in our hands.