I'm not sure if it is a strike if you get a higher salary with your new position. Things would play out better for Memphis this year even if they didn't pick up Darko. Healthy Gasol. New point guard. Great draft pick. The rise of Rudy Gay, etc. And with him, they should be the MIT this year.
Or he didn't want the bench unit to totally suck. He played Darko in the 4th quarters and gave him more overall minutes than he gave Battie.
The Pistons franchise will decide their own fate this year. If Joe allows Flip to keep Stuckey, Amir, and JMax on the bench again; it won't just be me or the rest of the DHOF screaming about how we don't know how to use our youth.
You actually think that an NBA coach would not play Darko because his former coach Larry Brown didn't like Darko? If I was a coach, I would play the guys that give me the best chance to win. I think all coaches subscribe to this theory, for the most part.
Lets see how he performs for Memphis before coming to any conclusions. In reality Darko hasn't had much time to develop and show what he can do. We have to remember that he sat on the bench for over 2 years and only got just over a year and a half of regular playing time. He's still in learining process and the results, if any, should start showing soon.
I already know that Pau Gasol is resentful about the comments Darko made conerning him. I have a feeling Pau will push Darko out of Memphis and Darko will get traded.
Trust me, Darko will be traded or released once he begins to really show his true skill and ability. Memphis will be forced to do this because it will become glaringly obvious that Darko is threatening the Grizzly legacy that Gasol has built for himself. Pau, nor the Grizzlies will want this legacy tarnished and that will force them to move Darko in an attempt to save Pau's HOF status.
OMG! Did Darko make those Pau G remarks knowing he was going to the Grizz? If he did he was setting Pau up for some serious practice rejections. If he learned anything in Det. ---no mercy---!
As you all know, I have been wrong quite a lot but I believe that Darko's presence on the Grizz will actually help Pau increase his level of play. Taking pressure off him by having another big can only help him, if they decide to let Darko take a shot every now and then, thereby making him a threat and forcing people who would be guarding Pau to leave him. From what I have gleaned, there does not seem to be any animosity between Pau and DMC. Those remarks were in the excitement of the upcoming Euros and had nothing to do with Memphis. Probably if Darko had known at the time he was going to Memphis, he probably would not have said what he did. With DMC's sense of team-first play, Pau should increase his stats, just as Dwight did. Dwight scored and rebounded better with Darko on the floor. But hopefully, Pau will understand this more than Dwight did. I just hope that whatever Darko does that pisses everyone off when he joins a new team, he stops doing.
I like Dwight. I cheered him on for a season and a half. But if its true that he would not share the limelight-he is pretty much worthless. Its championships that matter in the long run, not your individual stats.
Yeah, you show up first for practice, and are the last one to leave. It does tend to show people up. But those people insecure about this-hey, Darko only knows one thing-practice, practice, practice. Thats his life. Understand, and appreciate it. And if the person reading does not understand this-it was Ben he was showing up as far as his stay in Detroit-Ben use to be the first to practice, last to leave. He did not take kindly to Darko outdoing him.
So, from what I gather from this conversation Darko's main problem is that he shows up to practice too early and doesn't leave soon enough? With that much practice time it's no wonder he has a career shooting percentage of .444. Pretty damn good for a big man. Even Ben Wallace, the renound shooter that he is, can only muster a .479 career shooting percentage. Impressive.
i'll help you out. darko seems to come to a team and own the wrong people in practice. the big men with ego's don't seem to like darko's steady improvement. so while the player darko pisses off is better at the time they can feel darko looking over their shoulder. a few choice words to management plus contract issues and darko is gone. he's played a style of basketball that doesn't fit his skill set since he's been in the league. he's had coaches that pulled him out of the game after one miss. confidence and comfort is a big part of shooting. imagine what ben's shooting percentage would be if he's was forced to be an outside only player.
Wouldn't it go easier on Darko then...if he just pretended he was a bad player? He is so good it just makes people mad.
I think we aren't far away from Darko being blacklisted by all of the frontcourt players in the league. The NBA power forwards and the centers are going to band together and try to keep the superstar Serb from stealing the thunder. It really is just unfair to Darko that he is so good.
