The Magic are highly motivated to get a good playoff seed this year... it lessens the blow of not having a 1st round pick. It makes sense that they could easily parlay G Hill's massive contract into equal talent at his position AND a solid PG that they desperately need (Arroyo in his third dog house)... I think they'll be active traders within a month.
With the Magic losing 8 of their last 9 games, the Pistons draft pick has moved up to #18. Keep on losing boys!! We want some ping pong balls!!
They lack athletisim and defense on the perimeter. Darko goes for pump fakes a lot. They are also a selfish team... not many third passes going on. The two bigs can bully their way inside though (say what you want about DMC but he is a load inside)... so they'll always have an iinterior game. The new formula for beating the Magic is to break down the weak perimeter and get the bigs in foul trouble or find the open man after the help comes (sounds like the Pistons).
Yet he only had 1 personal foul. Led the game in rebounding and blocks off the bench in limited minutes. But I do agree with you. I think that he would probably learn with increased playing time. He has slowly learned to avoid fouling. The next step is avoid throwing bad passes and getting caught up in the air. He's not stupid. He is aware of the mistakes he is making. When they ask him if he is happy with his game, he says that he thinks he can play better.
Yes 8 boards , 9 pts and 2 blocks is a pretty good game for him. But he has had more bad games than good this season. I watched part of that game. Before the game the magic announcers were saying how it was a must win game for them since the Hawks had beat them in Orlando a few days before. Not sure how much Coach Hill actually said but it was an important game for them and they came up flat. I am not going to root Darko on or say how much potential the Magic have because I want them to lose so we can get a good pick. One game above .500 now. It would be great if they could finish 10 games or so under .500 so we can get a single digit pick.
I think you guys are really letting the minutes he is getting affect your view of what he is doing. He's only averaging 22 mpg. Tayshaun Prince plays 73% more minutes than he does. The Pistons have 10 players that play less than 22 mpg, and none of them is outproducing Darko. The best we have is Nazr at 6.9 points. The best rebounder is Dyess at 5.8 boards. The best shot blocker is Nazr with 1.0. Darko would easily be our 6th man right now. Darko's career minutes (2,143) are now the same as Lebron James' minutes were through his first 56 games in his rookie year. Lebron ended up playing 3,122 minutes that year to Darko's 159. Now, in terms of our draft pick, I definitely hope they continue this slide. I just don't think it is healthy for everyone here to continue pretending that it was a good idea benching the #2 draft pick for 3 years and then releasing him for a #10-20 pick.
We've been here before. Darko numbers are not impressive compared to other players in the league who've played the same amount of minutes. They are average. Still no break out games. Is it possible to have a break out game with just 22 minutes? Darko fans apparently don't think so, but anyone who religiously looks at box scores (fantasy b-ball heads) knows that he simply is very unspectacular statistically compared to others given the same amount of minutes. Every team practically has a great potential guy (Darko-esque). The only difference is that the noteworthy ones produce at a much higher clip than the Serbian. Does Darko have intangibles? Sure! But, that argument can be made for practically ever player that fits that mold. And I'm not just talking about players who have been in the league for a couple of years. There are alot of first/second year players that have not benefited from the training Darko had with Sheed/Campbell/Okur/BigBen...etc. Blame it on his coach, blame it on the management, hell... blame it on Darko. Just realize that the conclusion is the same...he's been unspectacular this year. No one is talking about him. He is no closer to being an all-star that Mikki Moore in New Jersey. That Orlando draft pick is starting to look reallllllll good right now!
I'm not saying he is an all-star. I am just saying that we gave away our 6th best player. Who has had a break out game this year from the following list?: Delfino (5 games with 10+ points, and barely) Nazr (2 double-doubles, wow!) McDyess (season high 16 points) Flip Murray (1 game over 20 points, and he played 43 minutes to do it) Blalock (yeah) Amir Johnson (not given a chance) Lindsay Hunter (not a breakout kinda guy) Dupree (no chance) Dale Davis (defensive specialist) Are any of these guys on your fantasy team?
From what I've seen of Darko's game he is looking like becoming a #10-20 pick anyway. We are now 45 games into the season and to me, the following 2 facts are the bottom line: - Tony Battie has started every single game. - Tony Battie still plays more minutes than Darko. Surely, surely that must be telling you something??
The #10-#20 pick did not help us last year or this year... and given the Pistons' track record, will not be able to help us until his 3rd year in the league, which will be the 2009-2010 season. You're trying to say that because Battie averages 1.9 more minutes per game that the coach doesn't trust Milicic? How many bench players in the league play more than the guy starting in front of them? Also, from a statistical standpoint (gross numbers, numbers per 48 minute, +/-, whatever else you can thing of) Darko is outperforming him. The Magic apparently like what he brings off the bench. We have people on this forum also arguing that Tayshaun Prince should come off the bench for the same reason. Either that, or the Magic are trying to suppress his value for the contract negotiation... ala Amir Johnson with the Pistons.
Forget about what we had to give for the next draft...I am excited about what we can get. The last time I remember 2 first rounders was Lindesy Hunter and Alan Houston. I was pretty excited back then but they are good players and not great players. I am just ready to get back to watching hungry players...not guys coasting thru the season to play in the playoffs.
We have been away a month to see our family in CA, so have not been on as much and have not seen but one Orlando game. I have kept in touch, however on the forums. I am ready to admit my ignorance in predicting a very good season for Orlando, finishing only a little below the Pistons. I still believe that they have good talent but the way they use it is far beyond my meager basketball knowledge, or so it would seem. I have no problem with Darko coming off the bench as he is a good catalyst on the second unit. I believe he should be getting 30+ minutes a game, but Hill sees it differently. My main question about Darko is that I wonder why in something between a half dozen and ten games this year, when he was on pace for a double-double, he was jerked. Just Monday, he was jerked and yelled at by the coach with he had a sure double-double and was leading the team in blocks and rebounds. Yes, the same team that Dwight plays for. Someone on the forum was saying that he thought Hill yelled at him, "What are you doing out there?" and Darko shrugged and went on to the bench. I believe that Hill said, "What are you doing out there? You might increase your value next summer by playing like that". They talked so much about using DMC and D-12 high and low and used that to good advantage last season and then wanted him to bulk up for this year. Now, they have two bulked-up players who do the pretty much the same thing instead of what they planned to do. He even plays Garrity instead of increasing Darko's minutes. I also wonder why with the team needing long shooters to get better spacing, they resist playing JJ and Deiner more. There are other things, too, that shows their poor usage of their talents. At any rate, I am admitting that I over-rated their ability to use their talent very well, so am admitting that I do not know much about basketball, after all. Sorry!!! But there it is.
