Yi Jianlian demands and gets a guarantee of 20 mpg before signing with Milwaukee. Only such an assurance by Kohl eased concerns that with coach Larry Krystkowiak facing his first full season and GM Larry Harris under pressure to win now to keep his job, Yi would spend much of his rookie year on the bench... Haitao and the Chinese officials consider it paramount that Yi develop as rapidly as possible and play for a quality team, the source said. They are well-versed in the disparate tales of, say, Toronto's Andrea Bargnani staying in the rotation despite struggling early on and former Piston Darko Milicic, who barely played as a rookie. ESPN - Bucher: Yi assured rotation role with Bucks - NBA Doesn't surprise me, but I have to wonder how this is going to affect future international players and free agents. If Yi can get a guarantee of minutes, why can't they? I bet Cornstein is kicking himself for not demanding guarantees of pt for Darko. Coaches are not going to react well to this if it becomes a trend.
Only a crappy team would guarantee minutes to a rookie. Kohl isn't known for his loyalty. You can bet that Larry K will be out on his butt if the team doesn't perform with Yi.
What a dumb idea! Minutes built into the contract. Yi could be getting his dunks blocked by the rim quite a few times this year.If his ego is a fragile as Darko's is he could lose all of his confidence.
Another question is whether Yi is good enough to get those minutes. He didn't look all that great during the summer league.
Darko learned a lot by sitting on the pine. Namely how to get pissed off at refs. He outshined even Sheed at Eurobasket by losing 10,000 euros in 5 minutes. http://grizzlies.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/880608174/m/6631007312?r=5181018312#5181018312 Translation at the bottom. Warning expletive ladden tirade
Here's YouTube recording of Darko going off. It is not in English, but he sure does look mad. YouTube - Milicic psuje sudije
I am so happy this guy is not a Piston. Sheed would be thrown out of the NBA for saying something like that. It doesn't matter how competitive Darko is, comments like that are totally uncalled for, no matter who you are or what you are doing.
You know...it's funny. You guys are so judgemental. You take a guy like Darko who has been tragically mistreated by coaches and fellow players in the NBA and you just can't cut him any slack. Those officials were obviously jealous of how good Darko is and they wanted to even the playing field for the other players. So they turned against him..(just like everyone does) ..and Darko makes a few innocent comments about things he'd like to put in the reproductive organs of their mothers...and now you are making Darko out to be the bad guy! When will it end?
I know you guys are generally PC about stuff, but misogyny and murderous intent aside, I find his rant hilarious. The quotes are so awkward that it sounds like it came from Borat (no offense Mikhail).
Silence is greater than speech...Darko needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. Many players feel like their cheated, but they are not stupid enough to cuss every other word.
What is funny is that the people the broke the story are vilified for spreading lies and it comes out that they were correct (or part of an incredibly huge conspiracy) and no one says didly.
maybe there is some truth to the darko sleeping with lb's wife rumors. so that's why lb was so angry with him. darko needs to find a new way of taking out his frustrations. you can't go around sleeping with women to get back at people.
The Freep has the youtube video on their site. Is it right to display that if you are ignorant of what its saying? I mean if I swore up and down in spanish is that ok? Maybe they have a specific set of standards to adhere to that doesn't include stuff like that. This affair really changed the meaning of "The Darko Guarantee" :nerd2:
but all sarcasm aside. darko was a beast over there. also by all accounts the serbian team was robbed by the refs. darko handled this totally wrong. this is strange to me because darko has always been so politically correct when interviewed about nba going ons. the positive that comes from this is that darko can no longer be questioned about having fire or lack thereof. darko truly is the serbian gangsta
not to argue or discredit but some posters I read were disappointed. Maybe expectations were higher? I guess its like when Jaq rants on Sheed for not being BETTER. I was looking on youtube and realgm and just was browsing comments. it wasn't all darko-hate
yeah. these were just some dumb comments from darko. he can come back from them. it's not like he's losing endorsements because of the comments. we've all been angry at the refs to the point of cursing. darko just went too far. he should publicly apologize and start the nba season with a clean slate.
