This kid is for real..now that he finally has a chance..he is gonna learn/get better this year..and next year him and D. Howard are gonna be a big force in the league...Darko may never be a big-time scorer..but I can see him averaging 15 pts. 10 reb. and 2.5 blocks a game next year.

FREE DARKO!!

Wait that already happened...

PLAY DARKO!!

He has been playing since he joined Orlando. Like..18-20 minutes a night...and is putting up decent numbers for just now playing.

Yea I'm definitely happy about that. I'm not a Darko apologist or anything but he pretty much got the shaft by Larry Brown and then by the media. The kid was only 17 when he came out and from another country... give him a break.

nothing more than the next tony kukoc

100% agree. It ain't like he has shown to be a "phenom" or anything, but when people like Michael Wilbon from PTI call him a "draft bust"...that is just stupid. This is the very first chance he has ever gotten....plus all reports are that at Pistons practice, he was able to hang with Rasheed pretty well on both sides of the ball...so hopefully he will turn into a pretty solid pro....and from the looks of things..Orlando seems to be really high on him right now.




Lol....Darko will be WAY better than Kukoc. Kukoc had his moments..but his numbers aren't that great. Darko is going to be a pretty good player next year when he is starting.

kukoc wasn't that bad...just saying he will be underrated but contribute plenty...

I like what Orlando is doing, and that sucks because I'm a Heat fan (same division). I absolutely love Dwight Howard... he's such a beast. I was totally wrong about him coming out of HS I didnt think he was worthy of the #1 pick. Basically I cant judge HS talent and I'm glad they put in the age limit.

Wow that was a lot of rambling



Agreed

Kukoc was a pretty good player in his prime. Darko will most likely be a 15/8 guy with the potential for 20/10. Nothing wrong with that at all. Most NBA centers are stiffs anyway.

Edit: wow that combined my posts by itself... whoaaaa

No..Kukoc definitely wasn't bad. However, Darko will likely score more..will definitely grab a LOT more rebounds, and will be one of the best shot-blockers in the game...basically, Darko is gonna be a really good post player..while Kukoc was more of a 3-point threat seemingly....different type players.

so do you think he is closer to nowitski (sp)

I feel sorry for that guy because bill simmons rags on him so much
its not his fault detroit passed on Wade and Larry Brown won't play young players

then again simmons is really funny

Right now, Darko is the equivelent of drafting Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan. Ask the Trailblazers how that worked out for them.

Honestly though you can't blame Detroit for taking a developmental player in that spot, the problem was he was joining a team who was in the process of winning & defending titles with proven players. I just don't see why if they wanted him they just didn't trade down because they still could have gotten him later in the draft. I would have drafted Carmello and traded him to a team willing to pay a bit to much. Now they pretty much got nothing in return for him, and the pick was wasted when they could have a player like Wade, Anthony, or Bosh on thier team. That kind of depth is priceless, and not taking Wade may end up costing them in the playoffs this year.

not quite. wade was fairly unknown at the time, and bosh was just as raw as darko. neither of those guys were projected as top 3 picks. detroit had two options: darko, or melo. everyone gambles on big men early in the draft, and melo isnt dumars' type of player. he took a gamble, it didnt pay off, and the franchise has been to two consecutive finals and has the best record in the league right now.

no matter who they draft, its doubtful that player gets minutes. LB does NOT like playing young guys (ask amare and lebron why they didnt get minutes in the olympics), especially if they dont "play the right way". so its not like drafting bowie instead of jordan. bowie actually was decent before injuries got him, and wade, melo, and bosh will NEVER be jordan.

i think they clearly should have traded that pick - if you aren't gonna play him and he clearly needed minutes what was the point?

Wade was not unknown, he just took Marquette to the Final Four. Anyone who watched any of the NCAA tourney saw he was just as good as Carmello, if not better because he had more time to mature and grow. His team also had a hell of a lot less talent than Syr did, and every team they played was sending triple teams at him and they couldn't stop the guy. Bosh was just as raw as Darko, I'll give you that.

I'm not saying that Wade is the next MJ, I am saying this pick by the Pistons will go down as one of the biggest waste of a high draft position ever, like Bowie over MJ. There will never be another MJ.

wade had a great tourney that year, no doubt, but prior to that he wasnt really on anyone's radar. everyone knew melo was gonna be 1 and done, and he had an even better tourney that year than wade. nobody was crackin the top 3 of bron, melo and darko that year.

as far as bowie vs. mj, put yourself in portland's shoes. you already have a young, athletic two guard by the name of clyde drexler (who aint no slouch). bigs are rare. bigs are a commodity. so they took the big.

in hindsight, COLOSSAL mistake by the blazers. but at the time, it was the right move for them. treat it like poker, dont look at results.

I'd say Wade's tournement was better. He carried a team with much less talent to the final four. Melo had several other high quality players on team, like Hakim Warrick. If you watched the games, you could see wade hitting key shot after key shot in every clutch situation. He had that killer instict that great players need.

Yea, I know why they picked Bowie, and I am sure they thought it was a good move at the time because you can't predict the future. I'm a fan of taking the best player avalaible at the time, and if he doesnt fit your team then you can trade him.

Notice no one ever says Houston made a mistake grabbing Akeem

That's because Akeem was the unanimous #1 pick that year... like LeBron. And he turned out to be a damn good player.

Jadaki, I agree with you to an extent... but there were a lot of questions about Wade coming out of college regarding his size and outside shooting. He is only 6'4", and most teams were expecting him to move to point guard. He played the point for much of his rookie year, but didnt really explode into the phenom he is now until his 2nd year when he was moved to the two guard. He is a phenomenal talent, but wasnt as highly regarded as Melo or Bosh or Darko going into the draft.

sort of true about wade although he did have a killer rookie year

they were saying Darko would be all nba at the time and seriously i really doubt that will ever happen

drafting a european that young is like paying big money to a pitcher out of high school

Keith also reminded me of another good point about Darko... remember how everyone was saying teams didnt want to "miss out on the next Dirk Nowitzki". No NBA team wanted the distinction of passing on Darko for the simple fact that he could turn out to be the next big thing ala Dirk.

How can you already doubt that Darko will be one of the best players in the league when he has gotten ZERO chance to play up until very very recently???? In Pistons practice, he apparently was able to hang with Rasheed Wallace pretty well on both sides of the ball, so that is pretty good, and he is already a very good shot-blocker/defender. I am not saying he definitely WILL be one of the best...but how can you judge that he won't when he has had zero chance to do anything whatsoever?? He is only 20 years old...hell, he may not even be done growing yet!!!

Fair enough - but if I had to guess - he'll never start an all star game

The NBA All-Star starting lineup is just a popularity contest....so......okay. Maybe he won't.

no matter what you say about wade, he wasnt going to be a #2 or 3 pick that year. it was never gonna happen. remember, melo was also final four MVP that year.

and the pistons took the guy that had the most "upside". it didnt work out, so they traded. but you cant always just trade a guy. it aint that easy.

with the team they had they should have traded that pick - if they had they would have more than one title

You mean that they should have drafted Wade or Bosh, right? Why would you trade that pick? What would they have traded for, another player? Who's better than Wade or Bosh on rookie contracts? More picks? Yay?

Joe Dumars would be considered the best NBA GM of all time if he had drafted Bosh or Wade over Darko. Oh well, i'm over it.

they had a vet team i would have traded for a player or a future draft pick

One thing is for sure, the pick was wasted. If you are going to draft a guy with upside who needs development, you need to let him develop. If your not going to be able to improve your team with the pick, why not trade down or for future considerations.

I hope he does well in Orlando. I don't think he will ever be an All-Star but I see him as being a solid NBA player. It was tough for him in Detroit, you can't argue that he should get minutes over any of the top 8 guys.

Another good game for Darko yesterday..11 pts off the bench in Orlando's stomping of Cleveland.

I'm actually rooting for Darko. I just think Larry Brown gave him the shaft (for what reason I dont know).

I used to think that his lack of playing time was solely due to the depth of the roster, but now I'm not so sure. Just look at the Knicks this year and his treatment of Channing Frye. At first glance his 24 minutes per game looks good, but when you take into account that the Knicks completely stink and that Frye is a young player ready for the NBA, he should easily be getting more mintes than that (at least 30 per game). The only reason Frye is getting minutes is beause there really is no one else. But Brown seems determined to thwart that anyways. In the last 4 games he's only getting about 15 minutes per game. What in the hell is Brown is doing? Playing veterans for a playoff push.

In Darko's 2 years under Brown he averaged only 6 minutes/game, but he only played in 71 regular season games (out of 164 possible). That's unreal. Even Kwame Brown got minutes when he came into the league. You can only learn so much in practice. Eventually you need game time reps. It's actually going to take a while for Darko to get used to playing real basketball again.

i'm an orlando fan, and i'm loving the future howard/darko/HOPEFULLY lebron future.

let's see bron bron sign there in 2 years and watch the magic win title after title.

I dont think he's gonna sign there, but that would be a pretty disgusting combo LeBron and DHoward

its funny, between the top 3 draft picks, Lebron Darko and Melo

Darko is the only one with a ring

I'm a detroit fan, but really do hope for the best for darko. He was in a bad situation what with having to play behind sheed and wallace not to mention joe d bringing in mcdyess, which made 3 players before his name got called to the floor. No PT for him to grow. Anyway I think Orlando will definately be a team to watch out for in perhaps a couple years. Very young team, and they seem to be making smart moves now. Dwight howard could really become one of the best players in the league with more time, not to mention he's still so young but very very good.

Darko with 14 pts, 7 rebounds (three offensive), three blocks, one steal, and 4-4 from the line in Orlando's road victory at San Antonio.

I'm telling you guys....kid's gonna be breakout player of the year next year. He's for real and he's gonna make all those who have called him a "bust" look like idiots.

Don't be suprised to see D Howard in a different Jersey when he becomes a free agent.

I'm curious as to why you think that. I'm not saying your wrong. I'm just wondering if I missed a story somewhere. Is Howard unhappy there?

Howard's only in his second season. Like Isiah Thomas, I'm not too good with the salary cap rules, but I think for all first round draft picks teams have the option to extend to a 4th year on the player. And either after or during his 3rd season the team can sign the player before anyone else can talk to him and sign him for more money than anyone else can offer. The NBA rules regarding how players are paid has largely contirbuted to star players staying with their original team.

With Howard already being one of the best rebounders in the NBA, I would expect the Magic to sign him to a max deal (or at least close to it). Howard is quickly becoming one of the best power forwards in the game and should make the all-star team next season. I would classify him as a star player and would expect the Magic to do everything they can to sign him.

No chance. The Magic's future looks EXTREMELY bright....they are playing like one of THE best teams in basketball lately. Not the very best..but Top 6 or 7. With Howard being a monster and still improving, Milicic looking good and clearly improving big time, Jameer Nelson emerging as a pretty solid PG/scorer, and even Hedo Turkoglu is emerging as a good scorer for them..if they could pick up a good free agent pickup to play the 2 or 3, they are going to be a serious contender next year.....bottom line..the Orlando franchise is CLEARLY looking very good and has an extremely bright future with a lot of young talent that is already proving to be pretty good.....Howard is gonna be a force in Orlando for a good number of years to come.

Edit: Also, at a time when the top teams are trying to win every game to lock up the#1 seed and such.....Orlando has beaten Dallas at home by 9, beaten Milwaukee at home, beaten Detroit at home, beaten Miami on the road by 9, beaten San Antonio AT San Antonio by 12, and beaten Philly by 5 at home...........and with the team clearly getting much better....why would Howard want to leave that???? Orlando's gonna be a Top 3-4 team in the East next year..and potentially better.


Second Edit: ANNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD D. Howard and Jameer Nelson have had their contracts extended through the 2007-2008 season...so that's at least two more years there......and by then he may have a ring.

They lost their "best" player in Stevie Franchise to New York, and they've been 16-4 since. Just a sick run they're on right now, no doubt about it.

Best move orlando made was getting rid of Stevie franchise...NY is a mess with him Marbury. I think Orlando will be okay...but not really sold on Nelson. If they can get a stable point guard that looks to get Dwight and Darko the ball i think they will be a force ina couple of years. Bummer Hill has been hurt...he would help tremendously to the development of those 2.

Yes...I don't see Nelson as a "star" who will score 25 per game or anything...but he seems to get the ball to Nelson quite a bit...so if he can do that and they can have a good outside shooter for next year...they could make a serious run in the East in a year or two.

actually you dont see to many true points in the NBA anymore. I love Basketball, but am so tired of all these young players that have this street ball image. Give me a John Stockton or Mark Jackson anyday. I think that kidin Portland Telfair..I dont think he can make a regular two handed chest pass..it has to be behind his back..thru the leg no look off the back board...any ways just thought I throw my 2 cent in

I think Nelson is more comparable to the Stockton/Jackson type than a "streetball" type...I mean...he did get four years of college ball..right? I think he works well with the Magic..and yes, I agree....a good, true "point gaurd" who runs the team well is infinitely more valuable than a point gaurd with fancy moves and who just scores a lot.