Darko Dimension

[jballer_13]

So basically, Darko>Love?

I think one thing to remember is that by Darko playing the role of facilitator in our offense, Love is able to do other things like shoot 3's and crash the offensive glass. I do think Love could play Darko's role in the triangle but I think our offense gets more benefit from letting Love roam around.

[Guy986]

So..... does that mean Darko will get 33+ minutes?

[eyeteeth]

So..... does that mean Darko will get 33+ minutes?

Depending on penalties, I wouldn't be surprised to see him around 30 min. Maybe not every night, but avg 27 and hit 30+ on a good night. I also think he is serious about being more of an offensive presence this year, which could confuse a lot of people who were hating on him.

[shangrila]

So..... does that mean Darko will get 33+ minutes?

Average? Probably not. Maybe at the start of the year as Pekovic is still adjusting but I wouldn't be surprised if they're almost splitting the centre minutes by the end of the year.

[wilt]

Shaq was right, he has exterminated all the centers and now every teams want a 7 footers as Pau Gasol.

Pau Gasol is a bad, bad example for "too bad teams want that sort of player". For all the "he´s so soft" crap he gets, the Lakers won 2 titles with him doing all the heavy lifting with Bynum out/not in shape/rusty. He pulled down 11 RPG both championship runs (and 4 ORPG last year), blocked 2 shots a game, played great help defense without fouling and with his great stamina played over 40 minutes a night. He also got to the line more than during the regular season and shot 56%.

Sure he´s no franchise player but sure as heck is a very, very good Big Man to have even outside his "aditional qualities" like passing the ball.

So basically, Darko>Love?

Do we really have to go there ? Why does everything have to be black or white ?

So basically, Darko>Love?

I think one thing to remember is that by Darko playing the role of facilitator in our offense, Love is able to do other things like shoot 3's and crash the offensive glass. I do think Love could play Darko's role in the triangle but I think our offense gets more benefit from letting Love roam around.

this. Also, Darko initiatiating the offense and looking for cutters from the high post almost allways draws the other teams best shot blocker away from the rim, also on average Centers are less acustomed to guarding people out there or defending a passer, making it easier for Darko to make plays there than it would for Love against (often) athletically superior players that are also more use to defending in that area.
There´s plenty of PFs that play in that area, not so many Centers.

Everbody has a role on a team and while Love sure is a heck of a passer he just wouldn´t play that particular role as well as Milicic and as an added bonus : Darko sure as hell wouldn´t be effective at all playing the Role that Love has. Love gets the ball to score, Darko gets the ball to pass. If defense overplay either of those things it comes in handy that Love can pass the ball very, very well on his own and that Darko might just retrieve some of his offensive arsenal over the course of the year as he gets in a rythm and also learns to make use of his better shape again.

So..... does that mean Darko will get 33+ minutes?

Average? Probably not. Maybe at the start of the year as Pekovic is still adjusting but I wouldn't be surprised if they're almost splitting the centre minutes by the end of the year.

Actually i think that ultimately we´ll see Pekovic playing some minutes at the 4, Milicic looks lighter on his feet almost by the minute and looks almost as lean as he did back with Orlando and if i remember correctly he played extended minutes next to Howard.

[re49gb_2gho32fp]

Pau Gasol is a bad, bad example for "too bad teams want that sort of player". For all the "he´s so soft" crap he gets, the Lakers won 2 titles with him doing all the heavy lifting with Bynum out/not in shape/rusty. He pulled down 11 RPG both championship runs (and 4 ORPG last year), blocked 2 shots a game, played great help defense without fouling and with his great stamina played over 40 minutes a night. He also got to the line more than during the regular season and shot 56%.

Sure he´s no franchise player but sure as heck is a very, very good Big Man to have even outside his "aditional qualities" like passing the ball.

IMO, Pau Gasol is among the two best Big Men in the league with Howard and its not even close (it remains to be seen what Yao can amount to post-injury). To counter your take, yes i firmly believe Pau Gasol is a franchise player. Hes just so skilled in every single facet of the game for PF/C.

[fleet40]

Darko is going to have a nice season. And the work that Laimbeer has put into Darko and Love is really evident in watching them. And both will have very good seasons.

All of the bigs are very much prepared for the season I can tell you that.