New Darko Article

[Worm Guts]

What happens to Pekovic if we re-sign Darko, who takes money and big man minutes?

You give Pekovic and Darko a baseball bat and lock the doors. Whoever survives gets a contract..

No way. Peko at PF and Darko at C, then we move the team to Serbia and watch the money roll in.

I'm not sure what Pekovic's salary should be, but Darko should get 14.75 million for 3 years (about 4.9 per year). I love 3 years because we should be finished rebuilding by the end of his contract. If he likes what he sees than he can stick around. By that point he would be 28 in during the summer. Averaging 4.9 million a year isn't crazy. If we keep Gomes, he would be getting 4,235,000 and Ramon Sessions is signed for 3,964,320. I'd say that's a fair price for the hardest position to fill.

4.9 million is absurd for Darko. How much money do you think Darko would have made in the NBA if he finished out the season in New York? LLE at most, and probably not more than the minimum. 30 games for a 14 win team shouldn't change his value that much. We're talking about a career 5 and 4 guy. Sessions was coming off of two good years to start his career, his career arc was much better than Darko's when he signed his contract.

[cpfsf]

I'm not sure what Pekovic's salary should be, but Darko should get 14.75 million for 3 years (about 4.9 per year). I love 3 years because we should be finished rebuilding by the end of his contract. If he likes what he sees than he can stick around. By that point he would be 28 in during the summer. Averaging 4.9 million a year isn't crazy. If we keep Gomes, he would be getting 4,235,000 and Ramon Sessions is signed for 3,964,320. I'd say that's a fair price for the hardest position to fill.

4.9 million is absurd for Darko. How much money do you think Darko would have made in the NBA if he finished out the season in New York? LLE at most, and probably not more than the minimum. 30 games for a 14 win team shouldn't change his value that much. We're talking about a career 5 and 4 guy. Sessions was coming off of two good years to start his career, his career arc was much better than Darko's when he signed his contract.

That's because D'Antoni is a nut job. He plays the blame game too much and picks unnecessary fights with his players. It seems like too many players disappear to his dog house. Sessions finished his career as a starter on one of the worst NBA teams with their 2 stars playing a little over 30 games. I was skeptical signing Sessions (however I was happy that we took him from NYK, so that helped), but I believe his value is fair.

Darko Milicic has room to improve (not a lot of room). This is a guy who wasn't in the best of shape before even playing a game for the Timberwolves. He was just kind of thrown in there. After his first game he even said he was just focusing on trying to breathe. Now he's becoming more and more reliable every game. When I say he has room to improve, I mean he just needs to focus on conditioning, so he can play for 30 minutes every night. His per 36 numbers are pretty good. 10.1 PPG 8.4 RPG 2.4 APG 1.5 BPG. Now, I would be happy with 30 mpg, but it just goes to show that this guy is very efficient.

Allowing Big Al to play power forward has been very helpful. Quite frankly we need a center almost as much as we need a small forward. Centers don't grow on trees. That is without a doubt the hardest position to fill.

[Worm Guts]

Darko's been on 5 teams in 7 years and never averaged more than 8 and 6. It's not like Dantoni is the only coach that's ever left Darko on the bench. His PER is currently is 12 for a team that's won 14 games. Sessions PER last year was 17.2 for a team that won 34 games. Darko never has had a season better than 15.2.
I recognize that Darko has potential, but you can't ignore his history.

[cpfsf]

Except centers are harder to find. I mean he's unselfish, tall, understands the triangle, doesn't make me want to throw a remote control at my wall, efficient, and a shot blocker.

Nenad Krstic will be paid an average of 5.6 million
Varejao is being paid about 7 million per year
Gortat is like 6.5 or 777777 7 per year or something like that

**** it, I was playing tug of war with my dog and the paw kind of broke the 7 on my laptop and have to take remove the button. If I get shocked pressing 7, I'm going to be ****** off.

4.9 sounds very reasonable.

[C.lupus]

Just curious. Why 4.9 and not 4.8 or 4.95?

[Foye]

My priority would be going after Aldrich but Darko is 2nd right now to fill the C position

Aldrich is falling on mock drafts. That's good because we can trade up for him then with Cha's pick.

[Worm Guts]

Those guys also had better career arc's when they got paid. Darko has never been statiscally good and has only once been a contributor on a playoff team. I understand what you see, but you can't pay that kind of money.

[Foye]

Those guys also had better career arc's when they got paid. Darko has never been statiscally good and has only once been a contributor on a playoff team. I understand what you see, but you can't pay that kind of money.

Is it possible to make a team option after one season?

That would limit the risk of signing him (even to a relatively big contract like the suggested 4.9 mil.) to 0.
I guess it isn't possible, though.

[Worm Guts]

Those guys also had better career arc's when they got paid. Darko has never been statiscally good and has only once been a contributor on a playoff team. I understand what you see, but you can't pay that kind of money.

Is it possible to make a team option after one season?

That would limit the risk of signing him (even to a relatively big contract like the suggested 4.9 mil.) to 0.
I guess it isn't possible, though.

It would still cut into our cap space. Maybe we won't use it, but I'd still like to have as much of it as possible and Darko hasn't earned 4.9 million. As far as a team option goes, I still advocate a 1 year contract.

[cpfsf]

Just curious. Why 4.9 and not 4.8 or 4.95?

4.95? Now your just being crazy.

My plan was 14,700,00 for 3 years, but I wasn't sure if anyone would be able to understand that it would compute to 4,916,666.666666666666666666 per year. That's just too difficult to comprehend. I decided that 4,900,000 was more appropriate. Unfortunately that means Milicic must reduce some of his earnings.

Those guys also had better career arc's when they got paid. Darko has never been statiscally good and has only once been a contributor on a playoff team. I understand what you see, but you can't pay that kind of money.

I am so sure he will be paid at least 4.5 million (if he stays here). If I am wrong, I will go out of my way to support the Knicks when they play Minnesota. I will rip on the Wolves for 48 minutes non stop while praising Wilson Chandler. But you don't have to worry about me doing that.

[Worm Guts]

Happy rooting for the Knicks.

[Klomp]

Let me just say that everyone was so sure Sessions would get the MLE last year.


I think more the 3.5-4.0 range

[cpfsf]

Happy rooting for the Knicks.

You've got to admit, praising the other team while bashing our own has helped us in the past. What happened as soon as we stopped? That's right, a 15 game losing streak.

[horaceworthy]

Darko's been on 5 teams in 7 years and never averaged more than 8 and 6. It's not like Dantoni is the only coach that's ever left Darko on the bench. His PER is currently is 12 for a team that's won 14 games. Sessions PER last year was 17.2 for a team that won 34 games. Darko never has had a season better than 15.2.
I recognize that Darko has potential, but you can't ignore his history.

I think you're comparing Darko to the wrong offseason acquisition. Sessions was a PG in a year most were pinching their pennies and featuring the strongest PG draft in recent memory. Darko's a big man in the year everybody was pinching their pennies for. Hollins got about $2.2M per year, and Darko's shown more of a pulse during his career and not all the bloom's come off his Top 5 pedigree (although it's getting pretty close). Even before his mini-resurgence with us somebody probably would have been willing to spend around $3M for a couple years on him as a change of scenery candidate.

I think he's raised his value a bit since he's such a good potential fit here, but ideally we won't have to go to far above $3.5M if he's serious about us being the only NBA team he'd consider signing with.

[GopherIt!]

yeah, I think he will either sign with us or go back to Europe. I'm not getting too excited though, we are talking about Lonnie Darko.

[cpfsf]

yeah, I think he will either sign with us or go back to Europe. I'm not getting too excited though, we are talking about Lonnie Darko.

I just call him the Dark Knight or the Incredible Hulk.

[Worm Guts]

Darko's been on 5 teams in 7 years and never averaged more than 8 and 6. It's not like Dantoni is the only coach that's ever left Darko on the bench. His PER is currently is 12 for a team that's won 14 games. Sessions PER last year was 17.2 for a team that won 34 games. Darko never has had a season better than 15.2.
I recognize that Darko has potential, but you can't ignore his history.

I think you're comparing Darko to the wrong offseason acquisition. Sessions was a PG in a year most were pinching their pennies and featuring the strongest PG draft in recent memory. Darko's a big man in the year everybody was pinching their pennies for. Hollins got about $2.2M per year, and Darko's shown more of a pulse during his career and not all the bloom's come off his Top 5 pedigree (although it's getting pretty close). Even before his mini-resurgence with us somebody probably would have been willing to spend around $3M for a couple years on him as a change of scenery candidate.

I think he's raised his value a bit since he's such a good potential fit here, but ideally we won't have to go to far above $3.5M if he's serious about us being the only NBA team he'd consider signing with.

Hollins had only 3 years of experience and had never been give a shot at legitimate playing time, he was sort of paid on potential. Not to mention he was still considered overpaid.
Darko's at the point in his career where's hard to sell potential. Sure he's still young, but he's been in the league 7 years and had a couple legitimate opportunities to play. I don't think he was getting 3 million before this opportunity, I think he was pretty close to out of the league.

[horaceworthy]

Hollins had only 3 years of experience and had never been give a shot at legitimate playing time, he was sort of paid on potential. Not to mention he was still considered overpaid.

Hollins sucked for 4 years at UCLA (while getting a legit shot at playing time), he was a career 6 and 4 player, 7 and 5 in his best year, but made enough athletic plays in the tournament a GM was willing to roll the dice on him. He then largely sucked for 3 years in the NBA, 2 and 2 for his career, 3 and 2 in his best year, made a few athletic plays in the playoffs, and a GM was willing to give him $2.2M per year.

Darko's at the point in his career where's hard to sell potential. Sure he's still young, but he's been in the league 7 years and had a couple legitimate opportunities to play. I don't think he was getting 3 million before this opportunity, I think he was pretty close to out of the league.

I agree that Darko was on his way out of the league before this opportunity, but that was due to his choice and comments about going back to Europe. If he had expressed interest in staying in the NBA, he would have gotten a decent amount of interest as a change of scenery candidate. Eddie Griifin got $2.5M+ after missing a year due to substance and personal issues, Kris Humphries got $3M per for a couple years simply for being scrappy and having a lottery pedigree. Darko likely would/could have gotten $3M per year from someone, despite being benched by D'Antoni due to being a 25 year old (same age Hollins was last summer, while having shown more in his couple chances than what most considered to be the best case scenario for Hollins) 7 footer with a Top 2 pedigree.

Yes, he's been in the league 7 years and gotten a couple legit opportunities to play, but since he only seems to have gotten legit chances from a couple teams (with one of those chances ending because Orlando wanted to make a splash in FA, the other ending because he got outplayed by Marc Gasol), it isn't hard to sell his potential. This is the last year/opportunity he'll have to do that in the NBA, and it won't be for $7M per like it was last time, but I'm almost certain someone would have rolled the dice on a change of scenery for him if he had been willing.

[Worm Guts]

Every player you listed was signed after about 3 years in the league, not Darko's 7. And none had played on 4 different teams.

If he had expressed interest in staying in the NBA, he would have gotten a decent amount of interest as a change of scenery candidate

He had changed scenery enough where the idea that he just needed a change of scenery doesn't hold much water.

[horaceworthy]

Every player you listed was signed after about 3 years in the league, not Darko's 7. And none had played on 4 different teams.

Regardless, they're all more applicable here than Sessions.

I think you're getting too hung up on a couple details like 7 years and 4 teams, and not seeing the big picture of 25 year old 7 footer once deemed talented enough to be a top 5 pick that's shown a pulse and a decent BBIQ every time he's gotten an opportunity. Whether you think it would have been a good decision or not, it's a decision that at least one team likely would have made.

If he had expressed interest in staying in the NBA, he would have gotten a decent amount of interest as a change of scenery candidate

He had changed scenery enough where the idea that he just needed a change of scenery doesn't hold much water.

I don't exactly disagree, but that wouldn't have stopped at least one of the 30 GM's in the league from seeing him as a change of scenery candidate, given how his career's played out (never really found a stable situation, like Chauncey and his 4 teams in 3 years before signing here at age 24 for $2.3M per), and how much money will be out there this summer.