Darko Milicic: Scouts failure, coach failure or his failure?

[Manocad]

And that's what EVERY team will do with their top draft pick; they won't hurt the team to develop one player.

Yes they will. The Bulls just lost their best scorer so that they could save money and give more shots to Derrick Rose.

Sorry, let me restate that...no team with intelligent management will hurt the team to develop one player.

[JonFromVA]

GM failure due to Euro inflation.

If Darko was taken with the 30th pick, nobody would care - he'd probably have a nice career as a role player, but everyone wants to uncover the next Dirk/Manu/Parker/Yao/etc, and he was simply taken in to the NBA at much to young of an age based primarily on potential and hype.

Just look at the best foreign born players in that draft. Barbossa? Diaw? Pietrus? Pachulia?!@? ... Pietrus was taken at #11 and the rest way later. Those guys are all fine picks later in the draft where most of them were taken, Detroit just reached taking Darko much like Toronto did taking Bargnani. Bogut wasn't a great pick either, but at least he played in the NCAA.

Basically the GMs need to be protected from themselves, because the allure of a high-ceiling prospect will always overwhelm the more proven player who's already demonstrated what some of his limits are.

[EddieJonesFan]

But there was (or at least seemed to be) a consensus amongst scouts that he was the second best prospect in the draft. So I don't see how you can see it was GM's inflating his value.

[Vindicater]

GM failure due to Euro inflation.

If Darko was taken with the 30th pick, nobody would care - he'd probably have a nice career as a role player, but everyone wants to uncover the next Dirk/Manu/Parker/Yao/etc, and he was simply taken in to the NBA at much to young of an age based primarily on potential and hype.
.

[Teppler]

I think D'antoni is down right creeped out towards the guys tbh. I think he has a really bad head on his shoulders.

[redshortz]

Milicic is living vicariously through Jonas Jerebko.

[Liqourish]

Its definitely all on Darko. He wasn't just raw on the court, he was troublesome off the court. Do you know how many times he got pulled over when he was with the Pistons? How many pictures came out of him drunk off his ass? How many reports came out about him stalking highschools trying to pick up girls?

Larry Brown/Flip Saunders and Joe Dumars could only do so much. They worked with him in practices. Rasheed personally tried to teach Darko like Rasheed does with all young bigs in the league. Ask Bosh or Dwight about how Rasheed reaches out to them to help. Darko just never stepped up and put the time or effort in that he needed to. And it's a shame but he is really talented. He's a very mobile 7'1" player with soft hands and a great shot.

As for this GM inflation talk, Darko was a consensus top 3 pick. Everyone saw the talent he had. No one saw his ability to meltdown and not care.

[Too Late Crew]

Its Darko (and his family's) fault plain and simple. People ignore that he fought TWO lawsuits to get into the NBA when he did. One based on age vs when he was draft eligible the 2nd over compesation /cpntract to his Serbian team. The guy was KNOWN to have a bad attitude on his Euro team. People act like the NBA screwed him over. Nothing could be farhter from the truth. He forced hos way into the NBA despite being way too raw and way to young. Then when he got there he got a rude awakening becuase he simply wasn't ready to compete. The argument that Brown doesn't "like" rookies is pure BS. He's started plenty of rookies . Larry Brown likes guys who know how to play. Darko did not.

Jermain Oneal rode the bench bench behind much better front court players for 4 years. He turned out fine.

His youth was a huge issue. He's ntoa skilled perimiter player. He needed to be an interior player and he was simply too physically immature to do that when he was drafted.

Did Dumars make a mistake? I thought so at the time but I also understand the situation at the time. If he didn't pick him someone was going to pick him high. They felt they were good enough they could wait for him to develop while others could not. Expections on a #2 pick are high even if he's young. Had he gone to another team and been thrown into the fire he likley would have fouled out in 5 minutes every game and be decalered a bust much earlier.

Darko is to blame becuase he came to the NBA too soon. Had he stayed in europe for 2-3 more years he likley would have been drafted lower but been more sucessful when he did come

[garrick]

Despite bad coaching he has had plenty of time to make progress and I think he's just immature and lazy to not want to work hard enough on and off the court.

[Ming Kong!]

A little of each. Darko showed flashes, as he was very athletic for size, and showed potential on both sides of the court. So in a sense you can understand why the Pistons took a chance on a big. Another way to look at it is that the Pistons were the weakest (starter wise) at the SF position, and Anthony was actually the safest pick of the draft given Lebron was taking the jump from high school. Bosh would of been a far safer pick than Darko, and while Wade didn't fall far, he was an undersized SG, so most teams would of taken Melo and Bosh over him at the time. Darko definitely has to be partially blamable. Maybe he was never meant to be a great player, but I believe that with the proper trainers, and him putting in the time and effort, he could of turned out great. Imagine if the Pistons would of drafted Melo..

Big Ben/Campbell
Rasheed/Okur/Rebraca
Melo/Prince/Corliss Williamson/Ham/Fowlkes
RIP/Mike James/Hubert Davis
Billups/Hunter/Atkins//Sura

They would of probably kept Okur if they didn't have Darko. The team would of been SPECTACULAR, probably contended for 5-10 years.

[akula1488]

it is a lot easier to judge physical talents, but difficult to judge mental strength. Darko doesn't have the will and discipline to fulfill his potential. Same as guys like Kwame.

[GameOver25]

I never fully understood Darko. I figure he's just one of those guys who made it to the league and over time really lost interest in the game.

[cwas2882]

Darko. It's all on him. Watching him in Orlando was irritating. He should have been the perfect player next to Dwight. When he was on and trying he was a good defender (help and man-to-man), decent rebounder, could hit a hook with either hand, a little 15 footer. Of course that rarely happened for longer than a few minutes at a time.

Laziness exemplified: A couple of seconds before halftime (of a playoff game, I believe), Orlando has the ball and Darko is slowly making his way up court. Orlando turns the ball over and Darko starts walking off the court as the opposing player runs right by him for a fast break layup.

[Shot Clock]

He's like some guys I know in real life, they expect they should be given things, not earn them and they blame all their failures on everyone else.

"The NBA, all around the league, same (garbage). ‘Your chance is going to come.’ All that kind of (garbage). (Screw) that. … “I’ve got enough of that kind of stuff, so I decided I’m going to Europe.”


He seriously calling people liars for saying his time will come, and he didn't do anything to earn it.

[Percules]

Its Darkos fault. Everyone sees the talent he has although hes raw. he just doesn't have the mindset to be good. Theres something wrong with him mentally. Normal people dont do stuff like this, I dont care how bad the game was reffed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3j363HWQM

Hes might have had the worst attitude in the entire nba.

Darko's not crazy, that's only the way serbians are. They are very well known for swearing a lot. Just watch a movie, made in Serbia - every second sentence is containing a swear of some kind. Still, nothing against them.

[sfballa13]

Truthfully Dumars really didnt make the mistake of taking Darko.

Everyone agreed and there were even articles published quoting Denver's front office saying if the Pistons passed on Darko he was their #1 choice.

The real shame is that Dumars did not trade him sooner.

One rumor after the Pistons won the title in 2004 had Atlanta calling Dumars looking to trade a 1st rounder and Al Harrington for Darko.

Who knows what the pick might have turned out into? But Al Harrington would have been great off the bench and very well might have pushed the Pistons past the Spurs the following year in Game 7.

Even if the Al Harrington trade was just rumors I am sure many GM's would have traded some quality players for Darko before Larry Brown destroyed him.

And while I hate to defend Darko he never stalked high school girls. I actually personally know the two girls he dated while they were in high school. They stalked him. They saw him driving on Adams Rd, in front of Adams High School (where they did not attend btw) and followed him to his house and asked him to take a picture and got his number.

However, Darko was a pretty huge douche that fired off a gun at a high school bonfire in Rochester Hills. Now that **** was funny but still very stupid.

I followed Darko when he was a Piston and he was treated like a joke.

All this talk about hurting the Pistons. Are you kidding? Pistons could have played Darko until he fouled out in the 2nd or even the 3rd. But Larry Brown is a dick and didnt like Darko and he stayed in the doghouse forever.

Whenever he came in when I went to the Palace he would love the fans and the fans would support him too. They would chant for him to hit the floor and Brown wouldnt bring him in.

Give me a break when people say the Pistons played them all he could.

We would play Elden Campbell and other garbage over our 2nd overall pick. Thats embarassing and really a shame.

Darko easily could have averaged 10 and 10 off the bench for the Pistons and signed a nice reasonable contract and stayed with the Pistons. EASILY. Larry Brown screwed him over.

Look Darko had a horrible attitude but we are talking about an NBA team.

You are Joe Dumars and the Pistons. Larry Brown wants Darko dead basically and let's say he has a piss poor attitude problem and wont learn from Sheed and Ben.

What do you do?

Well you go and hire a professional who works with Darko 24/7 on different drills and teaches Darko how to succeed. Patrick Ewing type coach. A former center. Someone who can teach him the ins and outs of the NBA while teaching him some tricks on the court. THAT NEVER HAPPENED.

Why didnt it happen? Shouldnt a team be concerned about his development?

In the beginning Darko used to stay with Dumars and even travel and stay with high ranking members of the Pistons front office. Are you telling me a team that takes an interest that much in a player that they let him stay at their house wouldnt bring a coach to LIVE AND STAY WITH DARKO 24/7 and MENTOR HIM AND TEACH HIM THE NBA GAME.

THATS A JOKE and a failure on the part of the Pistons organization.

Darko showed up. He was drafted. If he wasnt gonna put the work in you should FORCE HIM TO PUT THE WORK IN.

If at that point he still doesnt want to try to work with the COACH YOU HIRED TO TRAIN HIM then you get the TOP VALUE FOR HIM and dont trade him for garbage from Orlando.

Dont tell me Sheed + Darko + pick could have landed us something REAL nice to pair with a PRIME Big Ben and Okur coulda stayed. BS

Dumars is doing the same thing right now with Tay and Rip.
Boozer for Tay straight up was offered. Dumars denied it.
Rip and Max could have been moved for Gerald Wallace in the summer...easily.
Yet Dumars doesnt make the deals bc they are his babies and cant be traded, until its too late.

[Wordup]

What if the Pistons would have picked Melo instead? Where would he be now and would he be better or worse?

[john2jer]

Combo of all three, kind of.

Scouts fault - The kid definitely has talent, but Detroit's scouts should have passed on him, knowing they wouldn't be able to give him playing time considering they were a title contender.

Coach fault - Larry Brown isn't easy on rookies, then again, he had a title contender, so his concern was and should have been on that, not developing a rookie who needed playing time to improve.

Darko - He's a bit of a whiner. Has a HUGE sense of entitlement.

History would have been much different if Detroit drafted Carmelo and Denver drafted Darko. Detroit probably would have contended longer, Anthony would be a better player because of a focus on defense, and Darko would have been given the playing time that he needed. Though, Denver might have passed because they took Nikoloz Tskitishvili the year before. Maybe we see Bosh or Wade in Denver, instead. Meaning Miami possibly never gets a championship, assuming Denver leans towards Wade.

[7foot3]

I'm shocked that no mention was made of this yet - making the transition he did was incredibly hard and some people have more difficulty dealing with the culture change than others. And sports teams, this is more typical in soccer in Europe, where they import players from all over the globe and transfer them not just between teams but countries, are notorious for not helping the player with any off the court/field issues he might encounter. You'll never see a major corporation move an employee to another continent and just tell them to go perform.

[JonFromVA]

But there was (or at least seemed to be) a consensus amongst scouts that he was the second best prospect in the draft. So I don't see how you can see it was GM's inflating his value.

It's the GM's job to weigh things like potential and ceiling .vs. risk and need.

Scouts may rated Darko's potential highly, but how much did they really know to base that on? How many scouts had actually seen him? How much tape was there to collaborate their views? What did they know about his will, drive, and attitude? What did they recommend would be the best situation for his development? Was it followed? etc.

Every flaw in LeBron or Melo's career was micro-anaylzed because everyone had seen them play. Do you remember any flaws brought up about Darko?

As for need, Dumars knew he'd need someone eventually to replace 'Sheed and Ben, so going for a raw big was a luxury he could afford; but on the flip side Larry Brown is notorious for not playing rookies who make mistakes, and as it turns out it looks like Flip Saunders may be even harsher on them as he lets the Wizard's young players rot on the bench this year even on a lousy team.

For a Euroleague scout's perspective, check out this article. Unfortunately it's after the fact, but it points out how the other top foreign players were given time to prove themselves.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Lea ... urope!-80/

Thanks to the hyperbole at the time, though, some made it seem like Darko had already proven himself. Here's a blurb from nbadraft.net's Aran Smith back at the time:

Even if a team needs a wing player more so than a post player, it's hard to see a team passing on Milicic. Darko is a "once-in-a-GM's-lifetime", or better yet "...GM's-tenure" type talent. Since teams began scouting players overseas, not one prospect of Darko's caliber has come along. He is a proven entity having competed against even better competition than either James or Anthony. He has essentially been a professional for over 2 years now after joining Hemofarm at age 15. There are some who suggest he's older than his records suggest 17, which most likely is not the case. Regardless, he will be one of the best players in all of the NBA in a few years.

http://www.nbadraft.net/node/4463

Darko, a proven entity? Wow.

Here's the extent of his high-level Euroleague experience.

(2002-03): Through 20 games, he was playing 20 minutes per game, averaging 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots. He was shooting 49 percent from the field and 68 percent from the line. Saw more playing time in the North European Basketball League (NEBL), a competition against other top European clubs. In 10 games (team went 6-4), averaged 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds. Scored 21 points in a victory over Greek power PAOK. Tallied 23 vs. PAOK in the losing rematch. Exploded for 37 points in a victory over Skonto (Latvia).

(2001-02): Was elevated to the top club team in 2001-02 just before his 16th birthday. Also played in the Korac Cup competition, averaging 7.9 points and 4.7 rebounds while seeing 21 minutes of action per game.

Of course, even dominating the highest levels of the Euroleague is no guarantee of NBA stardom, so it all adds up to risk, risk, and more risk.