Why did Darko Milicic fail?

June 16, 2009

default user icon
z

Why did Darko Milicic fail?

Why did Darko fail?  I blame Larry Brown.  For 2 and a half season with the Pistons, Larry Brown never played Darko meaningful minutes.  Darko got about 5 minutes of burn per game, all coming in garbage time.  Someone in the media even nicknamed him "The human victory cigar", because he only got on the court after the game was decided, a Pistons win or loss.  How the hell can you expect a young talent to improve if he's playing once or twice a week for 5 minutes?  You have to throw rookies and young guys into the mix and let them make mistakes and learn.  Darko never got that chance, and was completely mentally destroyed from the hellish years in Detroit.  Now, some say with Rasheed and Ben Wallace on the team, there was no room for Darko in the rotation.  Mehmet Okur was getting some of the backup time, but really?  Darko couldn't sniff the court, at all?  He couldn't have gotten in at the end of a quarter or two and worked up a sweat?  Learned a few things?  He was the #2 pick!  He had to have some talent!  He's got to have the opportunity to play!  Maybe the pick wouldn't have been such a disaster if Brown gave him the opportunity to play and contribute.  Brown should've slowly increased his minutes, and occasionally gave him minutes in crunch time at least in the regular season to get his feet wet.  What coach doesn't let the #2 pick play any meaningful minutes?  So disappointing.  It sounds funny, but Darko may have been a good player.  Larry Brown may have completely ruined Darko. 

Posted by z | Like this post? Share it:
Share on Facebook Share on MySpace Digg This Story Stumble it! Reddit Save to del.icio.us Add to my Technorati Favorites Save to Google Bookmarks Hype it on BallHype.com!

You must be logged in to post a comment.