Darko's Redemption

He is still just 22 years old. He is still 7 feet tall. He is still very skilled for his size. However, his name is still Darko Milicic and he is still considered one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. Ok, Mike Kahn says the biggest bust since 2001. However, playing in virtual NBA obscurity in Memphis, Darko Milicic is starting to slowly become the player Joe Dumars envisioned taking over for Ben Wallace.

Early in Memphis Darko established himself as a superb one on one defender of big post scorers against the like of Tim Duncan and Yao Ming. However, an early season injury to his shooting hand left Darko struggling to be able to grip the ball and make clean catches. Darko tried to play through the injuries and looked every bit the bust as he came back slightly heavy and bobbling entrance passes and rebounds at almost every turn.

Darko started the season off averaging 10.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in just 29 minutes before his thumb injury against New Orleans on November 16th. He returned from injury the first of December and he was not the same player. His stats took a noticeable dive and so did his minutes. Memphis fans began to think they had been sold the same pig in a poke that Detroit and Orlando fans had bought.

At the end of January, Grizz mainstay Pau Gasol began to have back pain. Unfortunately, the first two games that Gasol sat, Darko was not able to take advantage. However, on January 30th against reigning defensive player of the year Marcus Camby and the Denver Nuggets, Darko had perhaps his best game in a Memphis uniform. He posted 14 points, 16 rebounds (7 offensive) and 5 blocks while almost helping the depleted Grizzlies knock off the Nuggets. On February 2nd against the equally good frontline of the Utah Jazz, Darko was one of the lone bright spots after posting his first career back-to-back double double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.

So Tuesday marked a big night for Darko.

With Kwame Brown joining the Grizzlies, Darko was able to look into what could be his future. A former high draft choice that is unable to make his mark in the league during his second NBA contract. Brown will be lucky to play for the veteran minimum with his next team. Darko really has two and a half seasons to prove that he can become a credible NBA center. Nobody at this point expects him to fulfill his enormous draft day promise.

On Tuesday night facing former #1 overall pick Andrew Bogut, Darko turned in another worthy performance. He posted 11 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. Are the numbers eye popping? No. However, Darko is quietly turning in some very quality performances especially for a 22-year-old center. Darko needs to continue posting consistent efforts for the Grizzlies to get back to being a playoff team.

Coach Marc Iavaroni has a reputation as a big man’s coach. Amare Stoudemire always credited Iavaroni with a big part of his development in Phoenix. A lot of Iavaroni’s future success in Memphis is dependent upon Darko’s development as an anchor to the Grizz running game on offense and defense. So far, it looks like Iavaroni’s extra work with Darko is paying off in on the court performances. Next up…the win-loss column.

Welcome back to Dunkyland!

When I got the phone call, I was sure that someone was just having some fun at my expense. "Pau Gasol traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and two 1st round draft picks." My initial reaction was "hey -- those salaries don't work" (yeah, I know it is pathetic that I know the salary structures for 80% of the teams in league -- quit laughing), but then I was told that they had resigned Aaron McKie to make it work. "Isn't he with the Sixers now?" Yet another sign of the ridiculousness of this trade. The Lakers traded the Sixers assistant coach to the Grizzlies. You cannot make stuff like that up.

For the next 48 hours I felt.........numb. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what had happened, so I couldn't feel anything about the trade. Well, other than a tremendous feeling of being cursed with the worst timing in the history of blogging. However, in the last two days, I have read two phenomenal viewpoints of the trade that have made me see just what this trade really means for Memphis. The first one was Pete Pranica's post on Grizz Blogs. The second was Hardwood Paroxysm's account of the trade. Slowly, I began to see the sun peeking through the clouds.

So now I am left at a crossroads. On the one hand, the Gasol trade has left the Grizzlies with cap space for the upcoming offseason (estimated $10-15 million), an additional draft pick for a great talent evaluator in Chris Wallace to use and a young player with good potential in Javaris Crittenton. They will be able to rebuild this team from the ground up, using Mike Conley and Rudy Gay as the foundation, with Darko Milicic and Crittenton as key players. Then you factor in two more young players with potential in the draft this summer and the talent level of this team going forward should increase dramatically.

It sounds like they won't use their cap space this offseason, given that this isn't a particularly enticing unrestricted free agent crop to pair with a group of young athletic players, preferring to roll it over to the 2009 offseason, where there are a lot of attractive FA's of the "right age". Factor in another 18 months of growth/maturity for Conley/Gay/Darko and this team could improve by leaps and bounds. So there is reason to have hope for the future of this franchise, including a return to the postseason as soon as the 2009/10 season.

On the other hand, this move was obviously business first, basketball a distant second. Even though it is mostly being reported that Chris Wallace pitched the idea to owner Michael Heisley, this one has Heisley grimy little fingerprints all over it. Wallace has been in print and on the radio several times this season saying that he did not want an expiring contract to be the central piece in return for either Gasol or Mike Miller in a trade. Lo and behold, what did he say about the acquisition of Kwame Brown? "He was the biggest expiring deal we could get." Now, I'm familiar with GM speak and know it when I see it. This 180 degree turnaround did not seem like a case of GM speak. Rather, it seems more likely that it was a directive from Heisley to Wallace -- not the other way around.

If that is the case, then this trade was a salary dump, plain and simple. If this is nothing more than a way to lower the outstanding contracts on the team to make it easier for Heisley to either sell the team to an outside group or to force the local group of minority owners to meet his asking price, then Memphis fans have been duped and taken advantage of as pawns. Pawns who shelled out money for a team that they expected to be competitive this year, even if they weren't expecting a return to the playoffs. Now they get to watch a team that has 13 wins so far and probably won't match last year's total of 22 victories. Not only is that a hard pill to swallow, it is an even harder sell for the sales/marketing staff. As Geoff Calkins pointed out in his column Saturday, can you imagine what that sales call will be like? It won't be pretty, I can assure you. This team didn't draw well when they were making the postseason and actively trying to get better. How low will attendance drop now that the rest of this season is a foregone conclusion and next year won't be much better? When does the attendace clause of the team's lease actually go into effect? (Speaking of attendance, Mark Cuban says get off your butt and do something if your attendance sucks.)

So while I would love to go along with the idea that this was a move made with the team's best interests in mind, if I have learned one thing in life, it is that rich, powerful people usually get what they want. Michael Heisley is a billionaire, so he gets what he wants and then takes the rest. If the team resurrects itself over the next two or three seasons, then I'll accept that Heisley is not, in fact, the Anti-Christ. If he uses this move as leverage to sell the team to a group like the Brian Davis-led flunkies who only have enough money to buy the team and nothing more, then I'm starting a blog dedicated to trashing Heisley. Either way, only time will tell what is to come for this team.

Welcome back to Dunkyland!

Gasol vs. Kwame Brown + 2 in Stats

The franchise players is gone!  Here is what the Grizz got in return!
See full stats onGriz Board here.

Kwame Brown      #54   Center
									2007-08 Statistics
									PPG    5.7
									RPG    5.70
									APG    1.2
									EFF     + 8.74
									Born: Mar 10, 1982
									Height:  6-11 / 2,11
									Weight:  270 lbs. / 122,5 kg.
									High Sch: Glynn Academy (GA)
									Years Pro: 6
Career Season Averages
Yr	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
07-08	23	14	22.1	0.515	0.000	0.406	1.3	4.3	5.7	1.2	0.7	0.8	1.61	2.50	5.7
Car	389	185	24.1	0.484	0.125	0.602	1.9	3.8	5.7	1.1	0.6	0.7	1.47	2.30	7.6

 

Pau Gasol      #16     Forward - Center
									2007-08 Statistics
									PPG     18.9
									RPG     8.80
									APG    3.0
									EFF     + 22.33
									Born: Jul 6, 1980
									Height:  7-0 / 2,13
									Weight:  260 lbs. / 117,9 kg.
									From: Spain
									Years Pro: 6
Career Season Averages
Yr	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
07-08	39	39	36.7	0.501	0.267	0.819	2.4	6.4	8.8	3.0	0.4	1.4	2.05	2.20	18.9
Car	476	470	35.5	0.509	0.230	0.730	2.5	6.1	8.6	3.1	0.5	1.8	2.60	2.40	18.8

                 +

Javaris Crittenton    #1   Guard

2007-08 Statistics

PPG     3.3

RPG     1.00

APG    0.8

EFF     + 2.73

Born: Dec 31, 1987

Height:   6-5 / 1,96

Weight:   200 lbs. / 90,7 kg.

College: Georgia Tech

Years Pro: Rookie

Career Season Averages

Yr

G

GS

MPG

FG%

3P%

FT%

OFF

DEF

RPG

APG

SPG

BPG

TO

PF

PPG

07-08

22

0

7.8

0.491

0.333

0.679

0.3

0.6

1.0

0.8

0.3

0.0

1.00

0.50

3.3

Aaron McKie      #2   Guard
									2007-08 Statistics
									PPG     0.0
									RPG     0.0
									APG    0.0
									EFF     + ?
									Born: Oct 2, 1972
									Height:   6-5 / 1,96
									Weight:   209 lbs. / 94,8 kg.
									College: Temple
									Years Pro: 13
Career Season Averages
Yr	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
05-06	1	0	8.0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Car	75	26	28.5	0.437	0.385	0.801	0.6	3.0	3.6	3.2	1.1	0.2	1.35	2.50	9.5