Darko is mad.

[fac3 tak30v312]

Originally Posted by DatZNasty

Originally Posted by fac3 tak30v312

Originally Posted by grittyman20

Originally Posted by Super Producer J

He is right about basketball, or the NBA for that matter, not being the same arena as football where you really wait for your time. As the number 2 pick, you expect to get burn, if not starter status. It doesn't feel like he was given a chance from then on.

That's whats wrong with a lot of younger athletes today...they "expect" too much. The way I see it, either your talent is undeniable or you bust your tail to earn playing time. People can say what they want about LB or any other coach, but unless your name is Don Nelson you're going to play your best players. Darko wanted minutes, well at that time he needed to outplay Corliss Williamson and Okur. 
Not to mention, but in this day and age Darko had to know what he was getting himself into. I'm assuming that either him or his agent had to know about how Brown is a no nonsense, old school type coach. Why didn't he attempt to pull a Rubio and stay overseas then? 

Honestly from all of his interviews it sounded like his whole team meaning agents, coaches and family was more shocked than anyone that Detroit picked him, and saw it as a stamp of approval. At that point he didn't have any of the leverage Rubio had. To all the guys saying "why didn't he just play harder" .. I'm sure we've all had that one person in life that regardless of what good we did they would dog you, to Darko Larry Brown was that person. Then when he started playing good at his other stops all that got him was a one way ticket out of town. At the end of the day he's only 24 and maybe he could turn things around in Europe either that or Minnesota finds themself a horse whisperer.

What good did Darko ever do as a Piston? Dude couldn't even bust %*! in garbage time. He has had like 2 career highlights, the one where he dunked on Diop off the dribble, and I'm just being generous assuming he has done something else noteworthy in his life but frankly I don't remember it.

Are you telling me you are going to find Darko minutes over Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess, and Dale Davis? Because if so, you're going to suck as a coach. Dude felt entitled and hasn't worked for it and has been pointing the finger at everyone else his entire career.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_NBA_Draft

Look at the 03 draft. Obviously LeBron proceeded him, but even still there have been 7 all stars who were drafted after him?

Look at Chris Kaman for example. He looked like a bust early in his career too. He came back year after year in better shape, got a bit more athletic, developed range out to 17ft, both hands in the post, in fact he actually built a gym at his house that he works out at.

What do we know of Darko in his offseasons? Various interviews come out blaming everybody else for his suckitude. Comes back, still sucks, everyone else's fault. Gets traded, still sucks and it's everyone else's fault. Gets traded again, still sucks, everybody else's fault.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_NBA_Draft 

The thing is you can't use one criteria for one player and not use it for others. What top five lottery pick in ANY sport doesn't feel entitled... doesn't expect playing time ... doesn't expect support from the organization that drafted them .. Simply put it's easier to completely disregard a player like Darko because one doesn't know anything about him .. On the one hand you (and mean you generally not individually) praise players like Carmelo, Lebron, Wade etc for their grit, tenacity, work ethic etc all the things that go into them being great most of which are mental attributes and completely disregard that those attributes need to be nurtured, that for all the "bravery and bravado" these players show on the court it's partly (and in many cases mostly) their insecurities that drive them to be great.

I'm not here to say that before getting drafted Darko didn't have any pre-existing mental issues and problems but the way he talks about going back to Europe is similar to how an abused person talks about that one place in either their adult life or childhood that they felt the safest/most wanted. To me Darko shows the dark side of sports, particularly the NBA and to be quite honest if he was another mid first rounder all of this would've been simply swept away like other notable first round flame outs. That alone should be a testament to his talent

Now if you're talking about playing during his first stint with Memphis and then with Orlando he showed a great feel for the game on both ends of the floor but at the same time that he needed serious work on his basketball IQ. Then in the qualifying games and olympics (i'm not sure about the second one .. it might've been other qualifying games) when he was just allowed to play he showed a great skillset offensively and decent timing defensively, but what was troubling is anytime he made any sort of mistake he was completely dejected to the point it would make him tentative for the rest of the game. Basically he needed a cellar dwelling team to give him ample playing time so he grow and make mistakes.

 

[datznasty]

Darko's mom checking in What criteria did I use for Darko and not others? He sucks because, well he sucks. Same criteria for LeBron, Carmelo, Wade, Bosh, etc. if they were averaging 5ppg given where they were selected. But they're not, they're actually good. LeBron, Carmelo, and everybody whos better than Darko are insecure? What rings of insecurity more than an entire career of blaming your own failures on everyone else?

Even for his aforementioned stints in Orlando and Memphis where he "showed promise," we're still only talking 8pts and 6 boards. In terms of a #2 pick, or hell even any position lottery pick, that stinks. You don't want to get 8 and 6 from lottery picks. You get 8 and 6 from guys you fill out the end of the lineup with using the veteran minimum, and pieces of the MLE, and guys you take a risk on bringing them off the street out of some other league.

Your son was actually supported very well by the Pistons. They all did the good teammate thing and lied, talked about how great he was, and how he was going to take over the league soon and they didn't cut his **# and find someone better.

I mean literally, eating hamburgers in locker room pregame (btw if you didn't believe me http://www.startribune.co...rts/wolves/86040682.html ), you can't excuse stuff like that. He's right in that he probably wasn't going to play much, because they have players better than him, but with an attitude like that you're definitely not going to play or get better. So he eats hamburgers in pregame, gets pissy drunk nightly and parties all the time, never improves, sulks and blames everyone else, and at this point in his career is a backup center's backup center. And I'm wrong because I think that's unacceptable.

Give you another polar opposite of Darko and a guy who I'd take over him 11 times out of 10, Serge Ibaka. Rookie from the Congo, came to basketball late in life but wants to learn so he shows up to games and practice early, leaves late, whenever he's on the bench you see him talking with teammates and coaches trying to help increase his understanding of the game