Pistons insist this season can finally be Darko's time
October 8, 2005
BY KRISTA LATHAM
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Late in practice this week, Darko Milicic, sweaty and tired from a long night of scrimmaging, slashed through the air for a sure dunk. His hand slammed onto the rim but an opponent had nudged his arm and knocked the basketball away, drawing a foul.
Milicic went to the free-throw line as Rasheed Wallace yelled with glee from the other side of the court, "Go for it, Darko!"
He's not the only one who likes what he sees. Milicic missed that time, but watch a Pistons training camp practice and there's no question something is different about fans' poster child for high expectations.
"If he came here as a boy," assistant coach Igor Kokoskov said, "he's a grown man now, that's for sure."
Gone are the blond streaks that highlighted the 7-foot center's dark brown hair last season. Gone is the expectation that he can work hard in practice but fail to have that translate into playing time come game nights. New coach Flip Saunders has promised to give Milicic a chance to make or break his fate on the floor.
And that has Milicic -- back from a summer playing with his national team -- looking stronger and more confident -- happier than ever to be playing in Detroit.
"This year I feel more comfortable," Milicic said. "The coach is trying to let me know that I just need to play and everything will be OK. They all know that I have two bad years behind me, and they let me know that those two years are over."
What was so bad about the last two years? Let's recap. After being selected No. 2 overall in the 2003 draft, Milicic, barely 18 and playing in America for the first time, found himself working with a coach not known for developing young players.
Larry Brown worked Milicic hard in practice but rarely played him.
So Milicic sat the bench and played meaningless minutes at the end of blowouts. He earned the nickname "The Human Victory Cigar" and became a favorite topic of discussion on talk radio and the Internet, where the great "Milicic: Bust or Future Star" debate rages on.
It was clear Milicic wasn't happy.
"He looked stressed out all the time," guard Chauncey Billups said.
As his draftmates made names for themselves in Cleveland, Denver, Toronto and Miami, Milicic felt frustrated and embarrassed -- but, also lucky -- in Detroit.
"I am very lucky to be around these players and this team," Milicic said. "They're great players. They're all winners. I feel lucky to be here. But I haven't played in three years. So it's bad for me."
Every so often, Milicic spoke out about his frustrations in the media. And it wasn't Brown's constant chirping that bothered him.
"That was nothing for me," Milicic said. "My coach from Serbia was 10 times worse."
Milicic just wanted to play. And president of basketball operations Joe Dumars understood, and appreciated Milicic's occasional comment. Who wants a player to be happy sitting on the bench?
"You're going to always deal with tough coaches," Dumars said. "But a lot of the time you're playing as you're dealing with them. And so it's easier to deal with it. The tough part is when you're not playing. That was his biggest hurdle."
It wasn't exactly a hurdle he could jump, either. With Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Elden Campbell, Mehmet Okur and Corliss Williamson holding down the post over his first two seasons, there was just too much depth in front of him.
"For those who forgot, he didn't come to a lottery team," Dumars said. "He came to a world championship team. And most rookies are not going to come to a world championship team and break into the lineup, break into the rotation, and play."
Injuries also plagued Milicic. He lost last summer with a broken finger that came in the final minute of the final game of the season.
That made this summer even more meaningful. For the first time, Milicic was invited to play with the Serbia and Montenegro national team as it prepared and competed for the European Championships.
This was a team Milicic followed and dreamed of playing for since he was a little boy. And to make the dream even sweeter, this year's tournament was held in his home country.
"It's really crazy," Darko said. "The fans, the people are crazy about it. A lot of people, they have no money over there. Some people work months for those tickets to come see us play a game."
For two months this summer, Milicic did two-a-day sessions, lifted weights, played in exhibition games and lower-level tournaments, and even ran through the mountains.
"That was tough," he said. "I thought I was going to throw up."
Serbia and Montenegro was expected to be one of the best team's in the tournament, but a lack of chemistry and infighting doomed the squad. It placed 11th and failed to make even the quarterfinals.
But Milicic made an impression. He was the star of one game, scoring 11 points and making numerous key defensive stops against Israel.
"But it wasn't just about those four games" in the European Championships, Kokoskov said. "It was two months that he played hard. He had two sessions everyday and worked on his abilities. He did great lifting weights and running and basic preparation."
Now, he has showed up in camp with obvious gains from his summer of work.
"He's been better than I thought he would be," Saunders said, "and I thought he was going to be pretty good."
Saunders complimented Milicic's defensive rebounding, his versatility and his basketball IQ, saying it was higher than he expected. He plans to use Milicic all over the court, rather than have him simply stake out the block every play.
"Right now, there's not a lot of guys who are 20-years-old who are predominantly low-post players," Saunders said. "One of the reasons (Phoenix center) Amare Stoudemire had a breakout year last year is because they moved him around. ... He became less predictable, and he became more effective. I think Darko is similar, in that, you can't say just go to this one spot and play there."
Dumars said he hasn't ordered Saunders to give Milicic playing time.
"I'll never walk in and tell a coach who to play," he said. "I think it's counterproductive."
But Dumars and Saunders are on the same page. Both would likely put Milicic at No. 4 in the big man rotation behind the Wallaces and McDyess.
And if Milicic continues to impress the way he has so far, that's going to translate into meaningful minutes -- and help erase the memory of the last two seasons.
"I think he feels like he has a weight lifted off his shoulders," Billups said. "He's playing freely. He's playing a lot more aggressive. He's going to be great, man."
