Goodbye Darko, we hardly knew ye

It's official Darko Milicic is no longer a member of the Pistons. If you check the box scores you might wonder if he has ever been a member of the team, but that's not the point.

Darko, and PG Carlos Arroyo, were traded to the Orlando Magic for basically nothing, Kelvin Cato, an injured big man, who isn't needed and a draft pick in the next two years.

From what I understand this trade was basically about money, they want to resign Ben Wallace and Chauncey, and to have that money they couldn't also sign Darks. So they get Cato whose contract expires at the end of the season, and they have money.

Personally, I don't like this trade, it doesn't help the team win a championship this year. Over the past year I kept hearing on the radio that Darko wasn't a bust, and Joe Dumars, President and GM, was offered quality players for Darko because people thought he had potential. But they didn't get anything for him. Even in Cato isn't injured, he's just an extra big man that isn't needed.

Was it to soon to give up on Darko, will he go on to have a good career in Orlando? He's only 20 years old, must layers are just entering the NBA now, Darko has sat on the bench for 2 years, dubbed the human victory cigar, because he only got in the game when the game wasnt in question.

Did Joe Dumars screw up by drafting him? hindsight would seem to yes, although we don't know how Wade, Bosh or Carmelo would have fared had they joined this team. They most probably would have sat on the bench as much as Darko.

At the time however, everyone had said that he was the number 2 pick in the draft. Denver said if they had the pick, they would have taken him over Carmelo.

Darko was on the cover of ESPN the magazine a few months before the draft, the headline said "He's Number 2" Here are some quotes "Darko is one of a kind, he runs the floor, handles the ball, shoots the three, and can play with back to the basket" "Darko's footwork and speed seperate him from the rest of the 7 foot pack"

And this is what is written in the mock-draft -
"Another no-brianer. Even if Detroit didn't think it already had a Carmelo (Tayshaun Prince) Darko would have been the choice. He won't sell as many tickets as Lebron (James) but he'll be drawing more then his share of attention in teh low post. There is one big issue:Will Larry Brown let him off teh bench (he didn't)

I don't know who ESPN's Chad Ford was watching, but when I see Darko he looks like he's never seen a basketball court, rarely aggressive, out of place, hanging out by the three point line, and looking uninterested.

Ford wasn't only wrong on this - he said that denver would trade the 'melo pick, and Wade would go 9th to th knicks (he was picked 5 by the heat. He had the Heat taking Chris Kaman)

Good luck in Orlando Darko, I hope you get more PT then you did in Detroit