Darko stinks

[Lyion]

He got 11 points and 2 rebounds last night.

And that was a good night.

On top of everything Vonkaar said about him, he's got an attitude problem too. Atleast Shawn Bradley knew he sucked and try like hell to not.

I was talking about game 2. Not last nights game. Last nights game he was ok, but he is on a very mediocre team.

In game 2 he had 10 points, 6 boards, and 3 blocks in 28 minutes. He looked different than last year. I can see growth, which is what you look for in a young player.

Never mind the fact calling a 21 year old player the biggest bust in NBA history is just plain silly, and ignores that, hey, he might have one or two years left to play. I know you're young, but go look up Sam Bowie. The blazers passed up on Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Kevin Willis, Alvin Robertson and Otis Thorpe to draft him. If you want something a bit more recent, in 98 the clips drafted Michael Olowokandi.

I don't know if he'll become the player he can be, but the upside of a 7 footer with ball handling and shooting skills who is 21 YEARS OLD seems to be a good investment and I'll bet goat points at the end of 2009 he'll be twice the player of 90% of your list.

He might still be a bust. Fortunately you don't remember so many other players in the NBA who came in and took a few years to develop. I can tell you dozens from the 70s and 80s.

Then again, if the NBA keeps changing its rules to focus on the meme players, it won't matter.

[Zanchief]

I'll bet goat points at the end of 2009 he'll be twice the player of 90% of your list.

Chris Bosh
Dwayne Wade
Carmelo Anthony
Josh Howard
Kirk Hinrich
Boris Diaw
Leandro Barbosa
T.J. Ford
Chris Kaman
Mo Williams
Mickael Pietrus
Jarvis Hayes
James Jones
Marcus Banks
Jason Kapono
Luke Walton
Willie Green
Kieth Bogans

There are 18 people on that list.

90% of those 18 people (being conservative) is 16.

I'll objectively remove Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh (the two best), which leaves you with...

Carmelo Anthony
Josh Howard
Kirk Hinrich
T.J. Ford
Leandro Barbosa
Boris Diaw
Chris Kaman
Mo Williams
Mickael Pietrus
Luke Walton
Jason Kapono
James Jones
Willie Green
Kieth Bogans
Jarvis Hayes
Marcus Banks

You are telling me that at best Dark is going to be twice as good as all those guys?

Let's just assume "twice" is hyperbole so you are telling me that he will be as good as all those guys?

He's 5 inches taller than Josh Howard and he'll never be as good a rebounder. Carmelo Anthony is in the top three in points and likely will be for the next decade.

Hinrich, Ford, and Barbosa and three of the best young PGs.

I'll take that bet.

[Lyion]

See me in two years.

[Snero]

everybody has always been in love with his potential but he's never done anything with it. It's not like coaches have been told to bench him, he doesn't get playtime because he hasn't earned it.

Bowie averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.78 blocks per game, darko so far has averaged 5 ppg in his career although he did have an astounding 8 ppg this year. Even his only real strength, shot blocking, he's not THAT good at. He's averaged even less than Bowie did after the trade from detroit (when he started to get mins).

At some point you've gotta stop looking at potential and realize that a bust is a bust, you can't keep waiting for guys like stromile swift to learn to play basketball. Darko has been in the league for 5 years now, when flip came to detroit he had a mandate to play darko more, and he was still glued to the bench. In orlando, he was picked up to start next to dwight and he lost out to tony battie, how bad to you have to be to lose playtime to him. It's easy to keep saying, but he's only 21 (he's turning 22 in a couple weeks), but you also have to remember he has been in the league for 5 years and the best compliment people can give, is he's shown flashes of brilliance

[Arlos]

OMFG, is it the apocalypse? Did I just see Vonkaar insult THE SHAWN!?!?!? /faint



-Arlos

[Lyion]

At some point you've gotta stop looking at potential and realize that a bust is a bust, you can't keep waiting for guys like stromile swift to learn to play basketball. Darko has been in the league for 5 years now, when flip came to detroit he had a mandate to play darko more, and he was still glued to the bench. In orlando, he was picked up to start next to dwight and he lost out to tony battie, how bad to you have to be to lose playtime to him. It's easy to keep saying, but he's only 21 (he's turning 22 in a couple weeks), but you also have to remember he has been in the league for 5 years and the best compliment people can give, is he's shown flashes of brilliance

This is his third year. Essentially, this is his first year in my opinion since he sat and did nothing in his first two with Detroit. Larry Brown and Detroit were possibly the worst situation for him, especially given his lack of maturity.

Snero, are you telling me a guy who essentially JUST started playing this year should be called a bust?

Then again, since the NBA whores seem to care more about stats, they seem to forget Darko has a Championship. Perhaps someday the others on that list outside of D Wayde will be good enough to win one, but until then the 'bust' will have to solace himself with something they don't have. (Yes, Vonk, I know he didn't earn it, and I'm taunting you, so stop going postal with ridiculous stats, and worthless meme observations. )

Maybe he'll be a bust. My point is Game 2 against Detroit he looked somewhat like a good player. I'm hoping he gets motivated, but who knows what'll happen.

Segue: I despise the fact that people have made the NBA into an individual stats based game versus a team competition. Then again, it's what the league wants, as anyone reading Vonks .sig can ascertain.

[Zanchief]

Snero, are you telling me a guy who essentially JUST started playing this year should be called a bust?

The thing is if he was better he would have worked himself into the rotation. Flip Saunders had a mandate to play him more and after watching him in training camp he went out and picked up Dale Davis. That's how good he was. The reason he was parked on the bench for 3 plus years is because he stinks.

[Snero]

This is his third year. Essentially, this is his first year in my opinion since he sat and did nothing in his first two with Detroit. Larry Brown and Detroit were possibly the worst situation for him, especially given his lack of maturity.

Snero, are you telling me a guy who essentially JUST started playing this year should be called a bust?

Then again, since the NBA whores seem to care more about stats, they seem to forget Darko has a Championship. Perhaps someday the others on that list outside of D Wayde will be good enough to win one, but until then the 'bust' will have to solace himself with something they don't have. (Yes, Vonk, I know he didn't earn it, and I'm taunting you, so stop going postal with ridiculous stats, and worthless meme observations. )

Maybe he'll be a bust. My point is Game 2 against Detroit he looked somewhat like a good player. I'm hoping he gets motivated, but who knows what'll happen.

at some point the lack of playing time is not because he was in a bad situation, it's because of his own abilities. Whether he can't grasp the offence, or he doesn't practice hard or whatever, the simple fact is, he has been given the chance to play his way into the starting lineup on two teams and hasn't done it. The argument that he hasn't played much so this was his first year is very flawed, hell you could make the same argument for Nikoloz Tskitishvili. This guy was a very high draft pick, and has averaged 11 mins a game while playing for 4 teams. Does he still have potential? I don't think it's out of line to call darko a bust, even if he is only 21, because thats exactly what he's been so far. There is always the possibility of him turning his career around, but as time goes by he's not as young, and he will run out of excuses. Orlando was counting on him this year, they needed him to be a starter, to compliment dwight and he bombed.

[vonkaar]

This is his third year. Essentially, this is his first year in my opinion since he sat and did nothing in his first two with Detroit.

And, Sam Bowie shouldn't be considered a bust... he was a decent player who lasted 9 years in the league. It was a HORRIBLY bad pick, but one that would probably be made STILL TODAY. He had a lot of NBA potential and those were the days of TAKE THE BIG MAN (even moreso than today). In that SAME FUCKING DRAFT, Portland would have gone with... god, the list would be too long... basically any great top5 big man over the past 20 years. Put Greg Oden in there and he probably would have beaten Hakeem for the first pick.

rofl, flashes of brilliance

The Darko apologists have stuck around but they are ALL slowly fading away. It's funny to see someone still here and fighting so vigorously. You know nothing about the dude other than a handful of games where he's put up SHIT-ASS NUMBERS (10/6 is flashes of brilliance?). THAT ALONE is enough to catapult him above perennial all-stars like Anthony, Howard, Hinrich and Ford? What have you seen that we haven't? We... including this tiny board... including the fucking media, including his own newspaper who hates him, including basically anyone who has watched any Magic game outside of his BRILLIANT 10/6 performance.

His status as a bust is so defined, NBA.COM staff writers don't even call him out anymore. The Bust© is like a law of nature. It's referred to in the 3rd person. Like, "The plane fell out of the sky, gravity fucked the pilot." Gravity isn't a theory anymore. The Bust© isn't a theory anymore, it's a fucking law. You are calling the world flat while we (meaning, 99.99999999999999% of every NBA fan across the globe) simply shake our heads in pity. He just doesn't get it. A few references to The Bust© - linked off NBA.com (and that's just so sad, if my employer had articles on their fucking website calling me a useless employee... I'd look for another job. And cry):

Andris Biedrins: "Call it the Darko/Tskitishvili backlash. After those two busts made GMs rethink their enthusiasm for European prospects..."

Anderson Varejo: "After plucking him 30th overall in the Darko/Tskitishvili backlash draft of 2004, the Magic traded Varejao and Drew Gooden to Cleveland for Tony Battie."

Not linked off nba.com, but I thought it was funny...

Zan will like this one... "We think that the history of the Toronto Raptors can pretty much be summarized in two words: Rafael Araujo. Yeah, that should do it. The eighth pick overall in the 2004 draft, the Brazilian native could be the most spectacular non-Darko bust in NBA history."

[Zanchief]

Hoffa isn't even close because there wasn't THAT much talent that proceeded him.

Jameer Nelson and obviously Andre Iguadala would be the two that stick out, but it's not on the level where just about everyone after him was a potential all-star.