You take my breath away
Alright, I didn't mention it last night because it slipped my mind (was writing big playoff preview and studying for exam) but I'll give some thoughts on it now. Last night, Darko got his first start, logged his most minutes (30) and scored his most points (16). He even mixed in five boards and shot 7-11 (63.6%) from the field. Let's have a quote from the guy in question.
"Coach told me I was going to play a lot in the last two games so he could rest some of the regulars for the playoffs"
Sounds plausible. Granted, it's not like he was playing against superior competition (look at which bigs got time for Atlanta) but it's still a nice sign. While you're looking at that, notice that guys listed as SG's (Josh Smith, Childress, Diaw, Donta Smith) combined for 136 minutes, almost enough to fill three separate spots for a night (144 was needed for that). Like I said, not a great opponent, but good to see nonetheless.
As a Piston fan, like many other of the type, I hear about Darko all the time. Just last night (this is shortly before I realized the game had slipped my mind) I was having a conversation where a friend suggested that Joe D could've had Bosh or Wade. I suggested that Carmelo would be even better, judging by the big hole at the 2.5 spot on the Pistons' bench. He agreed and again asked why Darko was chosen. Obviously I don't have all the answers, but I rattled off the information I usually give to those questioning the pick of the human victory cigar (they even have that as his nickname on Basketball Reference!):
- Supposedly he's a star in practice, but he's not in game shape yet
- Their big men at the time were Ben, Memo, Elden and Corliss
- He turns 20 in a couple of months
Afterwards, I noticed a couple more stats.
- He's had 383 minutes on the career, enough for 10.64 games at a 36 minute clip
- He's taken 133 shots on the career, 9.45% as many as Lebron has.
So we've barely seen him play, yet he's constantly ragged on by people. Granted, most times when he's out on the court he looks about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, but we've only seen 383 minutes worth. So let's wait until he has enough games under his belt for a couple of seasons before we judge the guy (I'd say "kid", but he's older than me).
Playoff preview will be up after this evening's games are complete.
"Coach told me I was going to play a lot in the last two games so he could rest some of the regulars for the playoffs"
Sounds plausible. Granted, it's not like he was playing against superior competition (look at which bigs got time for Atlanta) but it's still a nice sign. While you're looking at that, notice that guys listed as SG's (Josh Smith, Childress, Diaw, Donta Smith) combined for 136 minutes, almost enough to fill three separate spots for a night (144 was needed for that). Like I said, not a great opponent, but good to see nonetheless.
As a Piston fan, like many other of the type, I hear about Darko all the time. Just last night (this is shortly before I realized the game had slipped my mind) I was having a conversation where a friend suggested that Joe D could've had Bosh or Wade. I suggested that Carmelo would be even better, judging by the big hole at the 2.5 spot on the Pistons' bench. He agreed and again asked why Darko was chosen. Obviously I don't have all the answers, but I rattled off the information I usually give to those questioning the pick of the human victory cigar (they even have that as his nickname on Basketball Reference!):
- Supposedly he's a star in practice, but he's not in game shape yet
- Their big men at the time were Ben, Memo, Elden and Corliss
- He turns 20 in a couple of months
Afterwards, I noticed a couple more stats.
- He's had 383 minutes on the career, enough for 10.64 games at a 36 minute clip
- He's taken 133 shots on the career, 9.45% as many as Lebron has.
So we've barely seen him play, yet he's constantly ragged on by people. Granted, most times when he's out on the court he looks about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, but we've only seen 383 minutes worth. So let's wait until he has enough games under his belt for a couple of seasons before we judge the guy (I'd say "kid", but he's older than me).
Playoff preview will be up after this evening's games are complete.
posted by Corey at 12:17 p.m.
1 Comments:
The Pistons Blogger,
My name is Jamie Mottram and I'm the host of a unique show on AOL Sports called Sports Bloggers Live. We broadcast on AOL and out to the web as a whole at www.SportsBloggersLive.com.
We're interested in having you on as a guest tomorrow, Thursday, April 21st around noon-12:30 PM ET to discuss Pistons Blog and the Eastern Conference Playoffs for five minutes or so.
Just reply to this email or give me a call (703.489.5180) to let me know if you're interested in doing it. We'd love to have you on.
All the best,
Jamie Mottram
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