Darko is willing to "Kill Someone on the Court"

Given Darko's reputation for clumsiness, I hope this doesn't actually happen, but I'm liking hearing him say it. When Perk left we lost our baseline enforcer. Shaq gave us that but didn't play much. It'd be nice if Darko used his fouls "wisely" (i.e. "Plant someone on their butts if they drive the lane"). Prove me wrong, Darko, prove me wrong. This is the perfect situation for you, absolutely perfect. Low expectations, a defensively-oriented team that doesn't need you to score and a fan base that loves physical play and uncomplaining role players. If you can't make it here, with Doc as your coach and KG as your mentor, then you should retire to Serbia and open a haberdashery.









Darko Milicic is Willing to ‘Kill Someone on the Court’








Doc Rivers and the rest of the Boston Celtics may not know what they’re getting from Darko Milicic heading into the season, but one certainty is that Milicic is willing to play hard. Well, maybe a little too hard. Per CSNNE:
“All the things of the past that seemed to weigh Milicic down, appear
to have dissipated — for now, at least. Reliving the past doesn’t do
Milicic any good. Living in the past? That’s even worse. ‘I’m done
trying to prove I’m the No. 2 pick and that [expletive] stuff,’ Milicic
said. ‘This year, it’s all about Celtics, to show that I am a team
player. It’s not about me. It’s about us as a team.’ Milicic added:
‘I’ll do whatever it takes, whatever I need to do to help this team. So
now, if I have to go kill someone on the court, I’ll kill someone on the
court’ [...] ‘Whatever needs to be done for the team to be better,’
Milicic added, ‘I’ll do it.’”




bob






.

Hi,
Celtics could use that when Lebron tries to be a RB. So, if Darko pretends to be Vince Wilfork.... Or when DWade pulls one of his dirty plays flagrant 1 will make him think twice before doing it again.

AK

So let's see. The normally get only one assessed foul per hard knockdown. So I'll be looking for five hard knockdowns per game from Darko. (Have to save one foul in case Raging Bull is needed in overtime.) This board might aid the cause by sending Darko a hit list.

Sam

Last time i saw darko, he was a bit of a tall and lanky type....so not sure he is ready to take on my list of people like LeBron, Blake Griffin, Dwayne Wade, Quinton Richardson, Carmello and the always charming Andre Blatche....but who knows.

They guy is obviously a great athlete for his size. If we can add this kind of passion, maybe he can contribute 10-15 good minutes a night.

Mrkleen,

The various websites I consulted listed Darko as 265-270. Sometimes their girth appears less than it is because of their height. And I did read that he intentionally dropped some weight this summer. So we'll see. But at least I like his attitude. Now to see if he can put words into action.

Best to Erin,

Sam

mrkleen09 wrote:Last time i saw darko, he was a bit of a tall and lanky type....so not sure he is ready to take on my list of people like LeBron, Blake Griffin, Dwayne Wade, Quinton Richardson, Carmello and the always charming Andre Blatche....but who knows.

They guy is obviously a great athlete for his size. If we can add this kind of passion, maybe he can contribute 10-15 good minutes a night.

kleen,

Darko has changed considerably in his 10 years in the league.
He was a pretty decent athlete and was mobile for a 7 footer.
He has added weight and doesn't have much athleticism left, mainly do to his foot injuries.
He is now more of a power rebounder/shot blocker.
He will be head and shoulders better then Collins.
I expect Collins to get more DNP-CD's then games played.

Congrats on the wedding too.
I forgot to mention that the other day.

Thanks TJ for the clarification and the kind words.

Best,

Paul

Might as well just keep this thread alive for now. My Note at the end...











My Note: OBVIOUSLY, I'M HAVING TROUBLE WITH TABS AND PASTING ON THIS POST SINCE I CAN'T GET MY NOTES TO THE END. Nobody has been harder on Darko on this board than me. Nobody. Being the pitbull Cowens calls me I'm not ready to back off until I actually see him play, but at least what I'm reading is positive. He wants to learn, he knows he's at the end of his NBA rope and, if what he is claiming is true (about hearing that he wasn't going to start and he was out of shape, etc in the newspaper) then that is terrible coaching and that will not happen here. Hell, if anything, Doc and KG will talk to him more often and MUCH more directly than he has ever been spoken to before in his life. As with most stories, there's truth in both sides, but if what Darko's saying is even half true, he might be salvageable. Rick Adelman is a great coach and the fact that he gave up on Darko is disturbing, but Adelman didn't have KG working Darko too. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've learned a helluva lot more from the times I've been fired than from the times I've been promoted (kinda depressing when you consider how many more times I've been promoted than fired, but there it is). Maybe that'll be true for Darko this time too.






Darko Milicic's seventh fresh start

Celtics' incoming big man will get help in making a new name for himself




Updated: October 3, 2012, 11:54 PM ET

By
Peter May | ESPNBoston.com




He's universally known by one name and,
in the NBA, that is customarily seen as a sign of respect, esteem and
achievement. Kobe is Kobe. LeBron is LeBron.



Over nearly a decade, Darko Milicic
has been, simply, Darko, and not because of any All-Star résumé. He
does have a championship ring from his rookie season as a Pistons
benchwarmer. He can tell his grandchildren that he was drafted as an
18-year-old ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.







AP Photo/Michael Dwyer


After being the second pick in the 2003 draft, Darko Milicic is on his seventh team in 10 years.But
that's pretty much where the good times end. In Darko's case, the
moniker is due more to the unusual first name than to a raft of
accomplishments. So his new coach felt it was time for a name change
when Milicic's NBA odyssey brought him to Boston, his seventh team in 10
years.


"I tell him every day, 'You're no longer Darko. You're a Celtic,'
Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "And one day, we asked him what his name
was and he said, 'Celtic.' And everyone just started laughing. All I'm
trying to do is get him to forget about trying to be something he isn't
-- and just be someone for the team."



Rivers added, "He's got a lot of stuff on his shoulders and we're
trying to unload all of that. You go in front of Carmelo and all you're
going to do is hear that. That can get old. We're trying to get him to
move out of that."



Rivers said he talked to a number of Milicic's former coaches to
see if there was some way he could do what none of them had been able
to: extract what most feel is serviceable NBA talent on a regular basis
from an utterly massive (7 feet, 275 pounds) human being who is still
only 27 (just eight months older than Rajon Rondo).
He would not share what he learned, only saying, "Look, everyone's
tried. If it works here, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But we're
going to give it a good try."



Toward that end, Rivers not only will use the many motivational
tools at his disposal, but also will call on Milicic's new teammates for
assistance. In particular, the voluble veteran, Kevin Garnett.
The
Celtics center/forward already has worked with the big men in camp.
Garnett has a reputation for being able to help underachieving or simply
raw big men, with one important proviso: that they listen to him. And
listening to Garnett can be an ear-burning, humbling experience in terms
of volume, intensity, tone, eye contact and, of course, word choice.
"I'm
excited to learn from him, but I'm excited to learn from everybody
else, too,'' Milicic said of Garnett. "That's what Boston is all about.
It's not about one guy. It's about everybody. Whatever my job is going
to be -- if I have to get into the game and kill somebody, I kill him."


Garnett said he has been a Milicic fan for a long time and that
he was eager to introduce the center to the so-called "Celtic Way." He
sees what Danny Ainge saw when Ainge made the offer (a one-year deal) to Milicic. He sees what Rivers sees. There is talent in there.
"Right
now, he probably lacks a little bit of self-confidence,'' Garnett said.
"And I will help with that. I'll do as much as I can to influence him
and encourage him. But it's going to take something from him, too. He's
never been around a team like this. He's never been around guys like
this. He's never been in a situation where there is so much energy and
encouragement."


More on the Celtics


Keep on top of the Green throughout the offseason with ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg. Blog

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Milicic hasn't been on a playoff team since 2007.
For the past two-plus seasons, he played in Minnesota. He played
reasonably well under Kurt Rambis,
averaging a career-high 8.8 points a game in 2010-11. But his playing
time and productivity dropped dramatically under Rick Adelman last
season. Milicic was hurt. But he also didn't endear himself to Adelman,
who called Milicic lazy and out of shape. The Wolves used the amnesty
clause to waive him last summer.

"That was tough for Darko,'' Milicic's agent, Marc Cornstein, said. "It's a team saying, 'We no longer want you.'"
Milicic
appeared in 29 games last season, 21 of them before the All-Star break.
He made it clear that while he didn't see eye to eye with Adelman, he
didn't think the situation was insoluble.
"They [the
Timberwolves] thought it was my mistake in getting in trouble with the
coach. I don't really feel that it was all my mistake,'' he said. "We
didn't have any communication. Things I find out, I find out in the
newspaper and the media. I find out I'm not going to start. I find out I
might not play. I find out I'm not in good shape. I think we are grown
men. We should talk. And we didn't."



Milicic said he felt he was expected to apologize to the players
and coaching staff over the summer. But he balked at that, saying, "I
didn't feel like it was only my mistake. I couldn't do it. It's not fair
how they talk about how I was so negative."


Once the Wolves amnestied him, Milicic said he wasn't sure if any
NBA team would take a chance on him. He thought he had simply run out
of teams and chances. Cornstein said there was interest from a number of
teams, but that Ainge had been the first general manager to call once
Milicic became available on the open market.


Now it's up to everyone involved to make sure that stop No. 7 for Milicic is, indeed, a lucky one.




bob




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