It's official now. Bob Young is an idiot.

[fordronken]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/0111nbamain0111.html

It's official now. Darko Milicic is a bust.

Oh, the 7-foot, 18-year-old center may become a productive player in the NBA.

But there's an equally good chance he'll be nothing more than the answer to a trivia question:

"LeBron James was the first pick of the 2003 NBA draft. Carmelo Anthony was third. Who was sandwiched between them at No. 2?"

Even Pistons coach Larry Brown, who won't play him, is lowering expectations for Milicic.

"Even if we were a lottery team and he was playing, he wouldn't have the success those guys (James and Anthony) are having," Brown told reporters in Detroit.

"That's not a knock on him. It's simply because he's a lot younger."

 

[Chaplin]

This makes him an idiot??

 

[JJ Slim]

Actually it makes Joe Dumars an idiot. Not for drafting Darko but for firing Carlisle and hiring Brown who is known for not giving rookies and young players a chance to play and develop. Brown wanted Carmello in the worst way and he's making Darko pay for it too.

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by fordronken
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/0111nbamain0111.html

It's official now. Darko Milicic is a bust.

Oh, the 7-foot, 18-year-old center may become a productive player in the NBA.

But there's an equally good chance he'll be nothing more than the answer to a trivia question:

"LeBron James was the first pick of the 2003 NBA draft. Carmelo Anthony was third. Who was sandwiched between them at No. 2?"

Even Pistons coach Larry Brown, who won't play him, is lowering expectations for Milicic.

"Even if we were a lottery team and he was playing, he wouldn't have the success those guys (James and Anthony) are having," Brown told reporters in Detroit.

"That's not a knock on him. It's simply because he's a lot younger."

I've worked on newpapers and the writer only rarely chooses the headline. The article does not match the headline, so I'm guessing he did not write it.

BTW, he may be an idiot, but I'd reserve judgment.

 

[fordronken]

So, if Lampe had gone 9th, where the Knicks would have picked him if not for the contract stuff, then he'd be a bust? How do you make any 18 year old player a bust? I'm still not convinced Kwame Brown is a bust. We're not even halfway through the season!

 

[Joe Mama]

I was actually thinking the same thing when I read that earlier. It's a very premature. Obviously Joe Dumars and the gang saw something they were very impressed with when they drafted him ahead of Anthony. In fact I believe his last outing was a good one even though it came in trash time.

There's no way to prove it of course, but I'll bet if Darko was playing for a team like the Phoenix Suns he would look just fine. IMO drafting Darko just shows that Dumars knew that although his team might contend for the Eastern conference championship they don't have a chance of winning the NBA championship.

Joe Mama

 

[JJ Slim]

I don't fault Dumars for drafting him. I think he made a good choice. And I agree that if Darko was with a team like the Suns he would be getting playing time and doing well.

 

[Espo]

Way to go out on a limb there Bob. You just said he is either going to be a bust or hes going to be good. I think my co-host the green machine could have even come up with that analysis. Darko made a lot of sense for the pistons and hes 18. If we judged every 18 on what they are doing most people would be future alcholics or pot heads. Give the kid sometime to adjust to a new country, new league, new language and the fact that he has to deal with larry brown everyday and the fact that larry wont even give him a shot. You could say lebron was gonna be a bust if he only played 15minutes of the season in garbage time. Just give it time.

 

[George O'Brien]

Darko was universally rated as the second best choice in last year's draft. The point being that he would someday become a really great big man. They knew that Carmelo was ready to start for an NBA team immediately.

Every year teams go throught his struggle. Do you take someone who will be very good immediately or someone you are pretty center will be great in a few years.

There is no right answer. A lot depends on where the team is at. Certainly Dumars concluded that Prince would be very good this year and none of his centers will ever be great. None the less, it has to be frustrating knowing that taking a promising big man over a sure fire smaller guy has its risks.

Remember Sam Bowie? He was the guy that Portland took rather than Michael Jordan.

 

[sly fly]

Darko is no bust. I caught just 6 minutes of his game against Houston the other night. But, Darko showed skills you can't teach.

He absolutely abused Clarence Weatherspoon down low, and basically was in on every play.

I'm not sure why Larry Brown has buried him on the bench, but he won't be there for long.

I was also caught off-guard by the Bob Young. It proves to me he hasn't actually seen him play or practice. And, reporting journalism on a hearsay basis is extremely amateurish.

 

[cardsunsfan]

Bob Young might be an "idiot" but he lost a few IQ points with that statement...

 

[sunsfn]

I read and have read Bob Young for years now.

It appears to me in the last couple years he is writing more for headlines and is less informed than he used to be.
He has done this for a while and maybe he is getting bored with his job and is not doing as much research as he used to do.

I went round and round with him via e-mails with the suns draft picks a year ago, (as did someone else here) and he finally admitted he may be wrong.
I have always done my own draft for the suns for most of the years they have been here, and pretty much keep up on what picks they have.
Bob Young was wrong about the suns picks and he finally admitted it in a round about way, but it took a long time.

 

[Chaplin]

Chandler Mike knows him semi-personally (used to sit next to him at Suns games), so I'm surprised he hasn't chimed in.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Originally posted by sunsfn

I went round and round with him via e-mails with the suns draft picks a year ago, (as did someone else here) and he finally admitted he may be wrong.

Lol, that was me. I am assuming you are talking about the fact we didn't trade for Amare's pick back, and that we had it all along.

He never actually admitted he was misinformed via email, however I did see him post a semi-retraction in the suns notes section a few weeks later.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Dirk Nowitzki shot 40% his rookie year and was called a bust.

 

[George O'Brien]

Nikoloz Tskitishvili suffers from a simple fact: he was drafted too high. He was drafted ahead of Nene, Wilcox, Stoudemire, Butler, Haislip, and Welsch. All of them proved to be far more productive than the #5 pick in the draft. If the Nuggets had not obtained Nene from the Knicks (Layton really is an idiot), Nikoloz would be getting even more grief from their fans.