As Darko Milicic saunters on to the practice court, he doesn’t have the swagger of a guy who was the No. 2 overall pick in a superstar-rich 2003 draft class.
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 told CSNNE.com. “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.”
Uh, just grab a few rebounds, maybe block a shot or two and defend.
Basketball homicide not required.
“Whatever needs to be done for the team to be better,” Milicic added, “I’ll do it.”
As he stands towering over a reporter, Milic’s growth physically is apparent.
A skinny teenager when he came into the NBA after being selected by the Detroit Pistons, Milicic isn’t pushed around quite as easily.
Today, he’s a 275-pound 7-footer who isn’t afraid to deliver a foul.
During the 2010-11 season, Milicic averaged 3.32 personal fouls while appearing in 69 games. Only five players in the NBA that season had a higher fouls-per-game average while appearing in as many games.
His growth maturity-wise, remains a mystery.
It has been an issue with every team he has played for, including the Minnesota Timberwolves, who waived him via the league’s amnesty rule this past summer.
The move was made to free up salary cap space to pursue other free agents. Salary cap space or not, getting rid of Milicic was a priority for Minnesota once the season ended.
“At the end of the year, Rick [Adelman, Minnesota’s head coach] gives me a report of what he thinks of each player,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Twin Cities Business magazine. “He tells me it’s the same one he gave David [Kahn, Minnesota’s GM] and that David knows he is giving it to me. Then he goes through the list. He says, ‘This is the first one I want gone’ – that was (underachieving veteran center) Darko.”
Even before that, discontent with Milicic was apparent.
“He hasn’t done anything to really give you a lot of faith that he’s going to go out and do the job,” Adelman said of Milicic in March. “He’s gotten himself out of shape. He hasn’t been as driven as you’d like so when a situation like this happens, it’s time for someone to have their opportunity and get back in there.”
Milicic’s fall from grace was unexpected considering how he played in 2010-11 season. He appeared in 69 games (all starts) and averaged a career-high 8.8 points to go with 2.03 blocks, which ranked fifth in the NBA.
(Story Continues…)
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