Darko Milicic is no longer concerned with NBA basketball, instead content to discover competition via fishing and other sorts of activities linked to Serbian gangsters. Nevertheless, Darko remains inside the minds of basketball fans since he functions as maybe the most obvious representation in the perils on the draft. In 2003, Milicic was a good enough prospect to earn selection from the Detroit Pistons following Lebron and in front of such luminaries as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. Then everything went terribly wrong in such spectacular fashion that his name can double as a curse on any young player.It is possible, though, that this Pistons got feeling of the coming disaster little one they officially selected Darko with the second-overall pick. As noted by Jonathan Abrams really long profile of current Detroit big man Andre Drummond for Grantland, Darko planned to come up with a big statement when greeted by commissioner David Stern at the draft (via Detroit Bad Boys):
"When you get a unique talent in this way, plus it comes at that size, it's nearly impossible to feed on it," Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations, told reporters upon drafting Milicic NBA Jerseys Shop. "As special when i think Carmelo Anthony is, I believe you will have other great 6-8 small forwards who'll come around. In case the means involves have a 7-1 player to be able sort of ability, you do not pass up." Dumars wouldn't. Though the warning flag came early for Milicic. When he relayed his idea of wearing a suit for the draft then ripping if off — Superman-style — upon his name being announced, revealing a Pistons jersey, Dumars wisely cautioned against it. It had been then which the doubts begun to creep into Dumars's head. Milicic would become an NBA wanderer, never reaching his potential. Now, with Anthony, Wade, and Bosh still thriving inside league, Milicic is far from it.
Look, I think we could all agree that ripping off a suit to reveal a Pistons jersey is a very stupid method for Milicic flying insects himself towards NBA. Fans, bosses, and teammates enjoy travelling to that a young player has the humility to find out she has a lot of work to accomplish achievement, this also action definitely wouldn't have exhibited those qualities. It would've communicated which he didn't make gravity from the challenge particularly seriously.
Then again, I submit that would've been the maximum moment in NBA Draft history. Yes, it'd have been totally ridiculous. However, it is possible to draft or even an accumulation ridiculous moments where players allow the sheer excitement of becoming millionaires overwhelm their better judgment? Think the terrible suits, the overexcited hugs with David Stern, etc. If a player were to rip off his suit and reveal that they knew he was being selected by that team all along, wouldn't that wear keeping with the party atmosphere with the event? Would it not sometimes be an expression of maximum joy? Who are we to spoil that fun?
In hindsight, it is easy to knock Darko for proving he wasn't eliminate for NBA stardom. But his want to play superhero within the national stage was more about personal excitement than anything else. There are lots of reasons he failed — let's not constitute more even if it's not hard to treat him being a punchball.
