Darko Miličić
Darko Miličić (Serbian: Дарко Миличић; born June 20, 1985 in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia and Montenegro) is a professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons, taken 2nd overall in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Unlike most teams with high draft picks, the Pistons were a good team and had made the Eastern Conference Finals the season before; they held the pick because of a trade that had been made with the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1996. On the Pistons, Miličić won an NBA championship in 2004 but saw limited playing time. His selection by Detroit was largely praised at the time, as he was considered the top European prospect. However, as Miličić has failed to enter the team's rotation, the selection has been widely second-guessed by many, who have argued that the Pistons should have taken Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, or Dwyane Wade, all of whom were available at the time – instead (the Anthony argument is generally dismissed because the Pistons already had Tayshaun Prince at the small forward position). The criticism has been tempered somewhat due to the excellent team chemistry displayed by the Pistons during their championship run; a slightly different group of players, even if there may have been more talent, might not have had the same success as the team with Miličić. Still, Miličić has come to be considered by journalists as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history, a perception that will only change if he substantially improves in the near future.
Under coach Larry Brown (2003-2005), a coach who prefers veterans he usually only played when the Pistons had an insurmountable lead late in the game; this earned him the somewhat derisive nickname of "The Human Victory Cigar." Pistons team president Joe Dumars has repeatedly stated that Miličić will play a big part in the team's future, but he did not see a large increase in playing time during his second season. He has been quoted on numerous occasions as blaming his slow development on his lack of playing time: "I have said it over and over again, the only way I will develop is if I go out on the floor and play, gain experience." After Brown's departure, Flip Saunders was hired as head coach of the Pistons, and it was expected that Miličić would see more playing time due to Saunders's track record of developing young players (such as Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury). While Brown is almost infamous in his preference for veterans, Saunders was seen as more willing give on-the-job training. With Elden Campbell no longer on Detroit's roster and Dale Davis only brought in as a mentor, it was expected that Miličić would see much more time this season as the fulltime backup center behind Ben Wallace. However, little has changed to date. Miličić's minutes per game have not increased substantially, although he has played in almost all of Detroit's games, compared to less than half in his first two seasons. He is averaging less than 8 minutes per game, and is still only recieving significant playing time in blowout wins or blowout losses for the Pistons.