<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The way he played against the Bulls Monday night, Darko Milicic looked like a guy who will either eat up most of the Magic's salary-cap room or a player they can't keep if they also have designs on signing a scorer this summer. In other words, forget even the thought of Vince Carter. Milicic scored 14 points and hauled in a career-high 16 rebounds and blocked five shots. Awesome. Just when you've become frustrated watching Darko and wondering if the Magic are wasting their time . . .he teases you with a command performance like this. One game you think he's not worth much money. The next, you wonder if the Magic can afford him. Up one moment, down the next. This is the Darko Index. It's also the Darko Dilemma. The Magic, privately, don't feel they have to pay an outrageous sum to keep him as a restricted free agent this summer. Only a handful of teams have enough salary-cap room to take a chance on Darko blooming into a star. The going rate for a star-quality big man starts at about $8 million-$10 million to begin a contract. The Magic could have anywhere from $10 million-$13 million in total cap room this summer. They hope to get Milicic tied down for considerably less than $8 mill.-$10 mill. Maybe they can snag him for a little more than the midlevel exception, which is about $6 million-$7 million a year. Maybe not. It's up to him and his play. Here's the catch: The Magic can't sign Milicic for a high number --- and still hope to land a desperately needed scorer. I mean one worth starting. Of course, this is not Milicic's problem. While the Magic saved him from picking up more splinters off Detroit's bench in Detroit, Milicic doesn't owe them a thing. It's NBA business, as usual. It's Darko's time to cash in at 21, already in his fourth NBA season. While the Magic have a budget and won't overpay (see DeShawn Stevenson), they have to think hard and long before saying goodbye to a young, skilled 7-footer they can pair with all-star Dwight Howard. The theory is that bigs are hard to find, and you just can't let them get away. If Milicic finishes the season with more games like this, the Magic will have a tough choice to make. They can match whatever offer another team makes and see what scorer they can get in the market for about $4 million or so. Or they can let Milicic go. But consider this: If Darko commands a big payday, it's not a setback by any means. Oh, it might mean that the Magic won't get all the toys they want this summer and will have to wait another year to find a scorer to become a perennial playoff contender. If they have to eat up most of their salary cap to re-sign him, it really means that Milicic has turned out to be a promising player, justifying the trade the Magic made for him last year.</div> Source
We HAVE to keep Darko regardless of his price tag. Just check out what Dwight's stats look like once Darko entered the starting lineup to see how valuable he actually is to this team.
Our "Twin Towers" are going to cost us a pretty penny. If Darko is going to ask for something extremely unreasonable....then I gotta say no...
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">We HAVE to keep Darko regardless of his price tag. Just check out what Dwight's stats look like once Darko entered the starting lineup to see how valuable he actually is to this team.</div> Well the coaching staff and GM need to evaluate what Darko is doing on the court to help out Dwight Howard, and ask themselves "Is there a cheaper alternative?" or "Is there a better alternative?" available to do those things. If the answer is no, then the Magic need to re-sign him, but from some of the posts I've read in the forum, Darko doesn't sound like he's fully committed to improving and sacrificing to reach his potential.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well the coaching staff and GM need to evaluate what Darko is doing on the court to help out Dwight Howard, and ask themselves "Is there a cheaper alternative?" or "Is there a better alternative?" available to do those things. If the answer is no, then the Magic need to re-sign him, but from some of the posts I've read in the forum, Darko doesn't sound like he's fully committed to improving and sacrificing to reach his potential.</div> I've been extremely impressed with him ever since he started getting 25-30+ minutes consistently and getting that starting spot. Him and Dwight seem to work out great. I would definitely keep him for whatever he wants. Don't forget he's also only 21 years old and getting basically his first chance right now. He will improve and I'm sure Dwight will make sure he does work hard.
Its so hard to speculate now. It is practically impossible to tell what Darko is going to be asking for and one would hope that he would want to stay at a place where he is comfortable after the experience he had in Detroit. I still wouldn't be surprised if Darko ended up signing a shorter contract, in which case they definately could. I don't see Darko demanding or getting offered insane money from other teams and I think he will be on the magic for the foreseeable future.
Darko is 7-feet, 275 pounds, and is only 22-years-old, so you can rest assure his agent will try to get him a long-term deal. If I were Orlando I will take a look at the Lewis/Carter situation and try to land one or both of them first. If not, then I’ll try Darko, but definitely not the 50-60 he will want, due to his mediocre production. He is a very good shot blocker, but he’s not good offensively (8.3 points, 43.8% from the field) and his rebounding is just decent for a guy his size. So Darko's in an interesting situation. He was the second pick overall over some current NBA superstars. I’m familiar with the “no one knew they were going to be so good!” argument, but prior to the draft scouts knew they had high ceilings, so Darko clearly has potential. I just don’t know if I would be willing to bank on his potential, which he might not reach.
Quality big men are rare in this league and having 2 of them on a team is almost impossible. If we can lock them two down for 5 years, do it. Scorers come around every year. Just look at the "new" faces of scoring... Gilbert, Redd, Gordon, Anthony, Lebron, Joe Johnson, Wade and others. I would sacrifice a year without a scorer if we can get our frontcourt locked down.
<div class="quote_poster">MrJ Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Darko is 7-feet, 275 pounds, and is only 22-years-old, so you can rest assure his agent will try to get him a long-term deal. If I were Orlando I will take a look at the Lewis/Carter situation and try to land one or both of them first. If not, then I’ll try Darko, but definitely not the 50-60 he will want, due to his mediocre production. He is a very good shot blocker, but he’s not good offensively (8.3 points, 43.8% from the field) and his rebounding is just decent for a guy his size. So Darko's in an interesting situation. He was the second pick overall over some current NBA superstars. I’m familiar with the “no one knew they were going to be so good!” argument, but prior to the draft scouts knew they had high ceilings, so Darko clearly has potential. I just don’t know if I would be willing to bank on his potential, which he might not reach.</div> I completely agree with smokrockz Darko has been playing very good offensively and he's avg something like 12 ppg on 48-49% since he's been starting. Not to mention he's normally a very good passing big man and since obviously Dwight isn't we need to keep him. I would lock him up 50-60 if that's what he wants. Darko has helped open up the offense for Dwight, something that Battie hasn't been able to do. He is still developing his low post game just like Dwight. He's also getting much less soft, he is going aggressive to the basket now and even gets some dunks and he's been very aggressive getting rebounds. The kid is 22, has great defense and is helping your superstar out, has loads of potential basically playing in his first season and getting his first chance to start he is producing. If we choose Rashard Lewis or Vince Carter over Darko, we will pay big time in the future and think what could of been with Dwight/Darko together. Don't screw this up Otis.
Darko is okay but if he acts for that much, that's just overrating him. Don't let the stats fool you. Darko looks confused out there and still needs some time to develop. He isn't going to be a Twin Tower with Dwight. Darko needs to be consistent in his low post game with that ugly hook he has and also more consistency on his jumper. I would give him maybe $7-8 million at max but anything more is just crazy. Go after a scorer to complement Rashard and get Darko for a reasonable price and the Magic will be set.
Just a note: His qualifying offer is at $6,810,302, so I don't believe we can give him lower than that. <div class="quote_poster">CLos Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Darko is okay but if he acts for that much, that's just overrating him. Don't let the stats fool you. Darko looks confused out there and still needs some time to develop. He isn't going to be a Twin Tower with Dwight. Darko needs to be consistent in his low post game with that ugly hook he has and also more consistency on his jumper.</div> Darko is still 21 years old. Him, Dwight, and Ariza will be in their primes at the same exact time. Of course he still needs time to develop. Dwight still needs time to develop too. They are 21, they aren't going to be perfect this early. I don't know how you can say he won't be, when him and Dwight are playing very effectively right now since Darko got moved into the starting lineup. Sure he needs to fine tune his offensive game, but remember this is basically his rookie year, he's still adjusting to the NBA game(don't tell me that he can adjust during practices, because you can't, you need game action). <div class="quote_poster">Quoting CLOS:</div><div class="quote_post"> I would give him maybe $7-8 million at max but anything more is just crazy. Go after a scorer to complement Rashard and get Darko for a reasonable price and the Magic will be set.</div> Read my other thread, unless our owner really goes over the edge and opens up his wallet, there's no way to get Darko and Rashard/VC unless they both take pay cuts to what they are expecting to make.
