<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Darko Milicic: Darko Milicic - Detroit Pistons On what he knows about Detroit: “I’ve been to Detroit two times. For me it’s a nice area. I’ve never been downtown but I like the people in Detroit. (On what fans are going to learn about him) I can’t talk now. They have to see me play first. On how he handled his father going away to war: "I’m strong.” Joe Dumars: On his impression of Darko Milicic after watching him work out: “It was great. It was the first time to see him in person. Tony Ronzone had scouted him extensively and knew him very well. When he walked in and we got to see him work out for about 25 minutes, I walked out with John Hammond and said it’s a shame that we sit there and watch somebody else’s great young player that they’re going to get. We had no idea we were getting the number two pick that night." "I think if you go back to any championship contending type team, they can point to something along the way of getting there, when they caught a huge break, whether it will be picking up a player that was unexpectedly great, and turned out to be something more, a trade that’s come out on their favor. You going to catch some huge breaks along the way if you are going to be a championship contending team. It’s those breaks like that. When you catch those breaks unexpected that helps you along the way. For us, for the ball to come up two on lottery night was just incredible for us. That was an incredible break for us. You got to have that if you are going to take the next steps." "The coach said he is going to play him in both of them (power forward and center). The kid is really an inside-outside player. He can post up well. He can really take the ball out on the floor and handle the ball extremely well for a 7-1 guy. It will be remissive of us to limit him in just one area, because he is a multi talented player, so what you do with guys like that is to try to exploit all their abilities. I don’t think we are going to just pinpoint him to one position." On having a guy this size: "When you get special talent like this and it comes with that size, it’s almost impossible to pass on that. That’s where the Carmelo Anthony issue comes up. As special as that kid is, I do believe there are going to be some 6-8 small forwards that you may be able to get one day. When you have an opportunity to grab a 7-1 guy who has this type of ability; when you get an opportunity to grab these guys, you just get them." "We’ve seen a streak we like in him. I don’t think Darko is going to come in here as your stereotypical European guy that’s soft and doesn’t want contact." "The kid has been out there on his own for the last 4 years. That adjustment in terms of being a professional basketball player, knowing what a road trip is, knowing what it’s like to be in a hotel, and knowing what it’s like to be a professional athlete. He will make an easy transition. Going this far away from home, I don’t care who it is, from Zeljko Rebraca to Mehmet Okur, it was an adjustment for all those guys. I suspect it will be the same thing for him." "Darko Milicic is not going to have to come here and be the savior. We going to push him to be the best that he can be. But he is not going to be judged on whether he carried us or not this year. We think that is an excellent situation for not only him, but for us as well" Larry Brown: "Anytime you get the second pick in the draft is crucial that you get a player that is going to be a fixture, a contributor, and hopefully a star. With this franchise, it is to get a person with great character. I’m pretty confident that he will fulfill all those things." On being a star: I don’t want to put that on him, but obviously, you don’t make that kind of selection if you don’t he is going to be pretty special. I know when I got the job, Joe (Dumars) told me that he thought this kid was really special. I got an opportunity to work him out. I felt pretty excited after seeing him and being around him. On immediate impact: "I don’t know, but I know he will make a contribution. I don’t think he is going to have to be in a situation where he has to turn us around. He won’t be in a situation where he is playing with other young kids that are trying to find themselves, which happens most of the time when you are an early pick. If I don’ t screw him up, hopefully, he will make the progress, and be able to show what he is capable of doing. If you see any bad habits with this kid, blame me, because he doesn’t have any now. Or blame our game. He is going to make a contribution. I don’t know how quickly, but he will make a contribution." On his character: "He understands everything you say. He doesn’t have any trouble communicating. Basketball language is kind of universal. He just turned 18, and can’t even drive yet. He went away from home as a 14 years old, and lived in a 900 square foot apartment. He fended for himself, played older guys. His coach from what I understand was an unbelievable task master. This kid respects coaching and respects the sport. It’s all about team and getting better. When I went to dinner with him, I saw how respectful he was. When you worked him out, he was somebody that was riveted to everything you said, wanted to do everything you said, trying to do it the right way. Again, this franchise and what Joe (Dumars) and Mr. (William) Davidson is trying to do is to continue to bring character kind of people here that want to play the right way and respect the game." "This kid has a lot of role models out there, guys with things that haven’t been handed to them. Rick (Carlisle) really developed a team atmosphere when he coached. That is going to be really helpful. Ben Wallace, obviously, the way he plays and what he is about, is going to be something that’s going to really help him. Then, he has some European players on this team that is really a blessing for him. (Zeljko) Rebraca, Mehmet (Okur), guys that had been through it. They will make his adjustments that much easier." "He reminds me so much of Danny Manning. When he was 16 or 17, I got real close to him, and I watched the way he played, his understanding, the fact that he can handle the ball. He had a great feel. Darko is much stronger and bigger, but there are a lot of similarities there. I think Darko is a little better athlete. Danny was a finer college player I have ever seen and is a finer teammate as anybody could ever have. I see a lot of the same things in those two." John Hammond: “We tried to explore all the choices and possibilities, but they guy that we wanted was (Carlos)Delfino. We are extremely, extremely excited to have him join our team. On keeping him overseas: "There is a possibility. That’s been discussed, and we’ll discuss it further. I would not be surprise if we see him on our roster next year. It’s something he and his agent still have to discuss themselves internally. I think one of the concerns for them is how he fits in with our team immediately, does he have an opportunity to play. They are probably the two factors that they evaluate the situation along with us, and think of that he may not play the minutes he is looking for, along with the buyout. He may stay." "We talked about Lampe and ‘Baby Shaq’ (Sofoklis Schortsanitis), but we feel pretty comfortable with our bigs (big men). With Ben, Zelly, Mehmet and now Darko, we like our bigs and maybe we can still explore other possibilities. I still haven’t mentioned a guy like Cliff Robinson. We think our roster is in good shape up front. We were looking at that swing position, a guy that can play multiple positions. I think that one thing Carlos can do, is that the can play two positions. "He can definitely guard two positions and offensively I think he’s capable of playing both positions also. He’s an interesting guy. I don’t know what Mike Abdenour measured him at, but I think it’s almost 6’7” – 6’8”. He’s got a very long torso so when you look at him he doesn’t look so tall initially. It’s unusual. Usually guys with long torsos have short arms. He’s got extremely long arms." "I had only seen him play on tape and when he walked into the gym for his workout, I looked at him and thought “how can this guy play over the rim like he does”. He’s got extremely big hands so when he goes to the basket he kind of moves the ball around a little bit and he’s a great, great finisher to the goal. I think his ball handling is very good. He played some point for the skipper team this year. He plays extremely well without the ball so I think his understanding of the game is good. I think the guy is extremely, extremely tough. I think the guy is a fighter." "You can never have too much toughness. It’s (free agency) is a factor for us. We probably have a few things to do before we get too heavily involved in free agency. Our roster is fairly full right now as we stand with these two picks. It doesn’t make a lot of sense necessarily for us to say let’s go out and sign a free agent player and add one more guy before we do something in-house, if we choose to do so. He (Delfino) can guard the two guard and small forward. He may be a little undersized at the three spot but the toughness he has, and athleticism, with Michael Curry starting at three for us this year, he’s bigger than Michael and quite a bit more athletic than Michael so I think size wise he can do it. He’s got the kind of toughness that Michael brought to our team also. (On what player he compares him to) I’m going to take the easy way out and say Ginobli. I think it’s a pretty good comparison. I think that he’s kind of like that. That’s kind of an easy one because of who he is and where he’s from but I think that’s a fair comparison.” </div>
