DARKO MATTER

I want to say a few words about Darko Milicic. Milicic is regarded as the Ryan Leaf of the NBA, the ultimate draft flop, and there's obviously some basis for thinking that about a guy who was sandwiched between 4 perennial all-stars in Lebron, Carmelo, Bosh & D-Wade.

But I think it's about time we give Darko a little bit of credit for turning himself into a quality NBA starter. No, he'll never be Chris Bosh (forget the big three from that draft class), and it'll always be considered one of the most famous draft screw-ups ever. But now I'm starting to think Detroit's subsequent trade of Darko was almost as dumb.

First off, Darko has turned himself into a completely different player since he joined the league. Where he was a skinny-ish 245 pound combo forward when he was drafted, he's now a solid 280 pound PF/C type. This was a great move for him--he's athletic for a seven footer, but not nearly enough to be a combo forward in the NBA, those guys are generally freakshows. And playing the big SF position requires a high skill level; Darko has skills, for sure, but he's not Kevin Garnett, he's not Andrei Kirilenko. Bulking up has allowed Darko to go from a relatively unathletic, relatively unskilled combo forward to a relatively athletic, relatively skilled big man.

Secondly, let's keep in mind that he's only 22. Look at it this way: if no one had ever heard the name Darko Milicic, and he was drafted this year by Memphis as a 22-year-old center prospect, they'd be thrilled at where he is. After a great game matching up against Yao on both ends of the floor (scoring 20), Darko is now averaging a respectable 11 & 8 with 2.0 blocks per game. That might not be great for "the guy drafted between Lebron and Carmelo", but it's pretty damn solid for a 22-year-old center.

In short, Darko came into the league in an impossible position, and promptly flamed out about as bad as you can possibly flame out. And some of it was his own fault, he reportedly didn't have the greatest atittude or work ethic when he was in Detroit. But I do think he deserves a lot of credit for growing up and remaking himself into a legitimate NBA starting big man. Memphis made a great move picking him up, and I'll be rooting for him and for them.

Speaking of Memphis, Mike Conley is starting to see some minutes here and there, and is producing strongly when he gets them. In just 17 minutes per game over 4 games, Conley is averaging 6.5 points, 5.0 assists, and only 1.0 turnover. I love this guy, he's going to be huge. I said before that he probably wouldn't do much this year, but I think I'm going to back off that a bit--Memphis is figuring out more quickly than expected that Damon Stoudamire ain't leading them to anything, now or ever, and Juan Carlos Navarro has been a huge disappointment for them. Conley and Kyle Lowry are the future for this franchise, and Coach Iavaroni will turn to them soon enough. I predict Conley is getting 25+ minutes per game by January and putting up 10 & 7 type numbers.

Other quick-hitters:

Not only is Boston 7-0 to start the season, they're just blowing teams out. Other than a 3 point road win over a good Toronto team, every other win has been by double figures. Their average margin of victory for the 7 games is an insane 17.2 points. (BTW, next highest is the Spurs, as can be expected; but next after that are the surprising New Orleans Hornets, who are now 7-2, including 4-1 on the road).

For all the excitement about several high-profile players moving to the East, it looks to be the same old junior varsity conference early on: in 39 interconference matchups so far, the West has taken 24 of them, good for a .615 winning percentage. At least the Celtics look like a real competitor with the Western big dogs, but the conference just has no depth after them, Detroit and Orlando.

Welcome to superstardom: Dwight Howard through the first 8 games is averaging 21.9 & 14.6 and blocking 2.6 shots per game. He's even cut his TOs to a respectable 3.0 per game, down a full turnover from last year. Surrounding him with shooters like Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu is genius, Orlando has turned into a real difficult matchup. They haven't played a monster schedule yet, but 5-0 on the road is impressive regardless.