Darko?

[bobfromaccounting]

I was just wondering, has anyone heard rather or not Darko's hand is healed yet. And if not, will he be ready for the preseason?

[Tommy John]

Yeah, he's healed and supposedly practicing/conditioning now. He'll certainly be ready for a tough training camp/ lots of minutes in the preseason. NO reason for guys like DC, Elden, Dyess/Wallaces to get heavy minutes when they are potential injury risks. I'm sure LB is going to be fair and let the kid fight for a "job", be it a limited one. I'm looking for 8-10 min per game, more after the break than before it.

[TigerFan]

In practice... LB needs to let Ben and DC rough Darko up a little... make him learn some toughness.

[Treypops]

From everything I've heard, they're expecting Darko to see good minutes this year. I don't see how though with them adding McDyess to that already crowded frontcourt. I don't know where the minutes are going to come from.

[Tommy John]

From everything I've heard, they're expecting Darko to see good minutes this year. I don't see how though with them adding McDyess to that already crowded frontcourt. I don't know where the minutes are going to come from.
Elden and DC are both old enough that I'd prefer to kkep thier minutes up. McD can play both 4/5, though I think we'll see him primarily at PF, leaving a few minutes for Darko. There is also a stong possiblity that if Darko proves ready in practice we can trade one of the older guys expiring contracts at the deadline for a healthy frontcourt player, opening up more minutes. Either way I WANT Darko to earn his minutes through talent and playing the way his coach tells him, not hype and what he perceives to be due to him.

[bobfromaccounting]

Maybe we can look to see the big lineup from LB that we were hoping for after the Wallace trade. Except instead of Memo we have McKnees and maybe some Darko time. I'd really like to see some time with a Wallace/Wallace/Darko, Wallace/Wallace/Mcdyess, etc. We have so many bigs, and there doesn't seem to be that much depth at the three.

[Tommy John]

Maybe we can look to see the big lineup from LB that we were hoping for after the Wallace trade. Except instead of Memo we have McKnees and maybe some Darko time. I'd really like to see some time with a Wallace/Wallace/Darko, Wallace/Wallace/Mcdyess, etc. We have so many bigs, and there doesn't seem to be that much depth at the three.
Really the only one of the guys I can imagine getting any time at the 3 is Sheed, and only in emergency situations. He's just too valuable near the hoop and using his versatility to switch off on screens. I agree, our 3 spot is going to see a steady rotation of players, but aside from LB popping some ludes and deciding Darko really does belong there, we wont see any of the guys penciled at 4/5 there this season.

That said, I'd love to see the Prince/Delfino/Sheed/Darko/Ben lineup once this year against some team with no real depth of size.

[bobfromaccounting]

Against the Celtics :D