Darko Miličić
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| | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"| [[image:Milicic.jpg]]<br><small>Milicic playing for the Timberwolves.</small> | | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"| [[image:Milicic.jpg]]<br><small>Milicic playing for the Timberwolves.</small> | ||
Revision as of 04:50, 30 May 2012
| Darko Miličić | ||
 Milicic playing for the Timberwolves. | ||
| No. 31 - Minnesota Timberwolves | ||
|---|---|---|
| Center / Power forward | ||
| Personal information | ||
| Date of birth: | June 20, 1985 Novi Sad, Yugoslavia | |
| Nationality: |  Serbian
| |
| Listed height: | 7 ft 0 in | |
| Listed weight: | 275 lbs | |
| Career information | ||
| NBA Draft: | 2003; Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd | |
| Selected by the Detroit Pistons | ||
| Pro Career: | 2001-present | |
| League: |  NBA
| |
| Career history | ||
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| Darko Miličić at NBA.com | ||
Darko Miličić (Serbian: Дарко Миличић; born June 20, 1985, in Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian professional basketball player, currently playing for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. He was selected by the Detroit Pistons as the 2nd overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. In the first 2½ seasons of his career playing for the Detroit Pistons, Miličić averaged 5.8 minutes and 1.6 points per game. In the 30 games he played during the 2005-06 season with the Orlando Magic, he averaged 20.9 minutes, 7.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.07 blocks per game.
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Early Career
Miličić attended high school at Hemiska in Novi Sad, Serbia. He was member of the Yugoslavian team that won the European Cadet Championships in 2001. He was a member of the Under-20 Championships in 2002, but coaches did not play him in the competition. He elevated to Yugoslavia’s top club team in 2001-02 just before his 16th birthday.
NBA
Detroit Pistons
Miličić was selected with the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. Unlike most teams with high draft picks, the Pistons were a good team that 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. During his time with the Pistons, Miličić won an NBA championship in 2004 but saw limited playing time.
Under coach Larry Brown (2003-2005), Miličić only played when the Pistons had an insurmountable lead late in the game. Pistons team president Joe Dumars repeatedly stated that Miličić would play a big part in the team's future, but he did not see a large increase in playing time during his second season. Miličić has been quoted on numerous occasions as attributing his slow development on his lack of playing time; "I've said it 10,000 times, the best way for me to improve is to play. All the work in practice and individual workouts can only help me so much."
After Brown's departure, Flip Saunders was hired as head coach of the Pistons. 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. With Elden Campbell no longer on Detroit's roster and Dale Davis brought in as a mentor, most NBA experts believed that Miličić would see considerably more minutes this season as the Pistons' full-time backup center behind Ben Wallace. While Darko played well in the NBA's summer leagues and earned the praise of his teammates, little changed in the first half of the 2006 season. Under Saunders, Miličić still averaged only 5.6 minutes per game, and received significant playing time only in blowout wins or blowout losses for the Pistons. Darko's surprising lack of playing time in Detroit was frequently highlighted in publications like ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated.
Miličić became the youngest player ever to appear in an NBA Finals game (18 years and 356 days) when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals.
Orlando Magic
On February 15, 2006, just prior to the NBA's All-Star break, Miličić was traded, along with point guard Carlos Arroyo, to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and a first-round pick in the 2007 NBA Draft (Rodney Stuckey).
During a game against the New York Knicks he played 32 minutes and finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. The 13 points and 32 minutes were season highs, and he led the Magic in minutes for that game. Darko also exhibited his abilities as a shot blocker by averaging 2.4 blocks per game in his first 20 games as a member of the Magic. In the 2006-07 playoffs, he increased his scoring by 4 points per game to 12.3 on 58.8% shooting. When his rookie contract expired offseason, Orlando GM Otis Smith did not sign the matching offer on the table, and so he became an unrestricted free agent.
Memphis Grizzlies
On July 12, 2007, the first day of free agency, Miličić was signed by the Memphis Grizzlies to a three-year, $21 million contract. Miličić hurt his Achilles tendon practicing with the Serbian national team in the 2008 offseason but was available to start at the beginning of the season. Miličić began the 2008-09 season starting at power forward but, due to poor play, was moved to the bench. Miličić regained his starting job as his play steadily improved in early December 2008. However, Darko's progress was again set back by an injury on December 26, 2008 against the Indiana Pacers when he broke a knuckle on his right hand during the game.
Darko Miličić gained notoriety on YouTube during the December 8, 2008 game against the Houston Rockets. Darko was guarding Yao Ming and was called for a questionable foul and protested to the official. Darko then received a technical foul and was subsequently sent to the bench. In anger, Darko reached up and ripped his jersey down the middle--an impressive feat of strength given the durability of NBA authentic jerseys. The jersey was subsequently auctioned and purchased by a fan in the Memphis area.
New York Knicks
On June 25, 2009, Miličić was traded to the New York Knicks for Quentin Richardson and cash considerations. On December 17, 2009, Miličić said that he plans to leave the NBA and return to playing basketball in Europe next season. He played 8 games with the Knicks and scored 16 points, giving him an average of 2.0 points per game.
