Darko Get's high praise from Flip

Just what we wanted to hear

Finally

Great news!

He might be a player yet.......

This is great news, not just because we want him to do better, but because he can make Detroit a better team.

Oh my gosh this is such great news. His team beat a team with Chauncey, Rip, and Ben. This in my mind could be the player that has enough talent to get us over San Antonio (they don't have that great of a center). I always thought they could beat San Antonio after we lost, but after we got a good motivated Sheed', and a much better Darko U feel very confident.

It's encouraging, yes, BUT it's going to be a long process with him I think. I don't want to but I don't think it's at all uncommon for the reserves or "B" team to whoop up on the vets in practice. Plus really...interpreting it closely, Flip said he is slightly (?) over "pretty good".

"He's better than I thought he would be," Saunders said after the Pistons' two-hour practice Thursday evening. "And I thought he'd be pretty good."

next he says

He's playing pretty good," Saunders said. "He's been playing with the main guys and I think he's a lot stronger and obviously, playing on his national team (Serbia-Montenegro) this summer, he's in great condition."

So just don't expect too much to soon, but it sounds to me like he has improved and has potential and we will be seeing some Darko this year. Remember, Flip may be trying to build his confidence by saying good stuff too.

Of course, Flip could also be downplaying his performance to keep public expectations from getting out of hand.

(Just thought I'd cause trouble. )

Praise?

Darko must have passed out when he read that his coach said something positive about him in the paper.

He strikes me as someone who responds better to positive reinforcement than negative, and I think the results we see from him will reflect that.

Also might add that ASB had a bit on mlive where he said he was impressed with the way Delfino was shooting the ball and taking it hard to the hole. He thinks he's ahead of Dupree right now. My impression is that he believes Dupree will be the odd man out.

Good news for Darko. And exactly what I though would happen with Davis, ease him into the season, keep him sharp, but keep him fresh. Maybe if Darko's good enough, he'll take Playoff time from Dale.

And I've always felt that Dupree was the odd man out. I kind of feel like "defensive specialist = can't score".

Darko's Improvement

Hope Darko can carry this momentum to live game action I will remain cautiously optimistic until I see him hit the floor with serious pizzazz. Before handing out the compliments, I would be very disappointed if Darko is a carbon copy of last season. Right now, I am excited about Darko's progress however, consistent growth /production would solidify my faith in Darko.

On the upswing now

DMC has put in his time, learning from some of the best teammates around, and learning from a good coach. Now, it is time for the upswing to begin, and I believe that it will.

There will be some valleys, of course, but the peaks will come closer and closer together. By playoff time, he will be getting quality minutes there, too.

We need to keep both feet on the ground, but Darko needs to keep his off the ground. We have some great combinations of players on our front line coming this year .

Darko

I'm cautiously optimistic, too. There's never been much dispute that Darko is a good player in practice. His teammates have already indicated that. As Gene Hackman said in "Hoosiers": Guys, you know what we worked on in practice? Well, I want to see it on the court!" Seriously, though, agree with Tbird. LB's negativsim did nothing good for Darko. Some don't react well to it. LB clearly wasn't a psych major at NC.

Absolutely, he was a Psycho major.

I'm sure all the Pistons are enjoying the positive feedback they've been missing out on for two years. But it's clear that DMC and Carlos X 2 are liking it more than anyone.

I'm officially raising my expectations for Darko.

Positive feedback

I do like Flip's approach to Darko and to the team thus far. It's definitely much better than going on national TV (Letterman show) and joking about a kid's immaturity. I still think Darko will store away in his memory banks some of the things Brown has tried to teach him. He may never like Brown but he may come to respect some of the guy's knowledge. But I'm guessing Darko feels free. :ballchain

People are too scared to get excited!!! Loosen up. Get a beer or po up a glass of yac and enjoy the ride.

Hmm. Sounds like the perfect moment to segue into ... THIS!

http://freedarko.blogspot.com/

I know Larry did some stuff that many people strongly believe was hurtful to Darko (I'm one of them), but yes, Gazoo, I think that even though Darko may not realize it now, if or when he becomes a good NBA player, he will one day realize that Brown taught him some things that helped him greatly in the long run on his road to success. I don't know what they were but I believe strongly that there were some good things. I hope when he realizes it he is man enough to talk about those things when asked about Brown rather than only say the bad stuff. Because that will tell us all something about Darko more than it will tell us anything about Brown.

why should darko say anything good about brown?? yes. lb taught darko some stuff but he still mishandled darko. his teaching methods were not appropriate. he still had a negative impact on darko as well as positive. i just feel it was more to the negative side and it didn't have to be. the way darko is playing and played over the summer he could have been doing that last year for us and helping us win a title with a small defensive contribution. darko didn't make a great big leap of skill since larry left this kid could play when he arrived. no need to say anything good about lb in the future.

i'd rather someone be man enough to say lb is an a hole. instead of always praising the guy after he's gone just because lb is respected around the league. those answers that other players give are just politically correct. that's why lb gets away with his methods. when was brown man enough to say some good things and treat darko right??? when is lb gonna be man enough and say his mishandled the kid and did him wrong?? fugg lb