Darko Miličić

Darko Miličić
Player information
birthday	June 20, 1985
place of birth	Novi Sad , Yugoslavia
size	213 cm
position	Power Forward / Center
NBA draft	2003 , 2nd pick, Detroit Pistons
Clubs as active
2001–2003 KK Hemofarm 2003–2006 Detroit Pistons 2006–2007 Orlando Magic 2007–2009 Memphis Grizzlies 2009–2010 New York Knicks 2010–2012 Minnesota Timberwolves 2012 Boston Celtics 2012–
National team 1
2005-2006 2007-2009	Serbia and Montenegro Serbia	10 games 03 games
1 As of February 10, 2011

Darko Miličić (born June 20, 1985 in Novi Sad , Yugoslavia ) is a former Serbian basketball player . He is 2.13 m tall and played on the position of the center .

NBA career

Detroit Pistons (2003-2006)

Unlike the other teams who have high draft picks, the Detroit Pistons were a successful team in 2002. Last year they reached the Eastern Conference Finals. The reason they received the second draft pick was a 1997 transfer with the Vancouver Grizzlies (now the Memphis Grizzlies), which granted them the Grizzlies' draft rights. Miličić was considered the youngest player of the draft year and he was predicted to have a successful NBA career. Surprisingly drafted in second place after LeBron James , Miličić is now in retrospect a draft flop , as the later superstars Carmelo Anthony , Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh , but also Boris Diaw , Kendrick Perkins , Leandro Barbosa , Chris Kaman or Mo Williams all drafted after him and today have significantly more successful careers than Miličić, who saw very little playing time due to the very strong front court of the Detroit Pistons, with Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace . He won the NBA championship with the Pistons in his rookie season 2003-2004, but was only 1.8 minutes per game on the field (4.7 minutes per game in the regular season) in the playoffs. At 18 years and 356 days, he is the youngest player ever to have played in an NBA final. Although Miličić was promised a bigger role by Pistons manager Joe Dumars , he saw little more playing time in his sophomore year. In his third year, Miličić was sold after never living up to expectations and only scoring 1.8 points per game in 96 games for the Pistons.

Orlando Magic (2006-2007)

On February 15, 2006 Miličić was traded along with Carlos Arroyo for Kelvin Cato and a first-round pick in 2007 to the Orlando Magic . There he got significantly more playing time and was able to score 7.6 points per game in his first season with the Magic and 8.0 points per game in his second season. He was also convincing as a shot blocker and came to 2.1 and in the second year at Magic 1.8 blocks per game. When Miličić's contract with Magic expired in 2007, he did not get a contract extension.

Memphis Grizzlies (2007-2009)

On July 12, 2007 Miličić signed a three-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies . He started out as a starter, but soon had to be content as a bench player again as he did not perform well. At the end of 2008 his performance had improved and he got a place in the starting five again. However, on December 26, 2008, he broke a finger on his right hand. From then on he was only second choice behind Marc Gasol .

New York Knicks (2009-2010)

On June 25, 2009, Miličić was traded for Quentin Richardson and money at the New York Knicks . Miličić only played 8 games for the Knicks. On December 17, he announced that he wanted to leave the NBA the following season and play in Europe again. For the Knicks he completed only 8 season games, in which he scored 2.0 points on average.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2010-2012)

On February 17, 2010 he was traded for Brian Cardinal to the Minnesota Timberwolves . There he was under contract for the next 2 seasons. The 2010-11 season was Miličić's best. He established himself as the starting center and got 8.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 blocks in 69 games. The following season Miličić could no longer call up the performance. The Timberwolves played a poor season and released Miličić at the end of the season with the so-called amnesty clause, which they saved his salary.

Boston Celtics (2012)

On September 20, 2012 Miličić signed as a free agent a contract with the Boston Celtics , before he left the club two months later and after a completed season game, on November 21, after he cited personal matters as the reason for the dissolution.

Interim career break

Miličić announced his retirement in September 2013. He plans to pursue a professional career as a kickboxer in the future . He completed his first kickboxing fight on December 18, 2014 against Radovan Radojčin, whom he lost in the second round after a technical knockout.

Comeback attempt (2015)

In 2015 it became known that Miličić will again play professional basketball for the Serbian club Metalac Valjevo. A few days later he revoked this commitment.

National team

Miličić first played for Serbia and Montenegro and later only for Serbia . He took part in the 2006 World Basketball Championship , where he disappointedly finished eleventh with Serbia. He also took part in the European basketball championships in 2005 and 2007 , where he was also denied a medal.

Personal

His parents are Milorad and Zora. His sister Tijana is a volleyball player. On May 23, 2009, he married his girlfriend, Zorana Markus. They have two sons and a daughter together.

Miličić announced in 2006 that he would do his military service in his native Serbia after his basketball career .

Web links

• Darko Miličić - player profile on NBA.com
• Darko Miličić - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Player profile on ESPN.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NBA statistics: Darko Milicic ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Milicic out 4-6 weeks
3. ↑ Knicks Trade Former No. 2 Overall Pick Milicic . In: NBA.com . June 25, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
4. ↑ Darko plans European return as he can't get off Knicks bench . 2009-1217-25. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
5. ↑ nba.com/timberwolves - Wolves Acquire Darko Milicic from New York , February 17, 2010
6. ↑ Wolves Waive Darko Milicic
7. ↑ Celtics Waive Milicic. NBA , November 21, 2012, accessed December 7, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Darko Miličić stavio tačku: zbogom NBA karijero, dobar dan kik-bokse (Serbian) ( memento of the original from October 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Former NBA center Darko Milicic loose kickboxing debut
10. ↑ http://sport.blic.rs/Kosarka/Domaca-kosarka-i-ABA/272664/BOMBA-Milicic-se-vraca-na-parket-igrace-za-Metalac-Shvatio-je-da-je-kosarka -njegov-zivot
11. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2003-03-31-darko-focus_x.htm
12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/20211833/nba-bust-darko-milicic-finds-success-back-home-serbia
14. ↑ Brian Schmitz: Driven to succeed . In: Orlando Sentinel . December 19, 2006. Archived from the original on May 16, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 19, 2010.