Boom! Were doing this quick and snappy today as we break down as many aspects of the Grizzlies signing Darko to a 3 year $21 million contract. We're going with a bulleted method and my typical overly verbose method of writing will hopefully be 10x as pithy as normal. Let's go.
Darko's Old Situation: At this point Darko's situation with the Detroit Pistons has been so beaten to death that really nothing new can be said about it, but it seems most of the media could care less about what has happened to old #2 during the last two years with the Orlando Magic. Over the last two years he has posted an average PER of 14.5 (slightly below the league average) while playing as the back-up C on a team that was peaking as an 8 seed in the playoffs. He was making about $5 million dollars per year during this time which seems very reasonable for a player of his skill compared to the other contracts for similar players in the league (plenty of players who have worse PERs than Darko got $6 million+ this year despite playing less important positions). On the front line with him was Grant Hill and Dwight Howard, the first at this point a decent scorer and the other an explosive young big man who needs to still develop offensively. The team did not have any great offensive threat so Darko had an opportunity to establish himself, but he never really did so (13.4points/40min last year). He played with one of the best rebounders in the league in Howard, but he still had a decent rebound rate 14.1 considering the circumstances. He also averaged about 4 blocks per 40 minutes last season which is really good especially considering Howard is always looking to block shoots as well. Overall, Darko did not thrive in Orlando where he was paired with an explosive non-scoring big man and a scoring, if not explosive, small forward.
Darko's New Situation: The front court that Darko is joining in Memphis is much different than what he was dealing with in Orlando. In Pau Gasol, Darko gets a potent offensive threat who will command the ball in the low post but will not bring the explosive plays to the court that Dwight Howard does. In Rudy Gay, Darko gets an extremely athletic small forward who can play inside and outside. This is almost the polar opposite of what surrounded Darko in Orlando. In Memphis, Darko will not be given the same opportunities to become a dominant offensive threat, which if he lacks the ability to ever become will be good for him. If Darko peaks as a good defensive C who can shoot decently well and rebound consistently then this will be the perfect situation for him because doing that will be exactly what will help Memphis improve; however, if Darko's ceiling really is like those of his draft mates the situation in Memphis will not lend it to him becoming that dominant player because of who is playing around him. I can't use statistics to prove what a player's ceiling is with any accuracy nor can I claim to have seen him play enough or see enough into the future to know how good he can be. Only time can settle this.
The Contract: For what is described above Darko's contract is perfectly reasonable when compared to the going rate for players of his type. Unlike the ridiculous contracts for Andreas Nocioni, Luke Walton, and Matt Carroll it is only a 3 year deal, so if Darko completely falls apart it will not be too damaging to the Grizzlies future. It is also in the same price range as those other players ($6-7 million per). Darko is even a better deal then those players because he is still only 22 years old and will more than likely continue to improve. He is also a C, which makes him more valuable then almost any other position on the court besides possibly PG.
Part #2 Coming Later Today (I would love to go more in depth and add all the stats but there simply isn't time)
