The World Championships may have been “filled” with NBA stars but the NBA is comprised of the world’s greatest talent pool night in night out. It is hard to believe that Darko gained much in the way of solace from his success at the World Championship when he could not beat out Tayshaun Prince, an aging Rasheed Wallace, or a on the downside Antonio McDyess. Darko needs to grow up, listen up, and smarten up. . .

ALL STAR GAME 2007 ROMANIA

When Darko came to Detroit as an 18-year old budding star from Serbia, he joined an already successful Pistons team that had reached the Eastern Conference finals the previous season. They were a veteran team with established stars and run by a hall of fame coach, Larry Brown, who is well-known in the basketball world for his reluctance to play rookies. In fact, Brown often publicly ridiculed the youngster, and gave him 5.6 minutes of playing time per game. As a neophyte in every sense of the word, and as an Eastern European in a midwestern American city and on a team with no foreign players, Milicic needed to be coddled and encouraged. Instead, his confidence was so shattered that in one particularly embarrassing moment, Darko had a completely uncontested dunk attempt “blocked” by the rim. The footage was broadcast ad infinitum on ESPN. He was ruthlessly ridiculed by the American sports media at large, even being nicknamed the “Human Victory Cigar,” because he only played late in games when the Pistons already had effectively won.

On the other hand, Bargnani, already an established star in the highly touted Italian league, came to a young Toronto team which was run by executives known for reaching out to international players. Even though he was only 20 at the time of his draft selection, Bargnani was light years more mature than Milicic in basketball terms. The Raptors currently feature two other prominent international players, both of them Spanish, and an American player who honed his skills for many years in the European leagues. Toronto is also a very cosmopolitan city with a large ethnic Italian population. So Bargnani was more ready to deal with criticism and initial failure than Milicic. However, instead of being alienated and ridiculed, he was coddled and encouraged by the team and the community at large, even in spite of some not-so-spectacular displays in the initial weeks of the season.

Since being traded from Detroit to the Orlando Magic, Milicic has flashes of basketball brilliance. He was especially impressive in the 2006 World Basketball Championship, in which he led the Serbia and Montenegro national team to the final game against Spain. In a tournament filled with NBA superstars from around the world, Milicic performed like a superstar. One has to wonder if during the World Championship, Milicic was able to psychologically liberate himself from his negative NBA experiences and play up to his potential.