Did the Orlando Magic Avoid a Different Destiny By Letting Go of Darko Milicic?

Flashback: The year is 2005. The Magic feel they can cash in on a lottery pick gone bad in Darko Milicic and they trade Kelvin Cato and a first round pick for Milicic. Could Darko turn things around in Orlando? He started by doing something he had never done before: logging minutes. Darko Milicic, despite three seasons under his belt, had never averaged more than 6 minutes per game and was horribly inexperienced in NBA play. A young Yugoslavian that had shown a lot of coordination to go with a 7 foot frame was a nice prospect. It just didn’t pay off for Detroit. Kelvin Cato to play a total of four games for the Pistons and the draft pick the Magic gave up ended up becoming combo guard Rodney Stuckey. For those of you who have followed me from my days at Bleacher Report, you will know my fascination with Darko Milicic is nothing new (my first article at Bleacher Report was about Darko). I also wrote about Darko earlier this season on Magic Sideline. Nonetheless, I pre...