Empty the Bench

You knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. A little over a week after we reported that Orlando Magic forward/center Darko Milicic said he was only thinking about the playoffs, and is not worried about his playing time or his impending restricted free agency, it looks like maybe he is in fact a bit irked about his minutes and role on the team. This morning in Florida Today, John Denton reports that Milicic is whining again, despite the fact that his team is still fighting for its playoff life and that he, personally, has played in all but one game this season. Some things never change:

Milicic’s rub is that he’s played just 24.2 minutes a game, an area where he feels he could have been used more. Also, the Magic have made him almost exclusively a low-post player, while he would prefer to get some time on the perimeter where he could show off his solid mid-range shot.

“Coming from Detroit where I didn’t get to play, I’ve at least gotten to play some here,” said Milicic, who has averaged a career-best 8.1 points and 5.5 rebounds this season. “But if I stay here I’d like to think they could use me more and I can give the team more than I have this season.”

Darko, for the last time: playing time is EARNED. You work hard, you practice hard, you stay focused, you sacrifice for the greater good of the team. Look, there’s nothing wrong with a young player wanting more time on the court. He wants to play, he wants to show what he can do. Fine. Now in his fourth season, Milicic still doesn’t understand, however, that no one is going to just hand him 30+ minutes a night because he was the second overall pick four years ago. It just doesn’t work that way, at least most of the time.

Milicic also showed poor decision-making and timing last night against the Raptors, when he played just seven uneventful minutes (2 rebounds, 3 fouls) before getting tagged with two technical fouls and an ejection for harping on a foul that was called correctly. The Magic, who have literally no frontcourt depth behind Milicic, Dwight Howard, and Tony Battie, went on to lose to the Toronto Raptors 111-108 at home. Their lead over the Indiana Pacers for the final playoff spot in the East is down to 1.5 games. Here’s footage of Darko’s ejection last night:

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