Darko Milicic pondering on leaving Boston Celtics for this season to return to Europe – NBA News
Darko Milicic had the Boston Celtics fans excited about him in the offseason, and played a good role for the Celtics in their preseason fixtures, but has been off the radar ever since. Milicic only played five minutes in the Celtics
season opener, and has not taken the court since. He has been unable to live up to the expectations of Celtics coach Doc Rivers, and has fallen behind players such as Jason Collins. And part of the reason for his recent decline in form is the fact that his
mind in back in Europe with his mother, who is not well. And according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Milicic is close to deciding to take a season off with the Celtics and return to Europe to be by the side of his mother.
“Milicic, the No. 2 overall pick in the famed 2003 NBA Draft, didn’t travel with the Celtics to Detroit this weekend, and sources say that he’s close to deciding to leave the NBA for the season to be with his ill mother in Serbia.
After failing to play since opening night, Milicic has also been frustrated with his lack of a role with the Celtics, sources said. Boston coach Doc Rivers met with Milicic recently and told him to take time to make a decision on his family and future, sources
said,” reported Wojnarowski.
If Milicic, the chances of him returning to the team are not very high, as he has been flirting with the idea of playing in Europe and also does not seem to be happy with his role in the Celtics team. The question for the Celtics
is that if Milicic decides to leave for this season or for good, who will they being into the squad as his replacement. The Celtics are a team loaded in the back court with Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Chris Wilcox and Jeff Green. However, big men are a rarity
in the Celtics line-up, with Brandon Bass performing starting duties and not many to come behind him. The Celtics picked up Fab Melo in this year’s draft, but sent him to the D-League as he has some learning to do. Hence, they will need to look on the outside
for a replacement for Milicic, and considering the way the market is at the moment, Kenyon Martin would be their best option. Martin is not a conventional center player, but he is their best buy right now and will bring more to the team that Milicic was.
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