Ben

Not too many things have come easily this season for Pistons center Mehmet Okur.

He’s been out because of back spasms, occasionally sparred with Coach Larry Brown and often struggled on defense.

And now, Okur finds himself as the odd man out in the front-court rotation since the arrival of Rasheed Wallace.

Despite the uncertainity, Okur has remained positive about his role on the team.

“I feel good right now, no more pain in my back,” Okur said Tuesday after practice. “I don’t care how many minutes I play out there. I am ready for everything right now.

“We’re doing a great job right now. Play me two minutes, play me 24 minutes, I want to do my best out there.”
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Previously known as Battlestar.
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DetBNyce

The part of the article that really impressed me:

He could sit and pout (which he has done), but he's looking at what's best for the team and it shows maturity and his support of the "team concept".

PistonFAN81

that is so great to here him say that, I love Okur I think that he will be great for us for years to come, i am glad that this whole thing is done and maybe he can start to become the player that I know that he can be

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Billups for MVP!

rainman

yeah and the fact that he knows he is going to make a lot of bread this summer, someone is going to pony up a big offer and i wouldnt be surprised if he leaves, if the team can resign sheed then it isnt going to make sense to have okur as the 3rd man in a 4/5 rotation and thus pushing darko even further back in his developement.

MLKG

If resigning Memo makes us a better team (and I think it does), then I could careless what it does to Darko's development. I believe it's good for guys to earn their minutes anyway, look at Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Olowokandi for examples of what happense when young guys are just given minutes, their is no fire to get better.

rainman

you might not care about darko's developement but management better, thats why they drafted him. if they just let him linger on the end of the bench for 3 or 4 years then he will most certainly walk at some point. i see darko having much more potential as a player than memo thats for sure.

MLKG

Everyone wants to see Darko develop, probably Joe most of all, but Joe also isn't going to handicap the teams ability to win a championship just so Darko can get some time. Depth is a good thing, you never know when someone is going to get hurt.

fear the fro

I think the whole thing depends on how well we do in the playoffs...if we make it to the Finals with Ben and Sheed starting and Memo coming off the bench we should probably do what it takes to resign Sheed and Memo and let the Darko situation take care of itself, if we win the Finals we definetly have to resign them both. Whenever you have a good shot to win a championship you have to take it, that's why the game is played, not to develop draft picks.

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It's time Detroit to go to work!
Ben Wallace for President
Rasheed Wallace for Vice-President