Back in 2012, when Darko Milicic was a 10th-year veteran still collecting an NBA paycheck, I was a beat reporter covering the Boston Celtics. I didn’t have much interaction with the former No. 2 pick, other than the time a locker room attendant was warning players to be careful driving home in a Nor’easter and Darko responded, “I’m doing 90 tonight.” It might’ve been funny had he not sounded so serious.

He couldn’t have been serious. Even for a dude named Darko, that’d be some dark stuff to be saying.

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Then again, Milicic was a child of the Yugoslav Wars whose entire career Stateside was framed by the fact he was selected second, after LeBron James, in a 2003 draft that also saw Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade taken with pick Nos. 3-5. All you need to do is look at his nickname on Basketball Reference, “The Human Victory Cigar,” to get a feel for how he’s remembered in NBA circles.

And the guy began his Celtics career by telling reporters, “I’ll do whatever it takes, whatever I need to do to help this team. So now, if I have to go kill someone on the court, I’ll kill someone on the court.”

So, maybe he was serious? Either way, I didn’t make much of it. Milicic played all of five minutes in one appearance for the Celtics and was unceremoniously waived two weeks later with the following statement by the team: “Darko has asked us to release him so he could deal with a personal matter.” We were told he returned home to Serbia to care for his ailing mother, so more power to the guy.

Milicic has since popped up from time to time, first at the World Carp Classic fishing tournament, then as a professional kickboxer who lost his first fight, only to declare his invincibility afterwards, and finally shirtless, singing patriotic folk music with some Bosnians and feeding beer to tattoos on his stomach of a pair of alleged Chetnik war criminals from World War II. So, yeah, maybe he was serious.

Darko’s here again. He conducted an interview with Serbian news website B92.net, portions of which were translated by the fine folks at r/NBA, and he sounded like a man more comfortable in his skin. Milicic discussed each of his NBA stops with the sort of honesty you’d expect from the 7-foot Serbian.

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Detroit Pistons

View photos Young Darko. (AP) More

“I’d do a lot of things differently now. It’s true I ended up on a team trying to win a ring, which rarely happens to a No. 2 pick, but in the end we’re all looking for excuses. I could say I didn’t get a proper chance, but that’s simply an excuse; it’s up to a young player to prove himself, work hard and wait for his chance. My approach was completely different. As a No. 2 pick coming from Europe, I thought I was sent by God, so I got into fights, got drunk before practices, spiting everyone, but I was spiting myself.

[…]

“So yeah, I was the problem. That initial dissatisfaction probably led to me starting to hate and not enjoy playing. There were some situations where I’ve already scored 20 points, but in my head I’m thinking, ‘When will this game finally end, come on, let’s pack it up and go home.’ I just had to feed my ego. I couldn’t care less what’s going to happen the following week. My whole approach since coming to the US was just wrong. I could say I was too young back then, but I chose to go there myself and I obviously wasn’t prepared for what the league would require from me.”

Feeding his ego came up several times during Darko’s response to questions about his Detroit days, and he suggested games against the Tim Duncans or Pau Gasols served as motivation, while outings opposite “a center that’s 10 times weaker” were of little interest. Milicic averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds and never scored 20 points in two-plus seasons on the Pistons, so the numbers don’t bear this out until later in his career, but you get a feel for his mentality from the beginning. Coaches preached consistency, “but I simply couldn’t,” he said. “I wasn’t ready or willing to put in the work.”

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