The Knicks are optimistic about the addition of Darko Milicic, but are realistic at the same time.

"There's three or four coaching staffs that really haven't gotten anything [out of Milicic], so we're not saying, 'Oh we can," Mike D'Antoni said. "Just sometimes in a person's career it's the right time. He's having a kid, he's married, maybe he's settled down. He's in the last year of a contract. We'll get the best out of him that he has. Is it good enough? We don't know.

"It's a shot in the dark."

"It's low risk, high reward," his New York-based agent, Marc Cornstein, told The Post on Sunday. "There is a reason he was drafted where he was drafted. Now it's a matter of will we see it? It remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic off this situation."

Milicic, who hasn't adapted well to U.S. living, now is surrounded by a larger support system, featuring Cornstein .and a European-style head coach. But one NBA executive whose franchise had Milicic said: "He's been in the league six seasons. He is what he is."

Cornstein disagrees.

"We're thrilled on so many levels," he. said. "I'm excited to have him in my hometown, personally and selfishly. We've known him for a long time and are very close to him. On a basketball level, we're more thrilled. Coach D'Antoni is the ideal coach for him. He has a great understanding of European players an.d how to utilize his skill sets and talents."

Posted by AnubisADL:

I watched him Memphis no less than 40 times last year.

He looked terrible. He is all over the place and you never know what you get night to night.

Maybe he was dogging it to get traded but I doubt it.

The only plus is I don't have to see Richardson's fat face next season.

Posted by Vmart:

To me the free throw percentage is a very good indication of what a player is capable of doing. Darko isn't a very good free throw shooter which indicates that he is lazy and unfocused. He may be very talented but talent is useless if the player doesn't want to work to get better. Darko to me is content being a backup and being a scrub.

Posted by franco12:

Posted by Vmart:

To me the free throw percentage is a very good indication of what a player is capable of doing. Darko isn't a very good free throw shooter which indicates that he is lazy and unfocused. He may be very talented but talent is useless if the player doesn't want to work to get better. Darko to me is content being a backup and being a scrub.

Not that I don't agree with you some, but then Shaq, Wilt & Tim Duncan are really not focused and are lazy

Posted by Vmart:

Posted by Paladin55:

This is probably the 6th or 7th time I've said this- the Darko trade is a no lose situation for us. If he plays like he has recently, he is gone and he can go back to Europe to play ball and raise his kid. If he has a good year, he might now be mature enough to settle for a modest contract from us in a system he's comfortable in, rather than go to a team where he might not do as well. We lost Richardson to get him- a guy who was not in our future plans. This was a perfect trade- just wish we had done it last year.

Most know its a no lose situation but to expect something out of Darko I think is going out on a limb.