DETROIT -- Meet Will Robinson.
Robinson is the assistant to the president of basketball operations for the Pistons. He is the NBA's oldest scout, at the ripe age of 92. He has been inducted into 24 Halls of Fame. He has coached the likes of Doug Collins and Spencer Haywood. He was the first African-American head coach in the history of NCAA Division I basketball.
And if you listen to him, he invented such things as the full-court press and the fast break.
It's tough to find anyone who's been around long enough to dispute that.
You've heard of six degrees of separation? Robinson plays about three. Rumor here in Detroit has it that he cut the hole in James Naismith's peach basket.
He comes to work every day, watches game film and never misses a workout. Robinson has sat through the Pistons' draft workouts for the past 28 years, witnessing the auditions of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman and Grant Hill.
Dumars, now the Pistons president, smiles when he sees Robinson walk onto the court Wednesday in preparation for Darko Milicic's individual workout. Call him a comfort blanket.
"Let me tell you something about Will Robinson," Dumars says. "He's seen it all. You can't fool Will Robinson. Nothing gets by him."
Robinson's a little early today for a reason. He's a late-comer on the international bandwagon. He has listened to the talk radio hosts and local writers imploring the Pistons to take Carmelo Anthony over Milicic with the No. 2 pick in next month's draft. Like the rest of them, he has yet to see the young Yugoslavian in person.
"In the past, when we brought in the guys from overseas, Will would sit there, shake his head and say 'Send him back ... he needs to spend more time in the oven,' " Dumars says with a laugh.
Darko Milicic has impressed the Detroit Pistons both on and off the basketball court. Robinson takes his seat courtside, crosses his legs and stares Darko down as he begins warming up. For the next 45 minutes, his eyes never leave the 7-footer.
From agility exercises (Darko ranks in the top 15 percent) to tests that gauge lateral quickness (Darko ranks in the top 2 percent), vertical jump (a little above average) and upper and lower body strength (OK on the first, above average on the second), Robinson is watching Milicic's every movement.
It isn't until Milicic picks up a basketball and starts effortlessly draining NBA-range 3-pointers (remember, his coach in Yugoslavia wouldn't let him take European 3s, let alone from the NBA distance) that Robinson begins speaking up. He doesn't stop talking until well after the workout.
"We hit the jackpot," Robinson says with a smile. "Jackpot!"
Milicic moves into the post and begins hitting jump hooks, first with his left hand. Then with his right. Robinson can't tell whether Milicic is left- or right-handed. That's a good thing.
"How'd that boy learn to shoot with both hands?" he asks.
“ He's going to own the game. Own the game. We're going to have to build a new arena. The only thing that could destroy a kid like that is a woman. ” — Will Robinson, on Darko Milicic Interesting story. Milicic was born left-handed, but his parents and teachers encouraged him to do everything with his right hand. He shoots 3s with his left, signs autographs with his right and handles the ball equally with both.
"That's just unfair. Very few players can do that."
At one point, a clearly exhausted Milicic bends over and, for a moment, looks like he can't go on. He sips a glass of water, slaps his hands together and gets back on the court.
"Did you see the way he just gutted that out?" Robinson says. "That's the type of kid you want to coach. If I was coaching him, we'd go to the moon."
Soon Darko is running the floor, handling the ball on the break and finishing with thundering dunks.
"He's going to own the game. Own the game," Robinsons exclaims. "We're going to have to build a new arena. The only thing that could destroy a kid like that is a woman."
Another big dunk, and Robinson gets up from his chair and begins walking toward Dumars.
"I've seen all I need," he says.
"Take him," he screams at Dumars.
The Pistons aren't through with Milicic yet. After lunch with Dumars and Co., Milicic is back at the workout facility receiving his homework assignments from strength and training coach Arnie Kander.
Kander isn't taking the usual approach to tall, skinny Europeans. Over the few hours since Darko's audition, Kander has been devising a workout plan for the kid that will get him up to speed for minicamp.
Milicic and his agent, Semi Pajovic, have asked for the help. Until now, Milicic has been living on a steady diet of 200 push-ups and 300 sit-ups per day.
Kander's plan calls for no weight lifting, fewer push-ups and zero protein supplements. Kander is blown away by what he calls "Darko's tremendous gift of speed."
