The Detroit Pistons shocked the basketball world during the 2003 NBA Draft when they decided to pass on Carmelo Anthony as the No. 2 overall pick in favor of 7-foot center Darko Milicic. This remains to be one of the most questionable decisions in the history of the draft, especially considering how Milicic ended up being a flop for the Motor City franchise.
In a recent guesting on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson's All The Smoke podcast, Pistons icon Chauncey Billups dropped a major revelation about Detroit's decision to pass on Melo. Apparently, Billups himself was under the belief that Anthony was already on his way to the Pistons (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):
“We all thought we was taking Melo,” Billups admitted. “We all was on deck. We all was on board. We all thought Melo's Melo. We excited. It was perfect.”
One of the reasons why the Pistons supposedly passed on Melo was because they already had Tayshaun Prince on the squad. For his part, however, Billups believes that Detroit could have made it work with both Prince and Anthony on the same roster:
“Obviously we had a team,” he continued. “We took Tayshaun a year before, but Tayshaun would have been perfect Sixth Man, Swiss Army knife — he could do whatever. So, I thought we was perfectly built to have Melo.”
"If we do get Melo, when was Bron gone ever take over?"
Chauncey Billups on what could have been if the Pistons drafted Carmelo Anthony in 2003 👀
(via @shobasketball)pic.twitter.com/Rq9ixeu3XF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) September 21, 2022
To be fair to the Pistons, they did win the title that same year. Nevertheless, it's hard not to imagine what could have been for them if they had Carmelo Anthony on their roster. Detroit never won a title after 2004, and it's very much possible that they could have had a dynasty-like run with Melo in the mix.
Follow Us
Subscribe