When the Detroit Pistons were on the clock with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, GM Joe Dumars had a big decision to make. That decision was to select Darko Milicic or Carmelo Anthony to join forces with Chauncey Billups and the rest of what was already a great Pistons team.
Of course, as we know, Dumars made the awful decision to select Milicic and though the Pistons went on to win a Championship, many have asked “what if” Dumars had selected Anthony instead.
Chauncey Billups questions if LeBron James would have taken over had Pistons made correct decision
During a recent appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast, Billups basically said that had the Detroit Pistons selected Carmelo Anthony rather than Darko Milicic, LeBron James would not have started to dominate the Eastern Conference as he ended up doing.
“We all thought we was taking Melo. We was on deck, we all was on board,” Billups said. “We all thought Melo and Melo, we were excited. It was perfect. Obviously we had a team, we took Tayshaun Prince the year before, but Tay would have been the perfect sixth man, Swiss Army knife. He could do whatever.. We were perfectly built to have Melo.”
“I ask this a lot. If we got Melo, when was Bron ever going to take over? Now we in the same division… Now he (Carmelo Anthony) was going to get raised right in the game.”
Nation, what do you think? Had Joe Dumars selected Carmelo Anthony rather than Darko Milicic to join forces with Chauncey Billups and company, would the Detroit Pistons have blocked LeBron James from running the Eastern Conference?
