Fans of the Detroit Pistons weren’t the only ones who were surprised to see the team not draft Carmelo Anthony with the second overall draft pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown, who was entering his first season with the Pistons, was also surprised at the decision.
Hall of Famer Larry Brown tells @TermineRadio & @Jumpshot8 he thought the Pistons were going in a different direction in the 2003 Draft when he was their Head Coach pic.twitter.com/P4nA4tVAQJ
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 19, 2019
“What I had understood, we were going to draft Carmelo and then all of a sudden they decided on Darko,” the Hall of Fame coach said.
Of course, Milicic became known as one of the biggest draft busts in sports history, while Carmelo Anthony lived up to the hype after being drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the third overall draft pick (though it didn’t transcend to top playoff performances).
Of course, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh were also available to draft; the Pistons passed on them as well.
