The Whoops Factor: Darko Milicic
I've revised drafts in the past. Now I'm looking at specific picks and how not only were they busts, but the very next pick ended up being a big time player. For argument's sake, we are only discussing the very next pick, even if there were other future all-stars still on the draft board. We're going to call it the "Whoops Factor," and we're starting with Darko.
Darko Milicic went 2nd overall in the 2003 draft. The '03 draft is considered one of the greatest NBA drafts ever. That fact alone makes Darko under extreme scrutiny considering he was in fact that number 2 pick. Thankfully he wasn't picked above LeBron, but he was picked right before Carmelo Anthony. (Yes Bosh and Wade were still available, and Wade had a better career than anyone not named LeBron in that draft, but that's not what we're going for. Remember it's all about what went down in consecutive picks.)
Carmelo has been one of the most prolific scorers since being drafted. He is regularly been considered one of the best players in the league, despite a lackluster postseason record. Still, even a person on drugs would say that Carmelo is a better basketball player than Darko in every aspect. Still, the whiff on draft night didn't slow the Pistons one bit. In fact they won the championship that year. They had no use for Darko (played in only 34 games) in the immediate future with Ben and Rasheed Wallace down low, (and Mehmet Okur coming off the bench) so I guess they wanted a long-term project? Regardless, the Pistons made at least the Eastern Conference Finals all the way until the '08 season. That's a great run. The problem is, after that the wheels fell off, and they haven't sniffed being good since. Had they had Carmelo the whole time, would they still be relevant today? Or would Carmelo disrupt they great team chemistry that Detrioit had?
It's an interesting hypothetical question because Carmelo had his most success in 2009 (ironically the first year Detroit was bad) when long-time Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups was traded to Carmelo's Nuggets. Actually it wasn't ironic that Detroit took a nose-dive after trading Billups, and it wasn't ironic that Carmelo was ballin' with Billups who was still at the tail-end of his prime at that point. So it begs the question, would Billups have had that positive influence on Carmelo right from the start? If so, what would Carmelo's career look like now? One would assume that '04 Detroit team would have started Carmelo at SF, which would have sent Tayshaun Prince to the bench. How would that have affected the team because obviously that lineup did work? It's entirely possible that Carmelo would have just developed into a role player since there were so many mouths to feed on that Detroit team. He would have been their spot up shooter more than likely, but he wouldn't have fit their defense-oriented style nearly as well as Prince did.
So on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the worst, how big of whoops was Darko over Carmelo?
Whoops factor: 2
It's tough to argue 6 straight Eastern Conference Finals trips, and one championship. Could they have done all that and possibly more with Anthony in the fold? Absolutely, but it's not a lock. Look at what the Pistons did do. Look how bad Anthony has made the chemistry in Denver and New York. I wouldn't risk what the Pistons did for hypothetical Carmelo. This is definitely a unique situation, and odds are we won't see a situation like this ever again.
Darko Milicic went 2nd overall in the 2003 draft. The '03 draft is considered one of the greatest NBA drafts ever. That fact alone makes Darko under extreme scrutiny considering he was in fact that number 2 pick. Thankfully he wasn't picked above LeBron, but he was picked right before Carmelo Anthony. (Yes Bosh and Wade were still available, and Wade had a better career than anyone not named LeBron in that draft, but that's not what we're going for. Remember it's all about what went down in consecutive picks.)
Carmelo has been one of the most prolific scorers since being drafted. He is regularly been considered one of the best players in the league, despite a lackluster postseason record. Still, even a person on drugs would say that Carmelo is a better basketball player than Darko in every aspect. Still, the whiff on draft night didn't slow the Pistons one bit. In fact they won the championship that year. They had no use for Darko (played in only 34 games) in the immediate future with Ben and Rasheed Wallace down low, (and Mehmet Okur coming off the bench) so I guess they wanted a long-term project? Regardless, the Pistons made at least the Eastern Conference Finals all the way until the '08 season. That's a great run. The problem is, after that the wheels fell off, and they haven't sniffed being good since. Had they had Carmelo the whole time, would they still be relevant today? Or would Carmelo disrupt they great team chemistry that Detrioit had? It's an interesting hypothetical question because Carmelo had his most success in 2009 (ironically the first year Detroit was bad) when long-time Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups was traded to Carmelo's Nuggets. Actually it wasn't ironic that Detroit took a nose-dive after trading Billups, and it wasn't ironic that Carmelo was ballin' with Billups who was still at the tail-end of his prime at that point. So it begs the question, would Billups have had that positive influence on Carmelo right from the start? If so, what would Carmelo's career look like now? One would assume that '04 Detroit team would have started Carmelo at SF, which would have sent Tayshaun Prince to the bench. How would that have affected the team because obviously that lineup did work? It's entirely possible that Carmelo would have just developed into a role player since there were so many mouths to feed on that Detroit team. He would have been their spot up shooter more than likely, but he wouldn't have fit their defense-oriented style nearly as well as Prince did.
So on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the worst, how big of whoops was Darko over Carmelo?
Whoops factor: 2
It's tough to argue 6 straight Eastern Conference Finals trips, and one championship. Could they have done all that and possibly more with Anthony in the fold? Absolutely, but it's not a lock. Look at what the Pistons did do. Look how bad Anthony has made the chemistry in Denver and New York. I wouldn't risk what the Pistons did for hypothetical Carmelo. This is definitely a unique situation, and odds are we won't see a situation like this ever again.
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