If you're a Pistons fan, it's probably best not to engage in "what ifs." For example, what if Detroit had drafted Carmelo Anthony with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft instead of overthinking it and taking Darko Miličić (ugh) instead? It's over. It's done. Don't worry about that!
Tayshaun Prince—who played for the Pistons from 2002 through 2013—just can't help himself, though. So when he sat down with CBS Sports this week, he looked back on that boneheaded blunder by the Pistons' front office and said that if they had decided to pick Melo instead of Darko in the 2003 draft, he believes the team would have won as many as four NBA championships. "I think if we did take Melo, [we could have won] maybe two, maybe three, maybe four championships," he said. Prince added that Carmelo likely would have started off as a sixth man for the team, but that he would have eventually started and made the team "pretty awesome for the next five or six years."
CBS Sports analyst Rip Hamilton—who also played for Detroit from 2002 through 2011—chimed in on the subject as well and said that the Pistons drafting Darko was born out of the misguided thought of trying to find the next versatile superstar from Europe. "You had a guy like Dirk Nowitzki on the Dallas Mavericks," he said, "and everyone was trying to find the next Dirk."
Even without Carmelo, the Pistons enjoyed a pretty insane run of success in the mid-2000s, making the Eastern Conference Finals six seasons in a row and winning the NBA championship in 2004. But 13 years later, it's hard not to wonder what might have been for both the Pistons and Carmelo if they had drafted him in 2003. It's almost too much to take if you're a Detroit fan.
