Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown led the Detroit Pistons to two trips to the NBA Finals during the 2000s, including their title-winning season in 2004. However, if things had unfolded differently during the 2003 NBA Draft, Brown could have stayed in Detroit longer and achieved more success there.
According to Brown, when the Pistons hired him, he was informed that they were going to draft Carmelo Anthony with their No.2 overall pick. But suddenly, team president Joe Dumars became so smitten by Serbian teenager Darko Milicic that Melo ended up not even getting a workout with the Pistons.
"They told me we were going to draft Carmelo," said Brown. "They were all convinced, 'Hey, those guys are good, but we really like Carmelo.'"
Dumars pulled off a shocker
Anthony was widely regarded as the second-best player in the class, behind LeBron James. Melo was also coming off a strong performance in the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, where he led Syracuse to the championship as a freshman and won Tournament MVP honors.
But with Dumars pulling off a shocker by drafting Darko, the Denver Nuggets were happy to select Melo with the No.3 overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft. He would go on to develop as an All-Star, while Milicic became one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history.
"Knowing Carmelo now like I know him," added Brown. "I think if he would have been exposed to the type of people we had on that team, he would have been amazing. I really believe that. I look at a 19-year-old kid coming out of Syracuse with that talent, being in that environment in Detroit, I think he would have done anything to improve his game and to play at the level that we know he was capable of playing."
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Melo would have been an absolute icon
While Anthony still ended up as one of the all-time greats, 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups shared the same sentiment as Coach Brown. Mr. Big Shot said that Melo would have been a bigger superstar if he had started his career in Detroit .
"This guy would have been an absolute icon because winning takes you there," Billups said via ESPN. "That ball-stopping mentality that Carmelo has? He wouldn't have had that if he was a Piston," Chauncey said. "We wouldn't let him play like that. He would have been a much better player than he is now—and he's a great player now."
The Pistons won the 2004 NBA championship, with Milicic playing sparingly. Just imagine how good they would have been with Carmelo instead. And yes, as Billups and Coach Brown themselves said, Melo could have been a bigger icon than he already is.
Related: Pierce on what made Melo unstoppable on offense: "He doesn't have a spot on the floor where he can't consistently hit shots"
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