“If we got Melo, when was LeBron James gonna takeover?”: Chauncey Billups believes Carmelo Anthony in Detroit could’ve overshadowed 4x MVP

The Pistons were very wrong when they drafted Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony in 2003, but was LeBron James lucky?

The year 2003 brought with it one of the most sought after drafts in NBA history, obviously due to the fact that LeBron James, The Chosen One, was making his way in the league.

However, what really made it a great day in the history of the game was that it brought in three other future Hall of Famers along with James from the group that will have a combined 26 championships between them in the future.

Carmelo Anthony, the third pick, is the only one among the four first-ballot HOF futures who hasn’t won a championship. Rest: LeBron (4), Dwyane Wade (3) and Chris Bosh (2), have nine championships between them.

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And according to the 2004 Finals MVP, Melo would have had a drastically different career had he come to the Pistons as the No. 2 pick.

Chauncey Billups believes LeBron James’ legacy would be drastically different if the Pistons chose Carmelo Anthony

Darko Milicic going to the Detroit Pistons at number two over Anthony, Wade and Bosh is still considered one of the biggest fumbles in Draft night history.

And Chauncey Billups, who ran that team at the time, believes both Carmelo and LeBron would have quite a different career path if the 10x All-Star wasn’t shunned by his team.

The culture of that Pistons team surely would have instilled a defensive focus into the 2013 scoring champion’s game. Imagine Anthony playing defense with the kind of offensive threat he was.

God!

Given how well 3-and-D Melo played defense the past two years, it’s not hard to imagine him doing it from the start.

There could have been a dynasty in Detroit straight from 2003-04 to at least 2007/08 and what Melo might have become in that period is too exciting to even think about.

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However, The King would definitely be as good as he is now, regardless of how his draft mate’s career would have gone. Anthony becoming a better player would only have given him even more motivation to be bigger.