Melo to Motown?
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If at first you don’t succeed…
While few can argue the job Joe Dumars has done in the Pistons’ front office, one of the glaring mistakes is the drafting of Darko Milicic with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. The player taken immediately following Darko? Carmelo Anthony by the Denver Nuggets. According to a league source, Detroit is rumored to be one of the teams who are testing the trade waters for the young forward.
While hindsight is always 20/20, this would certainly qualify as the “shake-up” Dumars is insisting the team needs. While it would bring a dynamic scorer to the Pistons, who would the team give up in exchange? Would Melo fit in with a defensive minded club like Detroit?
These are crucial questions that require answers before Dumars rolls the dice. Is the price going to be too high? Rasheed Wallace will have an expiring contract at $13 million and Chauncey Billups is a Denver native. Will it be Rip Hamilton to even out the statistical scoring? Is Tayshaun Prince or Jarvis Hayes in the picture?
The wildcard here is Dumars, who brought in Rasheed Wallace and turned the team into champions in 2004. He has a proven track record in influencing players and could make this work. Anthony has had some off-court issues as well (DUI) and these type of things cannot happen here as the fans have certainly had enough of the inmates running the asylum.
While Detroit would be only one of the clubs shopping for Anthony, the Pistons have made it known their roster, sans guard Rodney Stuckey, is up for grabs. Dumars is ready to rock the Palace with a move that will generate a buzz and give the new head coach a fresh start. While he insists he is not tearing the team down, Dumars is done with giving another chance to the same group that showed promise during the regular season, only to fall back into old habits come playoff time.
Dumars knows from the Wallace deal and the trades both the Celtics and Lakers made this past off-season that it can be done. Trades landed both Boston and Los Angeles in the Finals ans that is where Dumars wants to get back to. If a deal is made, look for it to be a big one, especially if they are mining for Nuggets.
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on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under Joe Dumars, Darko Milicic, Ray Allen, Chauncey Billups, Lakers, Rodney Stuckey, tayshaun prince, Richard Hamilton, NBA, NBA Draft, Detroit Pistons, Basketball, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Blogroll.
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5 Responses to “Melo to Motown?”
June 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
“one of the glaring mistakes is the drafting of Darko Milicic with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.”
I think a bigger mistake was drafting Carmelo Anthony with the #3 pick. How many Championships do the Nuggets have after the 2003 season? Exactly. While Darko may not have panned out for the Pistons, they did win a Championship the following year.
What is more important, the popular name of the draft pick, or Championship Trophies? I choose the latter.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
PS… regarding “one of the glaring mistakes is the drafting of Darko Milicic with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.”… If my foggy memory serves me correctly, Darko was traded to Orlando, and as part of the trade they got a draft pick… took some guy named Stuckey. Rumor has it he played well in the playoffs and is on the way to becoming (knock on wood) an all-star guard. Mistake corrected.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I don’t disagree with either or you.
The landscape of the media is what really brings these things to the front and with a draft pick such as the number two overall, and with players like Anthony, Bosh, and Wade behind him, most all writers label it as a mistake and you really can’t tell what would have happened had we not taken Darko.
That said, I am a huge Stuckey fan and he was quite frankly the most difficult Piston to stop in the latter portion of the playoffs.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Just to reiterate what the previous two said, there was no mistake in drafting Darko. Melo would have had NO place to play that championship year. He wasn’t going to play SG or SF, unless you were going to take away PT for Rip and Prince. And Melo doesn’t have the defense for it.
The team was great without Melo then and I think they are great without him. It’s not like the team needs someone that big to shake things up. The team is great as is, but I think firing Flip was the best move. I didn’t feel Flip gave the team what Brown did as a coach. For that, I think the team can succeed without Melo. Sure, a few new faces helps, but nothing so out of the blue that changes the success of the team
June 10th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Its a star driven league and I am wondering if Joe isn’t thinking along those lines. Someone who is going to get a favorable look from the officials. But Melo, like many of the current Pistons, complains a lot to the refs and that is what silences their whistles. When the Pistons do it, it really hinders them for the game and future games when you run into those crews again.
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