The Detroit Pistons were one of the powerhouses in the Eastern Conference during the early 2000s because they had a core of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, and Tayshaun Prince. Despite using the No. 2 overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft to select an unproven Darko Milicic, Detroit still managed to win a championship anyway.
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Fast forward to today, and Milicic is widely considered one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. And because Milicic was picked ahead of Carmelo Anthony, many Detroit Pistons fans wondered what their future would’ve looked like if they drafted the Syracuse product.
Tayshaun Prince, a key member of the Detroit Pistons’ last title-winning squad, spoke on The Knuckleheads Podcast to explain why he may have been the main reason the team opted for Milicic instead of Anthony.
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“I think how management looked at it was like they found their future small forward in me, let’s take a chance on Darko because, remember (Mehmet) Okur, who we had, who was super talented, there was a chance we were going to lose him in free agency, which we did,” said Prince. “Then obviously (Rasheed Wallace), so it was like, however they want to call it, we’ll take a chance on Darko.”
To Prince’s point, the Detroit Pistons did lose Mehmet Okur to free agency, as the Turkish international signed a six-year, $50 million contract with the Utah Jazz right after winning the NBA championship.
The Detroit Pistons have been searching for their fourth NBA title ever since
After winning the 2003-04 NBA title, the Detroit Pistons were poised to repeat the following season, but they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals in seven games.
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Detroit made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in three more seasons before their core was broken since Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups were no longer around.
The Detroit Pistons haven’t made it to the postseason since 2018-19 and have been on a seemingly constant rebuild.
