David Stern: “with the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft the Cleveland Cavaliers select…… Darko Milicic from Serbia and Montenegro.”
crowd boos are extremely deafening and even the commentators are in shock at what just transpired
Everything else in the draft remains the same. Wade is still a Heat, Carmelo is still a Nugget and Bosh is still a Raptor.
Darko would’ve still been a bust regardless while LeBron gets drafted into a very competent organization. The Pistons made the ECF the previous season and have great vets and coaching (though screw Larry Brown for playing LeBron 3 mins in the 2004 Olympic semis which caused a lot of stupid haters to call him LeBronze).
I believe the Pistons would’ve still went after Rasheed and everything plays out fairly normally in the 2003-04 season. We actually get a LeBron vs Kobe Finals matchup. Granted they’re not Kobe and LeBron led teams but still. The Pistons still win in dominating fashion. LeBron at 19 years old wins a chip.
It would be hard to predict what would happen afterwards but Malice in the Palace still occurs with LeBron staying out of it. 2005 the Pistons again reach the Finals and it would be hard to not favor them against the Spurs.
I got this inspiration from a BSOLZ video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R2cUnXVBTWA&pp=ygUid2hhdCBpZiB0aGUgcGlzdG9ucyBkcmFmdGVkIGxlYnJvbg%3D%3D
That’s like Spurs drafting Ausar Thompson 1st.
Ausar Thompson gonna be good.
It's the equivalent of the Wolves drafting Wiseman and Edwards falling to the Warriors.
I think the comparison is more about not drafting Wemby/LeBron than whether Thompson is going to be good or not. As in, even if you thought Darko was going to be really good, picking him over the once in a generation can't-miss guy would be absurd.
Also saying Ausar is going to be good is not a strong argument statement as the former two players.