Had the Pistons drafted Carmelo Anthony with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, they wouldn’t have “ever won a championship,” according to Ben Wallace.
Melo would’ve disrupted Detroit’s locker room chemistry, says Wallace.
The Pistons won the 2004 championship after picking Darko Milicic.
Per NBC Sports (via 120 Watts The Podcast):
“If we would’ve drafted Carmelo, I honestly don’t think we would have ever won a championship,” Wallace said.
“Melo wanted to play right away. It would have had the potential to disrupt the team chemistry … By drafting Darko, he came in and said that he is not ready to play on this team. Who I am going to play in front of. I’m not ready, and by him doing that and accepting his role, it allowed us to build and grow and get stronger and eventually win a championship …
“If we drafted Carmelo, Tayshaun [Prince] wouldn’t blossom to be the type of a player that he way. We won that championship on the back of the best block I’ve ever seen in my life, and I blocked a lot of shots. That is the type of grit and grind that the team had.”
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