Chauncey Billups: LeBron Would've Left Cavs Earlier If Pistons Took Carmelo Anthony

Detroit Pistons legend Chauncey Billups believes the fortunes or more than one team would've been dramatically different if the Pistons had taken Carmelo Anthony second overall in 2003 instead of Darko Miličić.

Appearing on 7PM in Brooklyn, Billups contended that Detroit would've widened its championship window with Anthony on the roster. In turn, the Pistons could've fended off the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers for a little bit longer and potentially pushed LeBron out of Cleveland before his first exit in 2010:

Detroit selecting Anthony, a national champion as a true freshman at Syracuse, is one of the bigger what ifs in recent NBA history. He hit the ground running as a rookie, averaging 21.0 points and 6.1 rebounds, and was an All-Star by his fourth season with the Denver Nuggets.

Picking Miličić didn't preclude the Pistons from winning the 2004 NBA Finals, but that proved to be their zenith in the early-to-mid 2000s. They returned to the Finals in 2005 but then watched the rest of the Eastern Conference catch up to them in subsequent years.

Would the franchise's trajectory have changed with Anthony?

Perhaps but it's not as simple as slotting the 6'7" forward into Detroit's roster and basically carrying over everything he did in Denver.

For one, Anthony probably comes off the bench with Tayshaun Prince having established himself as the starting small forward as a rookie.

Head coach Larry Brown was also more inclined to lean on his experienced veterans over younger players given the Pistons' short-term ambitions. Of the top 10 players in total minutes from 2003-04, only two (Prince and Richard Hamilton) were younger than 25.

Anthony started all 82 games and logged 36.5 minutes per night as a rookie with the Nuggets and there's no way he would've been empowered to that degree in Detroit.

The biggest reason to question whether the Pistons could've had a true dynasty with Melo is the fact they didn't simply draft him. He said on All The Smoke in 2021 the organization promised him it would take him second overall before going in a different direction.

If the front office or coaching staff truly believed Anthony would've made an immediate impact on a championship contender, then he surely would've landed in the Motor City instead of Miličić, who was a more raw prospect and long-term project.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

For the Pistons, reaching back-to-back Finals and winning a title is a pretty good return even if there was potentially a better alternate reality.