Carmelo Anthony is one of the greatest players in the NBA to never win a championship. Like his close friend LeBron James, Anthony was part of the historic 2003 NBA Draft class. Anthony was drafted 3rd overall by the Denver Nuggets after the Pistons passed up on Melo in favor of Darko Milicic.
The Pistons went on to win an NBA championship that same season, and Milicic became the first player from his class to win a title. But one can only wonder what things would have been like if the Pistons had selected Anthony instead of Milicic.
One person who has thought about that a lot is Melo himself. He spoke recently in an interview about how the Detroit Pistons had promised to select him 2nd overall but broke that promise to pick Milicic instead.
Anthony genuinely believes that if he was with the Detroit Pistons instead of Milicic, they would have won not only the 2003-04 NBA championship but also the one after that, going back-to-back.
Anthony isn’t wrong in his thinking. Milicic hardly featured in Detroit’s title run, yet they still managed to win the title that season. So having Anthony would have only made them strong.
And it appears one former Piston agrees. In a recent post by ClutchPoints on Instagram, Anthony’s quotes were put up for fans to see. In the comments, Rip Hamilton posted multiple championship emojis, showing his agreement with Melo. Clearly, Rip thinks that Melo would have made Detroit a superpower in the East.
Now, Anthony will focus on his upcoming season with the Los Angeles Lakers. He signed a minimum contract with the Lakers in order to play with his close friend LeBron James.
The Lakers are favorites to win the NBA championship. And if Melo can turn back the clock and show glimpses of his former self, they have a better chance than most teams to win the title.
