Darko or melo 2003 nbadraft.net article

A hot topic at the moment is just how much Carmelo Anthony improved his stock with Syracuse’s run to the National Championship. Surprisingly, it’s possible it hasn’t improved his draft position at all. While NBA scouts believe he’s solidified a spot within the top 3 picks of the draft, he probably had the 3 spot locked up before the tournament even began. And he still may be keyed in at the 3 spot.

Carmelo’s talent and leadership were key to Syracuse winning the championship. However, the Orangemen clearly weren’t a one man team to the extent that Kansas was in 1988 with Danny Manning. Anthony joins the Jordans, Magics and Isiahs as players who won a championship on the collegiate level. Although, as Shaq and Kobe have proven, it is possible to win NBA championships without having won in college, and in Kobe’s case without having even gone to college.

LeBron is for many reasons the obvious and definite number one pick in the draft. He will not get bumped out of the top spot. It just wont happen. From an economic stand point alone drafting Lebron will increase a franchise’s value by roughly 40-50 million. The gate and team merchandise revenue can be expected to increase astronomically. The same cannot be said for Carmelo Anthony and especially Darko Milicic.

One GM among a bottom 8 team has said that they will take Anthony if they f are to land the top pick. Whether or not they will follow through with this statement should they win the top pick in the lottery is another story. It’s very difficult to see that happening.

Should the Wizards somehow win the lottery and end up with the top pick, not even Michael Jordan who has made statements along the lines of Anthony being worthy of the first pick, would be able to pass up LeBron. The only legitimate argument for not taking LeBron #1 is a team thinking that he wouldn’t resign where a Darko or Melo would. But how can that be legitimately gauged?

So the question then becomes who will be the second pick.

Syracuse has just one player currently in the NBA, Derrick Coleman, and a number of former players who never lived up to expectations. Billy Owens, Rony Seikaly, and Pearl Washington to name a few. So following the Duke theory, there’s no way that Carmelo Anthony can ever break through and be a star NBA player because no player from Syracuse has ever done it before. This line of thinking is just ridiculous. Jim Boeheim is a wonderful coach, and has prepared Melo for the NBA as much as any coach possibly could have. Melo will obviously be a very good NBA player. Does he have the athleticism to be a top 10 talent? Maybe.

Carmelo is as NBA ready as any player in college basketball, and will likely have a bigger impact immediately than Darko Milicic. He also would have bigger fan appeal in the short run. He has a household name after Syracuse’s Championship run, and though he’s clearly not on the level with LeBron in marketability, he has a decided edge over Milicic in this department.

So has Carmelo really passed up Darko on some teams draft lists? Depends who you ask. Right now, Syracuse championship run is fresh in everyone’s minds. Come draft time, a players potential will start to weigh more heavily than their past accomplishments. Darko has a higher ceiling than Melo. With his size and versatility, he has the potential to become similar to his idol Kevin Garnett.

Even if a team needs a wing player more so than a post player, it’s hard to see a team passing on Milicic. Darko is a “once-in-a-GM’s-lifetime”, or better yet “…GM’s-tenure” type talent. Since teams began scouting players overseas, not one prospect of Darko’s caliber has come along. He is a proven entity having competed against even better competition than either James or Anthony. He has essentially been a professional for over 2 years now after joining Hemofarm at age 15. There are some who suggest he’s older than his records suggest 17, which most likely is not the case. Regardless, he will be one of the best players in all of the NBA in a few years.