2003 NBA Draft

I don’t know… Prince was VERY valuable. He was low maintenance, played great on/off ball D and made open shots. He could play/defend four positions. VERY underrated during that championship run.

That’s why I’d go with Wade and just bring Rip off of the bench. I think Wade has more of that Pistons mentality as well. And you have to remember… Wade wasn’t as ball dominant then as he is now.

I would take Darko Milicic over all of them!!!

woukd anyone have taken chris kaman? i wouldnt have knowing what i know now. but he would have been a local pick and a legit center.

For real though, i think its gotta be Carmelo. Although Prince is underrated, you can’t value him over Richard Hamilton so I would feel better getting Melo and benching Prince than getting Wade and benching RIP. Also, Wade wasn’t seen to be a prospect of LeBron and Carmelo’s level. For the first couple of years, it was LeBron vs Melo, not the LeBron vs Wade it is today

i take wade and that first year bring him off the bench as a combo guard. Remember he played pg his whole rookie year next to eddie jones in miami. He could have been their vinny johnson guy that season then the next year or two rip either comes off the bench or gets shipped out of town and you have wade leading the way.

Prince didn’t have a lot of NBA experience, but he’d spent four years at Kentucky and was NBA ready when he entered the league. His defense against high scoring wings and Kobe Bryant in the 2004 NBA Finals was invaluable. I STILL remember his block against Reggie Miller in the 2004 Conference Finals. You NEED a player like that in your starting lineup.

Wade played point his rookie season, but he’d always been a combo guard. He’d always had that ability to play both backcourt positions at an elite level. And Billups has never been a ball dominant point guard. He’s never had problems playing off of the ball. Wade would’ve been effective playing with either Billups or Hamilton.

Due to being able to play both backcourt spots, Wade still could’ve played 25-30 minutes per game even if he came off of the bench.

With Wade, Detroit would’ve been better off then AND heading into the future. Wade is a legit superstar and franchise player. I can’t say the same about Anthony.

if i remember correctly it was only lebron vs melo that first year. Wade was right in the mix and argued with both those guys the second season.

Other than their rookie years, Wade has been better than Melo. He’s been a better regular season and playoff performer.

There are different ways you could look at it. If you were going for best positional value you would go for Carmelo, if you were looking for the player with best talent you would go with Wade.

Are we talking in hindsight or as if it were 2003? Because anyone who says they would take Wade or Bosh over Melo in 2003 would have been crazy. At the time I even thought Wade was a reach even though now it’s so easy to say that they always knew Wade was a potential elite level player. I still stand by the fact that at the time the Pistons made an ok pick. Personally I would have taken Melo because of how hot he was coming off the national title and how skilled he was offensively, but you can’t fault them for making the Darko pick. You have to remember that they only had the 2nd pick from the Grizzlies, this was a team coming off an Eastern Conference finals apperance. They had their starting lineup set. For all intents and purposes Darko was supposed to be the next great Euro big man. You can’t discount the fact that this is a time in the NBA when everyone was going wild over getting the next Dirk. Darko was a guy they could stash on the bench and let him develop. Just like how people said the Wiz should have taken Gasol over Kwame. Yeah now we can say that but at the time it would have been crazy to do that.

Rasheed Wallace wasn’t on the Pistons roster when the 2003 draft was done so to consider who fitted in best with the team listed in the firsr post is false. Perhaps using hindsight then Melo may have been best with Prince moving over to PF alongside Big Ben or D-Wade with Hamiliton moving to SF. Bosh would also have been a seemless PF fit but team had Okur also in the roster then.

Wade. Wade played PG in his first season in Miami.

Billups was a FA 2 seasons later…coulda let him walk.

i agree wiht the people saying take wade and using him off the bench prince was the reason they ddint take melo and at the time hard to argue that point prince was an emerging star so why take a player at the same position

if the pistons would’ve drafted Bosh and he had a great rookie season then they probably wouldnt have traded for Sheed just throwing that out there

Wade wouldve made more sense. You let him develop coming off the bench similar to how rodney stuckey did while chauncey was there with richard hamilton and then when it came time to give rip his extension once he was past his prime, you offer him something and if he turns it down let him walk and let wade become the starter. With wade as the starter along with billups, rasheed, big ben, and tayshaun prince i think they wouldve still won the title in 04 and also in 05 against the spurs because i feel wade wouldve provided the youthful boost necessary to handle the tenacity of ginobli in that series. d wade has only been ball dominant these last few seasons because they havent had anyone else worth naming to do anything offensively. during that championship run he came off the ball as a slasher

Like someone said, I think D-Wade would have fit into that mentality of the Pistons back then, and he would have done well coming off the bench providing energy for a mature, but not old Pistons team. D-Wade has always played like he had something to prove since he’s been drafted. I think both of them would have fit, but Wade would have fit even better though. Too bad this didn’t happen. The Piston’s run they had would have been even more dominant with either of them. I think Carmelo would have benefited and matured faster with Larry Brown as a coach.