Class of 2003
Man dude. Detroit would've been the Bulls of the 2000's after the Lakers dominated the beginning. Any combination, Wade? Carmelo? Bosh? Heck...would've been scary. Billups, RIP, Prince, Wallace, and Wallace. Add in one of those dudes...wow. And yeah. I still think Darko can be a solid starter...how old is the dude anyways? and what were his stats in euro? that made him seem so great
I just think its funny that Dumars has basically gotten a free pass for blowing arguably the best draft in NBA history. What makes it funny is all these Pistons fans are saying 'oh boy I sure hope we can get Bosh, Wade, Melo etc. in free agency' without any mention of the fact that these guys would be on their team already if Dumars hadnt completely dropped the ball.
This trade may have been good for detroit. Remember that those teams were based on the principles of defense and selflessness. No one was a superstar for them. With wade, melo, or bosh they might not have had the same attitude. The fact that those players all worked together so well was what made them so great, not having great talent. Maybe they would be a MULTIPLE ring team or maybe detroit should be thanking Darko for being terrible.
darko never got off the bench, he might have been a player had he been drafted by say toronto... he road pine because no rookie, let alone a euro rrookie, can play good defense... larry brown needed defense so darko could never get playing time.... i wonder if he was given 20 minutes no matter what his rookie year if he would ahve developed into say an 18 10 guy... he showed in stints he could rebound and blocks shots
He never had a chance. Had my Pistons drafted Melo, Wade, or Bosh, Miami, Cleveland or Boston wouldn't have made it past the Pistons and I would have four or five champion t-shirts instead of one. Despite this screwup by Dumars, I still believe in him, unless he finds a way to screw this draft up (i.e. drafting Mullens from Ohio State or Daye from Gonzaga)
I was just thinking about it one day in my class and I started to laugh to myself. Darko was the number 2 pick and a complete bust yet he was the first to get a ring on his finger. Only 3 of that class have a ring. Darko, Wade, and Perkins, but I just found it funny that Darko won a ring even though he didn't contribute to that already great team. I figure not many will comment on this, but still...OH and I was watching Classic today when they showed the Nets...man I wish my Rockets would've never traded RJ for Griffin. :( We'd have a dynasty. I think....