Absolutely. While the lottery fucked us out of LeBron (we had the same record as the Cavs), we were saved from ourselves by getting 3rd instead of 2nd.
ThePrideOfKrakow
Totally
ShowdownValue
Falling to 3 got us melo
Which eventually got us murray
Which helped us win a title
Mayhemsfaded
Yea that was absolutely the rumor at the time. Detroit saved us from ourselves and Carmelo on that Detroit team in 03 would have been fresh legs on a powerhouse
sacredknight327
I had always heard that yes, Vandeweghe wanted Milicic.
Toddsburner
Per Chad Ford, Melo was never on the Pistons board because of character concerns (particularly regarding his friends & associates) and their decision was between Milicic and Bosh. If this is true and they had went with Bosh, I’m not sure what the Nuggs front office would have done. Rumor is they loved Darko but Melo was fresh of an NCAA title and hugely popular.
I heard we loved Wade and supposedly would have taken him. I think we were quite burnt out on foreign players after Skita and Nene (no shame on Nene but he didn’t live up to his raw talent).
sneaks88
Most likely. I remember Mark Spears (who wrote for the post back then) saying that the nuggets really liked D Wade as well.
star_nerdy
Time for a ring ceremony, will everyone in the first row please stand up.
Not so fast Melo.
JerMAction
Yep. I was afraid they were going to anyway, even with Melo on the board.
buddybe1
I wonder how different LBJs career would be if the Nuggets ended up with the 1st pick and selected him
Account_Overdrawn
I was at a courtside game two years after they drafted Melo. back in the day if you had those seats they would invite a member from the front office come to the courtside lounge pregame and chat with all the rich folks.
We were not rich by any means but my mom was a huge nuggets fan and my dad spent all of our holiday money on one game for the family that year.
Anyway, our surprise guest was Kiki Vandeweghe the GM at the time. Folks asked him mostly if we were going to trade Nene for Michael Redd since we were stacked at PF with Kmart and had no shooting guard to speak of. Kiki said “conventional wisdom is you don’t trade a big for a little.”
Before his check in ended Someone asked him about the Melo draft, this very question. “If Detroit had taken Melo, were we going to draft Darko?”
Remember This is two years after the fact, by then we’d determined darko was a huge bust. Kiki to his credit was honest and said “yes, we had every intention of drafting him, and we’re prepared to do so. Detroit taking darko was as much of a shock to us as it was to everyone else.”
Sweet_Habib
DWade on the nuggets would’ve been excellent.
steve1186
Imagine that 2004 Pistons title team lineup with Melo alongside Chauncey, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and the two Wallace’s.
That team probably wins 3-4 titles in the mid-2000s. It is absolutely comical that they took Darko there over Melo/Bosh/Wade
17 Comments
Absolutely. While the lottery fucked us out of LeBron (we had the same record as the Cavs), we were saved from ourselves by getting 3rd instead of 2nd.
Totally
Falling to 3 got us melo
Which eventually got us murray
Which helped us win a title
Yea that was absolutely the rumor at the time. Detroit saved us from ourselves and Carmelo on that Detroit team in 03 would have been fresh legs on a powerhouse
I had always heard that yes, Vandeweghe wanted Milicic.
Per Chad Ford, Melo was never on the Pistons board because of character concerns (particularly regarding his friends & associates) and their decision was between Milicic and Bosh. If this is true and they had went with Bosh, I’m not sure what the Nuggs front office would have done. Rumor is they loved Darko but Melo was fresh of an NCAA title and hugely popular.
No chance
https://youtu.be/T5-UUp_H4cw?si=1tW6Mo6D-0182iwl
Tracks
I heard we loved Wade and supposedly would have taken him. I think we were quite burnt out on foreign players after Skita and Nene (no shame on Nene but he didn’t live up to his raw talent).
Most likely. I remember Mark Spears (who wrote for the post back then) saying that the nuggets really liked D Wade as well.
Time for a ring ceremony, will everyone in the first row please stand up.
Not so fast Melo.
Yep. I was afraid they were going to anyway, even with Melo on the board.
I wonder how different LBJs career would be if the Nuggets ended up with the 1st pick and selected him
I was at a courtside game two years after they drafted Melo. back in the day if you had those seats they would invite a member from the front office come to the courtside lounge pregame and chat with all the rich folks.
We were not rich by any means but my mom was a huge nuggets fan and my dad spent all of our holiday money on one game for the family that year.
Anyway, our surprise guest was Kiki Vandeweghe the GM at the time. Folks asked him mostly if we were going to trade Nene for Michael Redd since we were stacked at PF with Kmart and had no shooting guard to speak of. Kiki said “conventional wisdom is you don’t trade a big for a little.”
Before his check in ended Someone asked him about the Melo draft, this very question. “If Detroit had taken Melo, were we going to draft Darko?”
Remember This is two years after the fact, by then we’d determined darko was a huge bust. Kiki to his credit was honest and said “yes, we had every intention of drafting him, and we’re prepared to do so. Detroit taking darko was as much of a shock to us as it was to everyone else.”
DWade on the nuggets would’ve been excellent.
Imagine that 2004 Pistons title team lineup with Melo alongside Chauncey, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and the two Wallace’s.
That team probably wins 3-4 titles in the mid-2000s. It is absolutely comical that they took Darko there over Melo/Bosh/Wade
Probably