Yeah, what if, huh?
Welp, the answer to that question reveals a lot about the nature of basketball as a team sport. There are many ways to approach the question and many places to go, but we can start by simply just answering the question.
In 2003, if the Pistons draft Carmelo Anthony, then, well, he would be playing a roster that has:
- Chauncey Billups
- Rip Hamilton
- Tayshaun Prince
- Ben Wallace
- Rasheed Wallace
Now keep in mind, this team won the NBA Finals in the 2003-2004 season. (Hold that L, Lakers)
This is significant, because, well, this Pistons team would go onto make 4 more conference finals – all consecutively, thanks to the amazing defense of the combined efforts of all 5 players mentioned above. The Pistons made the finals the year after and lost to San Antonio in 7 games.
Darko Miličić, as seen on the left, was who the Pistons drafted instead, and as we all know, he was not successful. The interesting thing is that Carmelo Anthony on the other hand had a wildly successful rookie season in Denver, leading the team to the playoffs while averaging 21/6/3. (Points, Rebounds, Assists).
Carmelo’s best attribute is as a scorer. It’s his only attribute really. He can’t defend. He doesn’t move off-ball. He can’t pass. He can’t defend! He couldn’t defend himself in an argument against a toddler. (Not really the best joke but oh well.)
But guess what? In the Pistons, Carmelo’s awful defense wouldn’t matter. It would be masked by 4× NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, and by Tayshaun Prince, and by Rasheed Wallace – a stretch four ahead of his time with solid defense and edge. And Richard Hamilton. And Chauncey Billups.
Chauncey Billups played with Carmelo in Denver – which ended up being the most successful season of Carmelo’s career, success-wise, in regards to success, successfully. The Nuggets made the Western Finals, losing in 6 to the eventual champions Los Angeles Clippers Lakers. Carmelo averaged 23 and 7, Billups 17 and 7 (assists). Billup’s playstyle suited Carmelo’s as Carmelo is an isolation scorer, while Billups is more of a traditional point guard. This pair could have seen great success in Detroit with Rip, Prince, and both Wallaces.
Given how that pair led Denver to the Conference finals in 09, I don’t think it’s a stretch to claim that Carmelo’s scoring could have given Detroit the extra boost they needed after 2004, such as in the 2005 Finals, and the other conference finals they lost in.
And the best part? Think of how much this would have changed Carmelo Anthony’s legacy.
Instead of being that isolation scorer that we make fun of for being inefficient and for having poor defense and for not being a good passer and for being a detriment to a team’s offense (seriously, what is he good at?) and for having an affinity for Cheerios, the truth is this: if Carmelo played for the Pistons, none of this matters. Why?
Because he would have Rangz (Translator’s note: Rangz means Rings), and the Pistons would have masked his defensive and synergistic deficiencies. And that alone makes a huge difference in the narrative of Carmelo Anthony.
Let’s say the Pistons draft him. Well, they obviously still beat the Lakers (Hah!). As mentioned earlier, that same season – Carmelo’s rookie year – he averaged 21 points. Now, the big argument is that Carmelo’s playstyle wouldn’t fit well with the Pistons. Well, the thing to realize is that that isn’t necessarily true. In the 2001 season, Jerry Stackhouse averaged 30 points with the Pistons and they failed to make the playoffs.
But the next season, his field goal attempts per game lowered from 24 to 17 to help facilitate better ball movement – and the Pistons won 50 games and made the Eastern Semi-finals. Keep in mind, that team was lacking Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups. Also keep in mind that in Carmelo’s rookie season, he had just 17 field goal attempts per game, and had better efficiency than Stackhouse did with the same field goal attempts. And keep in mind that in the next four years, Carmelo’s efficiency hit an upward trend, despite his field goal attempt increase.
So given this information, plus the added knowledge of his general success with Chauncey in Denver, I think it’s safe to say that that pair + Rasheed Wallace, and either one of Rip Hamilton + Tayshaun Prince (possibly both) would have functioned quite fine.
Not to mention, playing with Billups, Tayshaun Prince, and both Wallaces would have been a very positive influence on Carmelo, both teamwork wise, and in terms of his personality. It could have also helped developed his defensive tendencies. Playing with Allen Iverson was probably not good for Carmelo long term, as he may have been seduced by Iverson’s iso-ball playstyle, along with his piercing, beautiful smile.
So to continue, they definitely win in 2004 against the Lakers, and they probably win against the Spurs in 2005, as they managed to push the series to seven games, without having a great scorer like Carmelo. So that’s 2 rings right there for Carmelo.
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Keep in mind that because fans – in general – tend to acknowledge scorers – especially iso-scores – more than defenders. So given how Carmelo would clearly be the main scorer on the Detroit team (assuming he gets adequate minutes in his rookie season) going forward, it would essentially be “his” team, and he would get most of the credit and attention for their success, since, after all, even nowadays, we consider those Pistons teams to be “scrappy” and rugged.
Following this, against both the Heat and the Cavs in 2006 and 2007, Carmelo Anthony could been that “takeover” player they needed – as, again, the Pistons defensive prowess would have helped preserve Carmelo’s expenditure on that end of the floor. This would allow him to rest on defense – especially against the Cavs and Heat, who each only had one backcourt player (Lebron and Wade) that were real threats – threats that could be guarded by the likes of Prince or Hamilton (depending on which one stays). This rest would preserve Carmelo’s energy, allowing him to score well into the fourth quarter.
There’s a chance they beat the Mavericks in the finals, as Ben and Rasheed Wallace would contain Dirk. They could also beat the Spurs – nearly all their games against the Cavs were low-scoring, single-digit deficit affairs. And considering that James was the only good scorer on the Cavs team – and even then, not as strong a perimeter scorer as Carmelo was at that time – it’s reasonable to argue that the Pistons would have matched up better against Spurs that year. Tim Duncan averaged only a solid 20 and 11 against Rasheed that regular season, so forcing the Spurs to kill them with Tim Duncan isn’t a bad strategy.
And even though the Big 3 Celtics were a great team in 08, they got pushed to 6 games by this last great Pistons team. In game 6 in particular, they were up 70-60 entering the fourth quarter, and struggled to seal the deal. This is where having a scorer like Carmelo – who averaged 26 and 7 on 50% shooting that year – could have helped.
And so on and so on. Given how weak the East, was, there’s a chance that this Carmelo led-Pistons retool to stay competitive, with their main rivals being the Heat. That’s where things get a little tricky.
But either way, assuming the Pistons get some 3 – maybe even 4 rings – this completely changes Carmelo’s legacy. Because as we mentioned, the average fan would have assumed that Carmelo “carried” Pistons teams, since, as mentioned before, we don’t tend to highlight players who have defense as their best attribute. People would liken Carmelo’s performance with the Pistons to that of Jordan’s Bulls or Isiah Thomas’s Pistons. This would also hurt Lebron, as Lebron’s Cavs were also very solid on the defensive end (as evidenced by those Spurs games were close). The narrative would be that Carmelo Anthony is “a winner” who “willed his team to victory” while Lebron didn’t.
And that perfectly encapsulates the issues with using rings as a primary definer for ranking players. Because Carmelo wouldn’t have been any different as a player or a person. Yet he would have multiple rings. All because he played for a different organization. It proves why Rings are such a faulty argument for ranking players. Because if a player is playing for the right organization, his flaws can be masked, and he can get rings. It’s like what the great philosopher Gilbert Arenas outlined:
Let’s get something straight; a championship ain’t got **** to do with how good you are. Your ring success is determined by the owner and your GM. Are they building for rings or are they building to just keep making the playoffs? The delusion that surrounds rings is unreal;
So that’s it. Carmelo Anthony is first-ballot hall of fame lock with multiple rings and a much higher ranking on most peoples’ all time lists if he plays for the Pistons. Lebron’s decision to go the Heat looks even worse in retrospect. And Durant’s decision also looks worse. But I digress.
