The draft is a game and a gamble. You played all the roles, but it was hard to see the success or failure of the draft at that time. The 2003 draft is such a complicated draft.
Recently, Wade and Anthony, two "high flyers" in 2003, played a good joke on milicic, who ranked second in the same session. Anthony even said he didn't remember who Milicic was, which provoked Milicic to refute. Anthony certainly won't be so forgetful. What bothers him is that the pistons didn't choose him. Otherwise, according to him, "I have won the championship two or three times."
Looking back today, it is generally believed in the industry that Anthony and Pistons are a perfect match, and Anthony's singles can enrich the offensive routines of Pistons and Five Tigers. Anthony can be influenced by the famous coach Larry Brown's "reasonable basketball" and will not take detours in his future career; And Anthony's underworld background naturally conforms to Detroit's temperament.
History can't repeat itself, but at least it can clear the clouds and clarify the context. Back in 2003, it was not unreasonable for the Pistons to choose milicic. To people's surprise, milicic, together with James and Anthony, was regarded as the top three rookie in 2003, and was also expected to change a team with one hand.
Vandewich, a famous NBA player, was then the general manager of Nuggets. In an interview, he bluntly said that the rookie in 2003 was considered to have three "favored sons", besides James and Anthony, there was also milicic. After the draft order was issued in 2003, Vandewich, who got the lottery ticket, set his eyes on Anthony, because he knew that the Cavaliers would not let James go, and the Pistons had already taken a fancy to milicic.
In fact, in addition to the Cavaliers, Pistons was also considered as the winner of the 2003 lottery. Pistons, who also reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2002-03, sent otis thorpe to Grizzlies six years ago in exchange for the first round signing in 2003, but unexpectedly implemented it in the second place. Surprisingly, Anthony didn't get the attention of Pistons, and Du Masi, then the president of Pistons, always had a soft spot for milicic.
According to milicic's agent Marc cowans, they met Pistons in new york before the draft. At the end of May 2003, milicic rented the gymnasium of St. John's University in Queens, new york, to prepare for the draft. At that time, the Pistons came to New Jersey to play the Eastern Conference Finals series with the Nets.
According to Chad Ford, a well-known draft expert, he found Du Masi when Pistons were about to shoot, and revealed to him that he was watching milicic who was also practicing shooting in another court. Du Masi just asked him what he thought of "this Serb". Cowans Tan also confirmed that the Pistons coaching staff was even attracted to milicic.
As can be seen from the video that flowed out at that time, Du Masi was interviewed by the famous journalist Mark Spears before the draft. Although Du Masi was still a bureaucrat at that time, claiming that milicic or Anthony were good to Pistons, Spears could see at a glance that Du Masi was leaning towards milicic. When he exposed Du Masi's "trick" to his face, Du Masi also smiled.
Cowans Tan also confirmed that they arranged a trial for milicic immediately after the Pistons game that night. At that time, he understood the idea of the piston executives and thought that milicic's trip to Motown was a foregone conclusion.
In this way, the top three teams happily welcomed the three most promising rookies home that year. However, the reason why 2003 is a big draft year means that there are still many good seeds to choose from, and the process of the Heat choosing Wade is also thrilling.
In fact, the Heat, who had the fifth overall pick at that time, preferred the center, so they arranged a trial for chris kaman. Coincidentally, when the Heat came to the trial training venue, they found that rookie training was still going on here. After watching it for a while, someone in the hot array couldn't help asking, "Who is this kid?" The answer is Wade.
Suddenly, the eyes of the Heat uniform team focused on Wade, unaware of the purpose of this trip. Five days later, the Heat arranged a trial for Wade.
Henry thomas, then Wade's agent, revealed that Wade's technology still had obvious defects. To this end, he even listed 22 projects that Wade needs to improve in the future, which can be called Wade's "22 catching up". Wade recalled the past and said that he was very nervous during the Heat's trial training. After the trial, he took a long breath and thought he had done everything he could. But one week before the draft, Wade lost again and began to feel that he had not done enough in the trial.
The heat is also indecisive. On the day of the draft, after the Raptors selected Bosh in the fourth overall pick, did the Heat have to choose Kaman conservatively or take risks for Wade?
This makes Riley, a "god operator" who is used to big waves, fall into a dilemma. Riley had a brainwave and called Tim Grover, Jordan and Kobe's former personal trainer, because he had trained Kaman and Wade.
After the phone was connected, Riley asked straight away, "You trained Kaman and Wade. Which of them has the potential to become a super giant? " Glover said it was Wade. Reluctantly, Riley asked, "Do you know that we should choose the big one?" Glover replied, "I know, but you ask me which one of them can become a super giant!" " "
In this way, david stern announced that the Heat had selected Wade in the fifth overall pick, and Wade at the scene was relieved. Wade later admitted that you could be selected at any time in the draft, and he knew it was his turn. If he did it again, he would rather be selected by the Heat in the fifth place. He felt that the Heat was his destination.
Finally, Ford summed up the 2003 draft in one sentence: "I have never seen such an exciting draft since."