Syracuse, N.Y. -- Former Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown could have had a dynasty.

The legendary basketball coach joined SiriusXM radio on Thursday and said he thought his Pistons were going to draft former Syracuse basketball star Carmelo Anthony with the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

Instead, he got Darko Milicic – one of the NBA’s infamous busts.

“At the time I got the job, they told me they were gonna draft Carmelo,” Brown said.

Hall of Famer Larry Brown tells @TermineRadio & @Jumpshot8 he thought the Pistons were going in a different direction in the 2003 Draft when he was their Head Coach pic.twitter.com/P4nA4tVAQJ — SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 19, 2019

The Hall of Fame coach joined the Pistons in 2003 and won his first and only NBA Championship in the same season. With an incredible starting lineup of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace, the Pistons made it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals in seven straight seasons.

Despite a 50-32 record in 2002, Detroit had the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft after acquiring it in a trade that sent forward Otis Thorpe to the Memphis Grizzlies in 1997.

Brown says he was expecting to get Anthony after he signed on to coach the Pistons.

“What I had understood, we were going to draft Carmelo and then all of a sudden they decided on Darko," Brown said.

Brown says he wanted to bring in one of the other top prospects to play against Milicic, but it never happened.

“All I asked is why don’t you bring in Carmelo, or (Dwyane) Wade or (Chris) Bosh and let them workout against Darko?” Brown said. “Any smart agent is gonna say, ‘No, I’m not going to let my guy workout against somebody else.’”

He added that he had concerns about Milicic early.

“We brought Darko in twice and he couldn’t go through a workout with me without getting totally exhausted," Brown said.

Darko Milicic, of Serbia-Montenegro, the Detroit Pistons 1st Round draft choice, second overall, listens to a question during a news conference at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., Friday, June 27, 2003.ASSOCIATED PRESS

The 2003 NBA Draft is considered one of the deepest, most talented drafts in NBA history. Four of the top five picks – LeBron James, Anthony, Wade and Bosh – ended up as regular NBA All-Stars and Olympic Gold Medalists.

In addition to the superstars, Chris Kaman, David West, Kyle Korver, Josh Howard and Mo Williams all made at least one All-Star team.

Outside of No. 1 pick James, the Pistons could have selected any other player, but instead settled on Milicic, who never found a role with Detroit and was traded to the Orlando Magic in 2006.

Milicic spent time with six NBA teams over 14 NBA seasons, but averaged only 6.0 points and less than 20 minutes per game.

Brown wonders what that incredible Pistons run could have been like if they had chosen any of those superstars instead of Milicic.

“If you put any of those other guys on that team, gosh, I don’t know what would have happened,” Brown said. “That would have been amazing.”

MORE ORANGE BASKETBALL:

Ben Burrows is a sports reporter for syracuse.com/The Post-Standard. He can be reached via Twitter and email.

Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.