One of the NBA's most monumental what-if's is what would have happened if the Detroit Pistons selected Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko Milicic.

The Pistons went on to win the 2004 NBA Finals despite getting nothing from Milicic and had a streak of seven straight Eastern Conference Finals.

Anthony would have given the Pistons a longer window of contention and he has been at his best playing beside strong point guards and veteran leaders. Anthony eventually became teammates with Chauncey Billups as members of the Denver Nuggets.

"That's why I was a little bit disappointed," Anthony said, "because I really wanted to go to Detroit. You had Chauncey, you had all those guys over there...Detroit, they had something going over there."

Anthony would have been perfect for the Pistons as a truly great individual scorer to complement their defense.

"It would have been at a whole other level," LeBron James said of their rivalry.

"I was told that Detroit was going to take me," Anthony said. "Once Cleveland made the pick, I was like, 'Oh, I'm going to Detroit.'"

"That ball-stopping mentality that Carmelo has? He wouldn't have had that if he was a Piston," Billups said. "We wouldn't let him play like that. He would have been a much better player than he is now—and he's a great player now.

"This guy would have been," Billups said, pausing to chuckle for a moment, "he would have been an absolute icon, because winning takes you there."