Rumors

Michael Grange: Raptors had a light practice today, but Gradey Dick (calf) was a full participant. Rajakovic hopes he will play this week. He said Quickley (elbow) is still limited in the use of his (left) elbow, which suggests he's still some time away. Brown and Olynyk reconditioning still.

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Still, that 2003-04 Pistons team was one of the most motivational stories to ever grace the NBA hardwood, and recently, a key member of that team, forward Tayshaun Prince, revealed why he himself may have been a reason the team opted not to select Anthony, via The Knuckleheads Podcast. “I think how management looked at it was like they found their future small forward in me, let’s take a chance on Darko because remember (Mehmet) Okur, who we had, who was super talented, there was a chance we were going to lose him in free agency, which we did,” said Prince. “Then obviously (Rasheed Wallace), so it was like however they want to call it, we’ll take a chance on Darko.”

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NBA Central: Chauncey Billups says the Pistons would have run LeBron out of Cleveland had Detroit drafted Carmelo Anthony. “We win at least 3 chips.” 👀 (🎥 @7PMinBrooklyn ) pic.twitter.com/alU08AUOsG

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“I heard he was after me, but I didn’t see him; I have no idea. If he wanted, he would’ve seen me, he would’ve found me, he knew where I was. Those are their gangster stories, you know, like: ‘I was looking for him to show him.’ What do you want to show me? I heard his emotions got the better of him; he needs to calm down pronto,” Milicic concluded.

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It didn’t take long for the former Serbian player to respond. “He’s still whining about something to this day… What are you whining about? You’re third! What do you want? Are you crazy? Maybe if I were third, I’d still be playing, and he’d be picking apples,” Milicic said on the Jao Mile podcast to another former Serbian NBA player, Mile Ilic.

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Melo recently spoke about going after Darko and ending up with the Denver Nuggets instead of joining the championship-caliber Pistons, admitting he wanted to confront Milicic and prove Detroit wrong. “I heard stories about Darko and the Detroit Pistons, and I immediately got ready to head there. I had to find out where he trained to track him down. Where are they hiding him? I wondered. I went to every gym to find him. Yes, that’s a true story. I wanted to find him, beat him one-on-one, and show that I should have been the first pick for the Detroit Pistons,” Anthony said, speaking on Dwayne Wade’s podcast.

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Despite being guaranteed to be drafted second overall, Milicic still wasn't sure he would be picked by Detroit at no. 2. "We were in the VIP section, and I just didn't care, you know, he's really going to call me, you know, because I really couldn't believe that he would guarantee me the second pick. How to say, I wasn't me for a single moment. Looking back, I really had traits to become something in that territory," he said. "When I went there, I was full of confidence. I mean, I saw that they were really good guys. Obviously, I saw where they came from and what they did, they were good. I was full of confidence. I had no problem playing with anybody. However, only now when I look back, I switched off at one point, I literally switched off," Milicic recalled. "I don't know in what period it happened exactly, but I just switched off."

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"I only did one martyrdom in Detroit, and I suffered. I couldn't breathe, it was chaos. Because of the guarantees, they say, 'You go enjoy it'. And I really enjoyed it, I really enjoyed it. I took it full throttle," he said in the Jao Mile podcast. "I remember that workout, they carried me, they carried me. I couldn't breathe after dribbling through two half-courts. I'm still there, and I'm going down," Milicic said. "And they're beating me with those training pads. Brother, I wanted to stab him. 'Don't do it, brother, when I'm suffering like this.' And there was a little helper who was just waiting for you under the basket. Then they buried you with those pads. And I said, 'Look at this lunatic.' 'Don't do it, man, let me go.' I was struggling with myself like this, my soul was in the nose."

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"I thought, 'Look, these guys, no, they won't take me, they won't draft me.' After the practice, they say, 'You've got guarantees.' 'For what, brother?' 'You're the second pick,' he says (club representative). Those [second picks] are legends, those are the kings. I thought they wouldn't even draft me, not that they would give me a guarantee," the former 2nd overall pick said. "I shouldn't have been placed there, but I was fine where I was, and that's it."

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Nonetheless, the focus today lies on the lingering resentment that Anthony seemingly harbors toward the former No. 2 pick for being selected ahead of him. Milicic, in his typical no-nonsense fashion, recently responded to this ongoing saga. "He's still whining about it to this today. You were third; what do you want? Are you crazy? Why are you whining?” Darko exclaimed in the latest episode of ‘Jao Mile Podcast.’ “If I were third, maybe I would still be playing, and he'd be picking apples. Be quiet, brother, everything is fine…”

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Darko Milicic's career trajectory was defined by an excessive abuse of his own potential. After spending nine years in the top league, the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft ended up being almost an outcast and deemed unemployable since he was almost impossible to work with. "I was European and I thought I was godsend," he had explained in an interview with the Serbian newspaper Blic. "So I got into fights, got drunk before practice, spit on people but I actually spit on myself. My goal was not to please others but my ego," he confessed.

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The retired player looked back on his past decisions and mindset, admitting that the main reason his career went south was his inability to take advice. "There are people in life who will give you a chance," he said. "There are those who like you and those who don't like you. There are coaches who will play you, and those who think you're a disposable player. I found a road of dirt in front of me. The main problem while I was in the U.S. was that I was trying to find the f---- reason I couldn't succeed. I wasn't looking in the mirror but at the people around me, thinking they wanted to hurt me.”

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Milicic conceded he wasn't mentally ready for the NBA at the age of 18, when he was drafted by the Pistons. "The NBA is a big step and in my head, I was still a kid. I tried to take on everybody, I thought I was the smartest and the most talented, and I tried to be that player who couldn't fail," he remembered.

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Miličić is certain Jokić often gets targeted by opposing players due to his dominance and ability to bully opponents on the court, especially coming from a foreign country: “What else could Nikola expect when he comes to America, which has hundreds of millions, from a small country that does not have even six million people? He comes, dominates, and bullies them in basketball, becomes the best in the world? Similar to Novak in tennis… Of course, you will bother some people, and you will be their target," Miličić said via Mozzart Sport.

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