26 June 2003: The 2003 NBA Draft
In the NBA finals, the Toronto Raptors where finally able to break through, beating the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA finals 4-1, with Tracey Mcgready winning finals MVP. Their where signs of trouble in Tinseltown with Shaq and Kobe getting bounced in the conference semis by the eventual conference champs, however its expected they will hang onto O Neal for one more season. The Pistons were able to make the Conference Finals in the east, however lost 4-2 with the Spurs beating out the Supersonics 4-1 in the western conference finals. The Grizzlies had a horror year, with Yao Ming sitting the year to work through and rehabilitate any injuries (a decision he later said 'saved his career') With Pau Gasol also injured for much of the year.
In the NBA draft, the Clippers won the first draft pick, however the meeting between Donald Sterling and Lebron James and his team did not go well at all, with it believed that his team said that they would refuse to go to the Clippers, leading to one of the worst decisions ever made by an NBA team in the history of the draft (perhaps 2nd only to the 1984 draft). Milicic would become a seviceable centre (becoming a double/double defensive machine in his prime. winning 2 DPOY and making an all star appearance himself with his best figures of 13/15/4 in 2008), however many felt that the gap between him and the rest of the top 5, especially GOAT candidate Lebron James, was an unforgivable mistake and could be singled out as one of the major reasons why the franchise would be sold by Sterling and move to Vegas in 2009.
The Detroit Pistons had hit the jackpot, with the Knicks, Bulls and Mavericks also doing well in the draft. Picks 2-5 would become major players for their franchises, with 3/4 becoming lifetime players for their teams (except Carmelo Anthony, who would eventually request a trade and be traded away). Lebron James would become the focal piece, being surrounded by good, veteran leadership such as Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace as mentors along with coach Larry Brown, who he credits for helping him harness his natural talents and the reason he stayed in Detroit his entire career, wanting to help the future generations of Pistons players (alongside Okur, Battier, Delfino and Prince).
Melo (as he would be commonly referred to) would become the first hero and franchise player for a Knicks franchise that had gone into a sharp decline, with defensive anchor Marcus Camby and young forward Amare Stoudemire becoming key for the team and with the sale of the Knicks in 2006, would lead to a period of growth and stability for the team and relative success (with Melo establishing himself as one of the best scorers in the league).
The Mavericks have been forced to rebuild, despite Walker and Magloire having reasonably good seasons. Bosh however would bring in a new era, with all regrets they had with trading Nowitski quickly disappearing when Bosh stepped on the court and showed a lot of promise, especially after he would go onto become Dallas's most important player (with Cuban in a 2015 interview, calling Bosh the best player to ever put on a Mavericks jersey).
Dwayne Wade would go onto become an icon in Chicago, with the city still not having gotten over MJ fever, Wade allowed for a continuation of that, with the hometown boy considered amongst its favourite sons, with many in the city arguing that he was the best player in the league.
There would be many other notable players that would have great and long careers. Kaman would become an all star, having a long career himself and establishing himself in the top 10 centre's and even in his later years becoming a key bench player, West would become a key component to the Supersonics title run and win, Granger along with Bosh would help establish a monster duo in Dallas, with Mo Williams the fast scoring P.G to accompany them, Barbosa would eventually become the heats top scorer, averaging 12.6PPG and playing all 14 seasons of his NBA career with them, getting 12,000 career points for the franchise. with 3 seasons above 20PPG and 7 above 15PPG). Korver would be the sharpshooter that could come off the bench and quickly score for the lakers). Even Milicic, who is derided as a bust, became one of the best defensive Centre's and rebounders of the late 2000's and early 2010's to the L.A/L.V Clippers.
Overall the draft is considered as one of, if not the best draft of all time, producing 4 all nba first team players, 6 multiple time all stars and 12 all stars in total.
Bold = Multiple Time All Star
Underline = All Star
- L.A Clippers - Darko Milicic
- Detroit Pistons (From Vancouver) - Lebron James
- New York Knicks - Carmelo Anthony
- Dallas Mavericks - Chris Bosh
- Chicago Bulls - Dwayne Wade
- Milwaukee Bucks - Chris Kaman
- Cleveland Cavaliers - TJ Ford
- Milwaukee Bucks - Kirk Hinrich
- Denver Nuggets - Mickael Pietrus
- Golden State Warriors - Nick Collison
- Houston Rockets - Luke Ridnour
- Washington Wizards - Michael Sweetney
- Orlando Magic - Jarvis Hayes
- Boston Celtics - Marcus Banks
- Troy Bell (16th) - Boston Celtics (Traded to Minnesota)
- David West (19th) - Seattle Supersonics
- Boris Diaw (20th) - Atlanta Hawks
- Dahntay Jones (21st) - Indiana Pacers
- Travis Outlaw - (23rd) - Portland Trailblazers
- Kendrick Perkins (24th) - L.A Lakers
- Carlos Delfino (25th) - Sacramento Kings
- LeAndro Barbosa (28th) - San Anotnio Spurs (Traded to Miami)
- Danny Granger (29th) - Dallas Mavericks
- Josh Howard (31st) - L.A Clippers
- Luke Walton (32nd) - L.A Lakers
- Steve Blake (37th) - Milwaukee Bucks (Traded to Portland)
- Willie Green (41st) - Philadelphia 76ers
- Matt Bonner (44th) - San Antonio Spurs
- Mo Williams (47th) - Utah Jazz (Traded to Dallas)
- Kyle Korver (50th) - Philadelphia 76ers (Traded to L.A Lakers)
- Jose Calderon (52nd) - Toronto Raptors
