In the NBA, so much is decided by a ping-pong ball.  Teams receive their savior while others find their demise.  Like hollow balls of hope, each year they determine the NBA draft order.  It’s amazing how many stories start with the plucking of the right ball.

This is one of them.   

In 2003 at Madison Square Garden, Gordon Gund, then the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, had just been told his team would be given the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.  The ensuing months would later be considered to have decided the landscape of the NBA for years.

Although this draft class was stacked with talent, Gund took no time to announce that the Cavs would select high school phenomenon, Lebron James.  James was referred to as the game’s next dominating player, but there were those who questioned whether or not Cleveland would be better off with one of the better college players available like Carmelo Anthony, who was fresh off a national championship run with Syracuse. 

Picking second were the Detroit Pistons, who had acquired the pick from the Grizzlies.  Not yet at the championship form with which we now associate them, the Pistons were thought to be one piece away from contending. 

The one piece that Detroit GM Joe Dumars selected was a seven footer from Serbia named Darko Milicic.  Seen as a very long big man who had the versatility to play facing the basket, Darko was perceived to be an important part of Detroit’s future.

Next up were the Denver Nuggets, who opted to pick the small forward from Syracuse, Carmelo Anthony.  Anthony was a proven player whose heroics in the 2003 NCAA Tournament justified his high draft status.  A product of the Oak Hill Academy basketball factory, ‘Melo averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds in his only year as an Orangeman. 

Come draft day that was exactly how it played out.  King James went to rule in Cleveland, Darko headed off to Motown, and Carmelo underwent an altitude adjustment.  It was the following years that showed how those three picks affected more than the teams involved.

Lebron quickly showed that he was going to live up to the hype.  Averaging 20 points and 6 assists in his rookie campaign, James led the new-look Cavs to 35 wins.  Carmelo followed suit, averaging 21 points and 6 boards as the Nuggets made the post-season for the first time since 1995.  Fans across the country were now looking ahead to the rivalry of James and Anthony.  Many touted it as the second coming of Magic and Bird.

However there was one man that seemed to be caught in the middle: Darko.  Detroit was in a bit of a conundrum.  The team was successful, they went on to win 54 games and a championship, but their player of the future, Darko, never so much as sniffed significant minutes.

Many contributed this to the veteran-minded coaching of Larry Brown.  Others blamed it on the learning curve presented by the challenge of adjusting from the international to the NBA game.  Still others claimed that the young Serbian just plain sucked. 

Ever since that season the media and fans alike have been playing a never-ending game of “What If?” 

What if they had picked up Carmelo?  What if the Pistons picked Dwayne Wade, who was taken fourth by the Heat, instead of Milicic?  What if they had taken the big man from Georgia Tech who was taken fifth by Toronto, Chris Bosh?  In hindsight, it would have been better to take Kirk Heinrich (seventh), T.J. Ford (eighth), Josh Howard (twenty-ninth), or even Kyle Korver (fifty-first).  All of these players have put forth meaningful contributions to their teams while Darko, who only played when the Pistons held an insurmountable lead, earned the nickname “The Human Victory Cigar.”

ANY of those players would have bolstered the depth of this year’s Pistons club, a team that is one injury away from plummeting in the standings this year. 

Following the championship in 2004, many of Detroit’s role players jumped ship.  Mehmet Okur signed with Utah, Corliss Williamson joined up with the 76ers, and Mike James went to Milwaukee.  Even with 3 players who averaged a combined 40 minutes per game out of the lineup, Darko still only averaged a measly 7 minutes per game.

In ‘06 Darko was given a fresh start under new coach Flip Saunders but still only played sparingly.  It was official.  Darko was a bust. 

Remember how I said that those three picks affected more than just the teams that made them?  The shockwaves caused by the mere existence of the Darko Experiment completely changed the hierarchy of the NBA. 

Imagine Carmelo in a Pistons jersey.  The long term balance of power would be firmly sitting in the East while Darko sat in the West.  Lebron and Carmelo would have the opportunity to face each other in the playoffs without having to get to the finals.  The aura surrounding these two athletes would launch the game into a new era.

Now think if Dwayne Wade had landed somewhere other than Miami.  Would the Heat have made a move on Shaq if they didn’t have the Flash to his Superman?  Would someone like Darko or even Bosh flourish in the same way Wade has?  Would Pat Riley be so eager to coach a team without Wade or O’Neal?

Digging a little deeper, what if Cleveland didn’t even get the first pick?  Due to terms drawn up in the trade where Detroit received the pick from Memphis, if the Grizzlies got the number one pick then they got to keep it.  What if Lebron was playing in Tennessee?  Would the Cavs have jumped on the Serbian Surprise and cemented their mediocrity for a few more years?  Would they have traded Zydrunas Ilgauskas upon drafting Darko?  Where would he have gone?

A thousand questions and not an answer to be found...all because of a ping-pong ball.  

Jess Mosser is a journalism major at Ohio University who also writes for the Ohio University Post. He can be reached at jesse.mosser@atomicsportsmedia.com