If this playoff series with the Nets has proven anything to Pistons management, it’s how much they needed the second pick in June’s draft to get out of the East next year. Pistons GM Joe Dumars is likely to take Yugoslavian 7-footer Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony.
For the Pistons, striking gold in the lottery was a happy diversion to the misery on the court as their season threatened to end last night in a four-game sweep at the Meadowlands. It was the best possible pick they could get since Memphis would’ve kept the pick if it was No. 1.
Naturally, for the players, it’s been a distraction, but Ben Wallace will one day realize how important Thursday night was when he gets a chance to play alongside Milicic, whose low-post and perimeter offense could be the perfect complement to Big Ben’s lunchpail game.
“It’s not my decision,” Wallace said about whether the Pistons should take Milicic or Carmelo Anthony. “All I care about is whoever it is, they come here ready to work hard. If not, they’re going to sit down.”
Wallace, a bit agitated with all the fuss about the future, added, “All everybody wants to talk about is the lottery but we still got a game to play here. I guess it should be exciting we’ve got the second pick in the draft and everyone says there are three great players out there, but that’s later down the road,” Wallace said. “Let’s take care of right now.”
It’s just that right now looked so bleak entering Game 4 as the Pistons are trailing 3-0. The Pistons can’t stop the Nets’ fastbreak, can’t keep them off the boards and still can’t shoot.
After three games, the Nets outscored the Pistons 75-15 in transition points.
“It’s too late for us to change in midstream,” Chucky Atkins said. “We don’t have the team that runs up and down. We’re a halfcourt team and New Jersey has done a good job of getting out in the fastbreak and making easy baskets. They’ve outhustled us and taken us out of our sets.”
Nothing has gone right in the series. Tayshaun Prince has turned back to a regular-season frog, unable to rack up big inside baskets like he did in the first two rounds. Chauncey Billups is hampered by a sprained ankle and can’t keep up with Jason Kidd. Veterans Corliss Williamson and Clifford Robinson have come up small. Ben Wallace’s lack of an offensive game – and hideous free-throw shooting – is magnified now. Only Richard Hamilton has played well, averaging 23 points.
Even Hamilton seems looking toward next year, with the eye on the draft. “You’ve got to feel excited for this franchise,” Hamilton said. “You’ve got three great players at 1, 2 and 3, and we’ve got a chance at two of them. That’s got to make you feel good.”
Added Milicic’s agent, Marc Cornstein, “He just might be the final piece to the puzzle.”
