The NBA offseason has begun and the focus has quickly shifted to the teams planning for the upcoming draft which starts in 4 days. With Bronny James’ future being the highlight of this year’s draft, the Arenas Crew discussed a what-if draft scenario about his father. LeBron James was the #1 pick in the 2003 draft, but Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony were all among the top 5 picks.

Anthony was drafted #3 by the Denver Nuggets. Gilbert Arenas debated what would have happened if Anthony was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the 2003 draft and not by the Nuggets. Would he have overshadowed LeBron James?

Rashad McCants and Brandon Jennings discussed the What if scenario on Gil’s Arena YouTube channel. Detroit Pistons selected Darko Milicic as the second-overall pick and won the championship in his rookie year. Yet the Serbian played only 3 seasons with the Motor City.

Pistons at the time were a dominating team with a solid lineup. Gilbert Arenas said if Melo was to be drafted then, “He might be a winner but he’s not the MVP he’s not the scoring champ that we know.”

Larry Brown was the coach at the time and according to the crew, he did not prefer playing rookies. Gilbert Arenas spoke about how the Nuggets provided more opportunities for Anthony to progress since there were no options from the bench. “There was no subbing Melo out, so he gets to dominate and then got to create the offense for him,” said Arenas.

McCants argued and said that with Anthony’s skills, he would have got playing opportunities with any team, not just with the Nuggets. He believed if Anthony had won the championship in his first season, he could have dominated more in the NBA.

All through his career Melo wished for the ring and missed out. McCants debated that the former Nuggets legend could have even won more championships because of the dominance of the Pistons.

Gilbert Arenas countered McCants’ point by stressing that Anthony developed his skills because of the teams he played for. Thus even after winning the championships early, he wouldn’t necessarily have the scoring skills that propelled him to the NBA 75. Arenas further compared Carmelo Anthony to Kobe Bryant’s situation.

Gilbert Arenas thinks Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t have won MVPs with the Pistons

Gilbert Arenas said a rookie Melo’s responsibilities would have been completely different in the Pistons. Comparing it to Kobe Bryant’s situation, Arenas said even though Bryant won 3 championships, he was never the MVP in those games. It was Shaquille O’Neal who won the 3 back to back MVPs and even took credit for Kobe’s success.

Arenas reiterated the point by saying Kobe had to prove to the world that he was better by winning those MVPs later, but Anthony might not have been capable of winning MVPs if he had gone straight to the Pistons in the 2003 draft.

It was a heated debate with McCants and Jennings backing Melo’s abilities right from the start, while Gilbert Arenas was sure that going to the Pistons wouldn’t have helped Anthony achieve his current status in the NBA 75.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.