NBA DRAFT No surprise: Pistons pick Darko

Milicic became the highest-drafted European player in draft history.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
Wednesday night at the Manhattan penthouse apartment of his representatives, Marc and Natasha Cornstein, Darko Milicic stretched across a chair.
Natasha rubbed his head.
"First I'm tired, next I'm excited," Milicic said. "Joe Dumars is great, I can't wait to play for his team."
Eighteen hours later, it was official. The Pistons, beneficiaries of a bad trade by Vancouver for Otis Thorpe in 1997, had their 7-foot-1, 253-pound 18-year-old center-forward.
Milicic became the highest-drafted European player when the Pistons took him at No. 2 Thursday night.
Milicic, a left-hander, comes to the Pistons after 38 games as a professional and 10 more in the North European Basketball League.
Adjusting
With his English on national debut, Milicic struggled with the questions Michele Tafoya asked him on the ESPN broadcast.
"I've been to Detroit twice," Milcic said. "It's a nice area, but I haven't been downtown yet."
Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said Milicic's strengths are his quickness, shooting ability and size.
"Obviously he has to get used to get experience and playing against superior NBA players," Dumars said. "We think he has a chance to be special."
The scouting report on Milicic indicates he has 3-point range, but often didn't take the shot for his former team, KK Hemofarm in Vrsac, Serbia-Montenegro, because of his coaches' wishes.
Milicic is considered one of the game's most skilled European players.
Unlike James or Carmelo Anthony, who was selected third by the Denver Nuggets, he won't have to carry the load.
The 50-win Pistons return plenty of veterans next season.
Other picks
The Toronto Raptors, after listening to trade offers throughout the day, used the No. 4 pick on 6-foot-11 freshman forward Chris Bosh of Georgia Tech.
"Being picked so high is a definite honor. You always hope," Bosh said. "I'm happy it's over."
Miami then went for Marquette junior guard Dwyane Wade.
The night's first of seven trades had Memphis sending the rights to the 13th pick, Marcus Banks of UNLV, and the 27th pick (Kendrick Perkins of Beaumont, Tex.) to the Boston Celtics for the rights to picks 16 (Troy Bell of Boston College) and 20 (Dahntay Jones of Duke).
"We got two players from an athletic standpoint who were at the top of the list of all the players in the draft," Grizzlies president Jerry West said.
"We are very excited about what we did."
San Antonio later traded the 28th pick, Brazilian point guard Leandro Barbosa, to Phoenix for a future first-round pick.
There were five deals involving second round picks.
Central Michigan center Chris Kaman, a 7-footer who averaged 22.4 points last season as a junior, went sixth to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Playmakers
Two teams with point guard problems snatched the two top-rated playmakers next.
Kirk Hinrich of Kansas was the first college senior to be selected, going seventh to Chicago. The Bulls will likely be without Jay Williams, the second overall pick of last year's draft, for at least a year after he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident last weekend.
T.J. Ford of Texas, winner of the Naismith and Wooden awards, went at No. 8 to the Milwaukee Bucks -- a possible sign that the franchise expects point guard Gary Payton to leave as a free agent over the summer.
"Sam Cassell is a great player I followed throughout my life. If they re-sign Gary Payton, then I'll be learning from two of the best in the NBA," Ford said.
Notable second-round selections included Arizona's Luke Walton, the son of Bill Walton, going 32nd to the Lakers, Greek teenager Sofoklis Schortsinitis going 34th to the Clippers and Washington taking Maryland guard Steve Blake 38th. China's Xue Yuyang went to Dallas on behalf of Denver with the next-to-last pick.