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Cleveland has Sigh Young. LeBron James, 18, the No. 1 pick, needed all of a few games to answer whatever doubters remained.

Denver has Carmelo Anthony, the No. 3 pick and likewise offering a coming attraction of the future.

Detroit, with the No. 2 pick, has ... um ... well ... patience. Hope. Expectations. Should Be instead of Already Is.

The Pistons make no apologies for drafting Darko Milicic. They have him on the slow track, so playing time had been nonexistent before an injury to Ben Wallace rushed Milicic into the rotation. They have enough depth among the bigs anyway, with Wallace, Elden Campbell and Mehmet Okur, with occasional appearances by Zeljko Rebraca and, while moving between both forward spots, Corliss Williamson.

They have Tayshaun Prince.

This is the critical part. The Pistons used the No. 2 pick in the draft on a project because they were convinced, just as they are now, that Milicic will be a star in time and that any criticism on the selection is short sighted. He is a 7-footer who is still growing, joltingly quick for his size, and has a nice shooting touch. It's just that he is the youngest player in the league, making the additional transition of living in the United States for the first time, and doesn't have nearly the conditioning to play more than three minutes in a row. Plus:

They have Tayshaun Prince.

Wallace is the rebounding and defensive demon -- still, don't miss the rising offensive production -- and Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton form the high-scoring backcourt, but Prince is the Piston with the most pressure. Among other things, he is starting for the first time, for an Eastern Conference contender that wants to win now, after averaging just 10.4 minutes last season. And, oh, there's that little matter about believing in him enough at small forward to pass on Anthony, the sure thing compared to Milicic.

"Oh, yeah," coach Larry Brown said, agreeing that Prince is the Piston out of the primary spotlight but at the same time under the microscope. "One, he's starting. Until the playoffs last year, he hardly played. And, two, a lot of people can say, 'Well, maybe they didn't take Carmelo because they had Tayshaun.' And he's starting on a team that won games last year as well. All of those things factor in. But he's been terrific."

Tayshaun vs. Carmelo (through Nov. 11)
Stats	Prince	Anthony
G-GS	7-7	8-8
MIN	36.3	36.0
PTS	10.4	18.0
REB	5.3	5.4
AST	2.3	2.5
STL	0.71	1.00
BLK	0.1	0.4
FG%	.426	.373
3P%	.588	.348
FT%	.625	.720

Unique circumstances have moved Prince from the category of developing player with promising future, as many are around the league, to hinge decision that greatly impacts the future in Detroit. Prince went from 42 games, 3.3 points and those 10.4 minutes in the regular season to 15 games, 9.4 points and 25.5 minutes in the playoffs in a well-timed breakout that left the right impression heading into summer vacation. The Pistons reached the conference finals and still got the No. 2 pick from a previous trade with the then-Vancouver Grizzlies.

The fates were aligned. Only problem was, Detroit finished 26th in the league in 2002-03 in scoring and 24th in shooting. It needed offense. Carmelo Anthony is offense.

Typical Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations and gambler. He owes us all an apology for faking everyone out during his playing days, coming across as being stable and low key -- the calm one amid the Bad Boys' craziness. Yeah, right.

Turns out now that Joe D is all bold. Winning 50 games and the Midwest title and then trading Jerry Stackhouse for Hamilton. Winning another 50 games and another division crown and then firing the coach, Rick Carlisle. Drafting Milicic over Anthony in the aftermath of a regular season in which the Pistons averaged 91.4 points and broke 90 in the playoffs four times.

It was that the Pistons looked at the long term, prepared for the barrage of spit balls that would come if Anthony got off to a good start and picked Milicic without denying he could be a long time in coming. In another way, though, it was that the Pistons believed in Prince, especially after the coming attraction of the 2003 playoffs.

Paying back the confidence will take time. Prince, for all the expectations, is still only a couple of weeks into his second season, but at least there have been encouraging early signs. He opened by making six of nine shots in the opener, then went 3-of-12 the next game. He had 15 points as a key to the win over Milwaukee, then followed that up with two points, while missing seven of eight attempts, against the Nets.

"In my 16 years of basketball, I haven't faced any pressure. I don't look at it as pressure," Prince said. "Obviously there were expectations in college and obviously here, but that's not in my repertoire. I just go out there and play my style of game and play the way I'm capable of playing."

Without, apparently, worrying about the comparisons.

"I haven't heard it as far as fans or anything like that," Prince said. "The media brings the question up sometimes, because it was a situation where (the Pistons) had to make a decision on who they were going to draft. I think it was a situation where we needed a big man and we did a good job of getting a big man and getting some other help that we need. It's going to be very beneficial to us later in the season."

Said Dumars: "I know that Prince and Okur are players."

Or else.