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. I'm really excited. I really, really like him."

Nineteen hours later it became official. The Pistons, beneficiaries of a bad trade by Vancouver for Otis Thorpe in 1997, had their 7-foot-1, 253-pound center-forward.

Milicic, 18, became the highest drafted European player when the Pistons took him at No. 2 Thursday night, after Cleveland chose LeBron James. Pau Gasol, a native of Spain, was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 2001. (He was later traded to Memphis.)

Milicic is assured of more than $11 million over the next three years.

The news got even better for the Pistons later. Argentine swingman Carlos Delfino, a 6-7, 230-pounder whom Dumars coveted, became the Pistons' second first-round pick at No. 25.

With the last pick in the draft, No. 58, the Pistons picked up another European player. They chose 21-year-old Andreas Gliniadakis, a 7-1, 265-pound center from Greece. He's expected to stay overseas and play for the Greek national team.