Biggest "What Ifs?"

[DynastYWarrioR6]

In sports, and in our case basketball, there are many decisions that franchises make that seem good at the time, but not so much in hindsight (20/20). In sports, we find ourselves asking alot of questions, but most beginning with the words "What If...". So my question to you guys is: What is your biggest "What If" in regards to the NBA and anything that went on in the NBA? We can even turn this into a game. Post a "What If" and rate the "What If" before yours from a scale of 1-10. I'll start us off.

What if Washington did not draft Kwame Brown in 2001?

I bring this up because that team had Michael Jordan and a rising Rip Hamilton. Kwame was a bust in every year that he has played, and has peaked as an average lowpost defender, but that's it. So who could they have gotten? Some big names are:

Tyson Chandler
Pau Gasol
Eddy Curry
Jason Richardson
Shane Battier
Joe Johnson
Richard Jefferson
Gerald Wallace
Tony Parker
Gilbert Arenas

A pretty darn good list, especially when you consider they would be replacing Kwame Brown. Let's assume that they take a big man still. This slims the list down to Curry, Gasol, and Chandler. Now chew on that!

[Petey]

Rating the above: 6/7/8.

Hard to rate as if they picked Curry as they any better off? But Rip and Gasol are a nice combo. I also think Chandler would make a good combo with Rip and Gilbert.

My what if:

The Nets seem to make stupid draft picks year after year, after year.

What if they had just made 2 or 3 differently?

I still cry when I think how they picked Brandon Armstrong over Arenas. Thorn has said he asked around and it was suggested by West (if my memory serves me correctly) to take Armstrong. Gilbert's offense would had come in handle when the Nets meet the Spurs in the Finals.

-Petey

[Денг Гордон]

What if...the Bulls took LaMarcus Aldridge #2, and did the reported Duhon + #16, and other pieces for the Celtics pick (I think #7) and took Brandon Roy, and then never traded Chandler in the offseason.

[DynastYWarrioR6]

Rating the above: 6/7/8.

Hard to rate as if they picked Curry as they any better off? But Rip and Gasol are a nice combo. I also think Chandler would make a good combo with Rip and Gilbert.

My what if:

The Nets seem to make stupid draft picks year after year, after year.

What if they had just made 2 or 3 differently?

I still cry when I think how they picked Brandon Armstrong over Arenas. Thorn has said he asked around and it was suggested by West (if my memory serves me correctly) to take Armstrong. Gilbert's offense would had come in handle when the Nets meet the Spurs in the Finals.

-Petey

Rating of Above: 7

Like we talked about, imagine how scary this lineup would've been back then:

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Gilbert Arenas
SF: Richard Jefferson
PF: Kenyon Martin
C: Todd MacCulloch

I know that that wouldn't have been the starting lineup, but that was the potential lineup. Back then I think the Nets started Kerry Kittles and Keith Van Horn where Jefferson and Arenas are in this lineup. Jefferson and Arenas off the bench would've been scary too. Guys would've avoided a sweep by the Lakers

My What If?:

What if the Lakers didn't draft Kareem Rush?

This one is probably really minor, but its a personal grudge of mine. I always look back at this draft and see that the Lakers drafted Kareem over Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, and even the rights to Luis Scola.

Imagine today's Lakers with Tayshaun Prince (I'm assuming he didn't sign away or got traded). Right now, it would be:

PG: Derek Fisher / Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant / Trevor Ariza
SF: Lamar Odom / Tayshaun Prince / Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol
C: Andrew Bynum

I mean I bet if we drafted Tayshaun, we wouldn't have drafted Luke. So if that is the case, who would we have gotten? At that time, after Fisher left we needed a point and a big man outside of Bynum and before Pau. So our options are:

Steve Blake
Zaza Pachulia
James Jones
Keith Bogans

Luke isn't so bad I guess

[chingy0007]

Rating above 6/10

What if Michael Jordan had never been dropped from his high school basketball team?

[DynastYWarrioR6]

Rating above 6/10

What if Michael Jordan had never been dropped from his high school basketball team?

Rating of Above: 1

Simple. He would've won more games.

Mine:

What if Detroit drafted Carmelo Anthony?

PG: Chauncey Billups
SG: Rip Hamilton
SF: Carmelo Anthony / Tayshaun Prince
PF: Rasheed Wallace
C: Ben Wallace

Would've won another championship if you ask me. Tayshaun off the bench is scary, plus would be a great trade bargaining chip

[Denny Crane]

Rating the above: 1

My biggest What If involves the ABA days.

The Milwaukee Bucks drafted Dr. J out of Massachusetts. At the time, they had Kareem and Oscar Robertson. Think on that for a second and you realize they could have had 3 HOFers, easily 3 players top 3 all-time at their position. They won a championship with Kareem, but things never really turned into a dynasty for them. Kareem ended up traded to the Lakers who later drafted Magic and won 5 championships.

How great could the Bucks have been if they were able to sign Dr. J? And imagine those Lakers without him (Kareem).

[kobe23]

My 1st What IF:

What if the Lakers got Dwade, Odom, Brian Grant (could have not been included), picks (that got our young guns) for Shaq, instead of Butler (as reported that the Lakers wanted Shaq)

OR

what if the trade was simply Wade, Odom, Picks for Shaq... The lakers would have had tons of cap space w/o grant's contract.

The Lakers could have traded Odom (and Atkins) for Kwame and Picks (picks that drafted our young guns e.g. bynum, farmar, sasha).

Kwame, Java, Picks traded for Pau

Lakers line - up:
Wade (doubt fish would be signed, since we would have used the money on wade LOL)
Kobe
Walton
Pau
Bynum

Bench: Sasha, Farmar, Ariza, Vlad, Powell, Mihm

2007 - 08 NBA finals Lakers in 4 LOL!

2nd What if:

What if the Blazers didnt pass up on MJ just coz they had Clyde???

Clyde + Mj = Damn!

3rd What if:

What if Kobe came ahead of Jordan? Would he be what Jordan was and is up to this day... and would MJ be forever hated by everyone? LOL (read an article that if the 2 switched places... this is what would exactly happen)

[DynastYWarrioR6]

Lol can we rate the "What ifs" above yours?

[kobe23]

^ huh?

[DynastYWarrioR6]

^ huh?

In my first post, I asked people who were gonna post a "What if" to also rate the "What if" post above theirs.

[The Dream]

My 1st What IF:

What if the Lakers got Dwade, Odom, Brian Grant (could have not been included), picks (that got our young guns) for Shaq, instead of Butler (as reported that the Lakers wanted Shaq)

OR

what if the trade was simply Wade, Odom, Picks for Shaq... The lakers would have had tons of cap space w/o grant's contract.

The Lakers could have traded Odom (and Atkins) for Kwame and Picks (picks that drafted our young guns e.g. bynum, farmar, sasha).

Kwame, Java, Picks traded for Pau

Lakers line - up:
Wade (doubt fish would be signed, since we would have used the money on wade LOL)
Kobe
Walton
Pau
Bynum

Bench: Sasha, Farmar, Ariza, Vlad, Powell, Mihm

2007 - 08 NBA finals Lakers in 4 LOL!

2nd What if:

What if the Blazers didnt pass up on MJ just coz they had Clyde???

Clyde + Mj = Damn!

3rd What if:

What if Kobe came ahead of Jordan? Would he be what Jordan was and is up to this day... and would MJ be forever hated by everyone? LOL (read an article that if the 2 switched places... this is what would exactly happen)

Your 1st What If: I'll rate at a 1, cause Miami wasn't giving up Wade for Kobe.

Your 2nd What If: I'll rate at an 8 just, because it would've been amazing to see a young Jordan and Clyde play together....................could you imagine the highlight reels??????

Your 3rd What If: I'll rank at a 5 just, because it would be fun to see how different players played in different eras...with that being said Jordan would still be the better player.


MY WHAT IF


What if Ralph Sampson never got injured???? Question crosses my mind at least 5 times per day. Would the rockets eventually win a title in the 80's with Ralph and Hakeem. Would the 90's be known as Hakeem and Ralph's era, instead of Jordan's?????

[Piltzer]

I rate your what if about a 7 because there were a lot of big men in that era that would have been great players if they never had injury problems. Portland drafted one of them ahead of some guy named Michael for what is worth.

What if Sabonis had come over before the injuries and old age set in and joined the blazer team during the Glides glory years and given us a What he gave Russia in the Olympics?

[Denny Crane]

Rating^^^ 9

People would be saying Sabonis was one of the top 3 or 4 centers ever.

What if the Bulls signed Mutombo when he left Denver as a FA? Bulls were never super strong at C, and had Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, and Harper. Add Mutombo and at least 4 of those guys were legit DPOY candidates.

[Big Frame]

3, The Bulls didnt need a center, they had Jordan.

What if Magic wasnt HIV+?

[drexlersdad]

bill simmons did this in march

my favorite.

4. What if Suns owner Robert Sarver said, "Screw it, I'll pay the luxury tax every year?"

Well, the following three things would have definitely and unquestionably happened: The Suns would have used the No. 7 pick on either Luol Deng or Andre Igoudala in 2004 (instead of unloading that pick to Chicago for $3 million and the No. 21 pick in 2005); they would have used the No. 21 pick on Rajon Rondo in 2006 (instead of selling it to Boston for cash and the No. 27 pick in 2007); and they wouldn't have traded Kurt Thomas to Seattle along with their No. 1s in 2008 and 2010. Some people would throw in the Joe Johnson deal here (Johnson to Atlanta for Boris Diaw and two No. 1s), but that wasn't a luxury tax move; they made an effort to re-sign Johnson and he wanted to leave.

Just for the hell of it, let's give them Igoudala in that '04 draft because he's better than Deng, and they might have taken him anyway. And let's say they don't make the Shaq/Marion trade because they wouldn't have needed to dump Marcus Banks in the deal (they wouldn't have signed him if they had Rondo for one-fourth the price), and besides, they already have Kurt Thomas. Here's your 2008 Suns roster right now: Nash, Barbosa and Rondo as the guards; Igoudala, Hill and Bell at the swing spots; and Stoudemire, Marion, Diaw and Thomas up front ... as well as the rights to their No. 1 and Atlanta's No. 1 in this year's draft.

That's not even a pipe dream or an imagine-if-this-scenario-had-played-out roster. Lemme put this in caps for you, S.A.S.-style: PEOPLE, THAT WOULD BE PHOENIX'S ROSTER IF SARVER PAID THE LUXURY TAX ALL ALONG!!!!! Can you imagine? Is that the greatest 10-man rotation of all-time? Would they have won 75 games? We'll never know. What's tragic about the Suns' current situation is how close they came to being positioned for the short term and long term better than any franchise since the '86 Celtics: They would have been the runaway favorites this season, and they would have been set for an abnormally long time because of their young guys.

(Note to the Phoenix fans: You can now light yourselves on fire.)

[pegs]

8. The Suns would've owned, seriously.

What if the Nets never traded away Julius Erving? Would they have built around him, and won a championship?

Also, what if Len Bias never died?

[agoo101284]

Len Bias is my biggest what if because it raises so many questions. How much longer would Bird and McHale lasted with the minutes that Bias would have taken? Who knows really.

Adding to that, what if Reggie Lewis never died. In 1993, Lewis was coming into his own as legit scorer in the league. Bias would have been turning 30, Lewis 27. What would they have done against Jordan and Pippen?

My other "what if," is what if the Celtics won the Tim Duncan lottery? Bill Simmons did that one a while ago and had the C's gamble the second pick on McGrady, then struggle enough the following year to end up with the pick that they got Paul Pierce with. Even without the Pierce projection, Duncan, McGrady, and Antoine Walker is a pretty solid place to start. They'd probably win a ring or two for sure.

[Chutney]

Tim Duncan had the ability to make any GM look good. I think there's no doubt we'd be talking about a Celtics team that would've been the class of the East for the past decade and I also think it would completely change the balance of the conferences. The West wouldn't have been nearly as dominant.

As a Raptors fan, one of the biggest "what if's" surrounds Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. They looked like one of the most promising duos in the league after 2000. What if they had managed their egos and both re-signed with Toronto?

[Jontro]

What if the refs actually call each and every game fairly?

What if Isaiah actually knew how to be a GM?

[slickyseenis]

what if nathan scott didn't get thrown through a plate glass window?

[xflavioVC15x]

I got one

What if Tim Donaghy didnt bet on the games in 2002 and either the Nets or Kings won the championship.

[Vinyard]

I got one

What if Tim Donaghy didnt bet on the games in 2002 and either the Nets or Kings won the championship.

I would be a very happy man if the Nets won in 2002. Kidd would have been Finals MVP, too.

[rox fa sho]

how good would the tmac/ghill combo been if hill wasnt injured?

ghill and tmac when health coulda been similar to jordan and pippen. corse theyd need a better surrounding cast but that would of happened if the team worked how it should of.

[Squire34]

What If Ewing and Bernard King had stayed healthy together on the knicks?
What if MJ would have signed with the knicks when he was an FA? (he was considering it)