If you had to narrow it down to one what-if per franchise, which one makes the cut?
I’ll give examples using the team I support (the Celtics):
Injuries - KG’s injury in 2009. The Celtics had a scorching start to the season, but lost in 7 to the Magic. KG’s absence let Dwight loose on the boards, & the next year when they did make the finals the Big Ticket had clearly lost a step.
Deaths - Len Bias in 1986. Red Auerbach had drafted a potentially transcendent player to back-up the greatest frontcourt in the history of professional basketball. Instead, a cocaine overdose killed him hours after being drafted No. 2.
Draft Picks - Kedrick Brown in 2001. Know who the Celtics had wanted to draft? Tony Parker. Unfortunately then-GM Chris Wallace was overruled by Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach.
Suspensions - Ime Udoka in 2022. Just months after taking the Celtics to the NBA finals, the former Spurs assistant was suspended for inappopriate relations with a female employee.
Made/missed shots - Artest’s 3-pointer in 2010. I will always believe we’d have stolen that game if Ron Artest Metta World Peace doesn’t drive that dagger through our hearts.
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What if the Heat won the lottery and got Derrick Rose?
Jordan.
Please don’t mention what ifs to us
What if Ellis stays and we traded that skinny bad ankle kid for Bogut instead? What if Klay was traded for Love? Ellis, Love, Bogut… 🤯
For me it’s easily what if my Wizards drafted Kawhi instead of Jan Vesely. Not crazy to think a Wall/Beal/Kawhi core gets to at least one ECF, if not further.
Not that big a deal, but the refs clearly miss called a Draymond 3 as a 2 in the last game of the 2019 finals. It would have been tied with 12 seconds left if the Warriors had one more point when they started fouling to get the ball back. I suppose various injuries were bigger, but that was a reviewable call, and they didn’t, and it was clear on replay that he was behind the line.
The Sixers could have Mikal Bridges and Jayson Tatum instead of Zhaire Smith (Cleveland, apparently?) and Markelle Fultz
Also what if Ben took the layup
… pass
OKC - What if the trade for Tyson Chandler went through? Young core of Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Ibaka, Chandler, and Jeff Green(no need to trade for Perkins).
They probably beat Mavs in 2011 playoffs as Chandler wouldn’t be there for Dirk’s run and maybe justify keeping all pieces together.
We almost had Tatum next to Embiid.
Cavs:
What if we didn’t hardball David Griffin in the summer of 2017, who had already convinced Kyrie not to ask for a trade, causing him to leave and the 2nd stint Lebron Cavs team to essentially wither on the vine? If we had Kyrie and had run it back a third time, maybe we actually win games 1 and 3 of the finals in 2018, could have been interesting.
What if Michael Jordan didn’t physically shove Ron Harper off of him before the inbound pass where he made “the shot” over Craig Ehlo? That was probably the best version of the Price-Daugherty Cavs, and they went even with both the Knicks and Pistons that year during the regular season. Who knows, could have messed around and made a deep playoff run!
What if Carlos Boozer didn’t pull a fast one with his promise to sign in 2004 and Lebron had a legit all-star to play alongside during that first run?
What if we didn’t draft Anthony goddamn Bennett number 1 overall in the same draft as Giannis, Gobert, Oladipo, Steven Adams, etc.
Hell, what if we hadn’t given away Kevin Love and actually had some veteran leadership, rebounding, and shooting this past year?
CP3 trade did not get vetoed
Carmelo Anthony wasn’t such a punk bitch and let Jeremy Lin keep doing his thing in Knicks so he never gets traded, never gets injured, Knicks win a championship and he is MVP and still in the NBA today.
Linsanity continues.
Fuck you Melo.
What if Yao and TMac were both healthy?
As a blazer fan I love these questions!!!
What If:
We drafted MJ in 1984
We won the coin flip and drafted Hakeem in 1984
We drafted Kd in 2007
We didn’t a trade a super young Moses Malone in the late 70a
We didn’t trade a super young jermaine O Neal in the early 2000/
Bill Walton doesn’t get hurt
B Roy and Greg oden have injury free careers
Arvydas Sabonis joins the team in his prime and is on those early 90s blazer teams
We traded for Barkley in 93
The hornets didn’t nix the CP3 trade to Portland in 2010 at the last second