The Official "What If" Thread

[buickbeast]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

As a Magic fan, I hate these discussions but at the same time I'm drawn to them haha.

I think the Raptors really would have had a memorable team if VC and T-Mac stayed together up there.

Grant Hill could have been a top 25 player. Better than Pippen at everything except defense.

Shawn Kemp could/should have been a top 10 PF...seemed he just became lazy =/

I really think if Penny had remained healthy that he could have been a top 10 all time player. He was a young Magic but with better defense. Knocked out MJ/ Pippen/ Jackson in the playoffs and gave Pat Riley's Heat team fits in the playoffs.

I think a really interesting question is what if Chicago traded Pippen for Kemp just before the draft in '94?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1...nt-pippen-deal

-Does Chicago win another 3 titles with Jordan/Kemp duo?
-Would Jordan's work ethic rub off on Kemp, keeping him in shape and raise Kemp to top 50 status?
-Does Rodman join Gary Payton and Pippen in Seattle?
-Could George Karl and his Sonics knock off a very different looking Jordan team in the Finals?

I think a Payton/Pippen/Rodman trio would have been a nightmare for any team outside of Chicago that lacked an elite center.
I believe Hakeem's Rockets or Penny and Shaq in Orlando would be able to hang with them.
A '95 Knicks squad with Ewing, Oakley, Mason and Starks vs the revamped Sonics would have been a classic! No blood no foul!

[ojandpizza]

As a Magic fan, I hate these discussions but at the same time I'm drawn to them haha.

I think the Raptors really would have had a memorable team if VC and T-Mac stayed together up there.

Grant Hill could have been a top 25 player. Better than Pippen at everything except defense.

Shawn Kemp could/should have been a top 10 PF...seemed he just became lazy =/

I really think if Penny had remained healthy that he could have been a top 10 all time player. He was a young Magic but with better defense. Knocked out MJ/ Pippen/ Jackson in the playoffs and gave Pat Riley's Heat team fits in the playoffs.

I think a really interesting question is what if Chicago traded Pippen for Kemp just before the draft in '94?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1...nt-pippen-deal

-Does Chicago win another 3 titles with Jordan/Kemp duo?
-Would Jordan's work ethic rub off on Kemp, keeping him in shape and raise Kemp to top 50 status?
-Does Rodman join Gary Payton and Pippen in Seattle?
-Could George Karl and his Sonics knock off a very different looking Jordan team in the Finals?

I think a Payton/Pippen/Rodman trio would have been a nightmare for any team outside of Chicago that lacked an elite center.
I believe Hakeem's Rockets or Penny and Shaq in Orlando would be able to hang with them.
A '95 Knicks squad with Ewing, Oakley, Mason and Starks vs the revamped Sonics would have been a classic! No blood no foul!

I always wondered how the Pippen for Kemp trade would have worked out. It's not like they couldn't have still got Rodman. Rodman played SF plenty early in his career.. Imagine the rebound numbers that team could have had. They would have been deeper with Pierce(who was also in that trade), Kukoc, Kemp, possibly Rodman.

The bigger question is would Jordan have returned to the Bulls knowing Kemp was there instead of Pippen?

I have heard/read about lots of trade rumors that Jordan had eded up declining himself because he didn't want to build chemistry with a new guy when he already had Pippen.

[LoSoisNiCEx414]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

What if the Bucks hadnt traded Dirk on draft night; would have had ray allen,sam cassell,Glen Robinson,Dirk

[Slava Medvadenko]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

What if Arvydas Sabonis came to the NBA in his prime? He could barely walk when he was in Portland, but had a decent couple years there because he was so highly skilled for a big man. Combine his skill and size with decent running and jumping ability and he would've been nice.

[SteelersFreak]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

What if Arvydas Sabonis came to the NBA in his prime? He could barely walk when he was in Portland, but had a decent couple years there because he was so highly skilled for a big man. Combine his skill and size with decent running and jumping ability and he would've been nice.

I've watched very little of his NBA stuff, but I was just watching highlights from the 2002 playoffs of game 7 of the Blazers and Mavericks and the guy is just insane. He's so sluggish and he looks like he should be working in a factory somewhere, but his skill set was amazing.

[ojandpizza]

I've always wondered about Sabonis. With him growing up overseas I obviously didn't get to see much of him in his youth. The rumors surrounding him are crazy though. I've heard he would have been the best center in the NBA, I've also heard he was the best center to EVER play basketball..

I find all of that pretty un-likely. Like I said its hard for me to judge since I personally didn't see much of him. But the guy didnt even dominate in the Olympics, how would he dominate in the NBA?

At that point in time foreign competition was FAR inferior to that of the NBA. It just doesn't make lots of sense to me that a guy who wasn't dominating the Olympics would dominate the NBA?..

In just his games against the US:

In '88 he posted 13/13 against I believe college kids right?

In '92 11/8

In '96 6/2

I'd expect much better from what some people call the greatest center to ever play basketball.. In fact in ALL of his games in 92 and in 96 he didn't get a single block.. He didn't block one shot against any team..

Also everybody marvels at his passing ability, which was VERY good in his old age. But it's something that doesn't seem was part of his game in his younger years.. Averaged 1.7 assists in the '88 games, and 1.8 in the '92 games..

It looks as if his career high in the Olympics was in '92 with 32point verse Brazil.. For him to be anywhere close to the greatest center of all time that would have to be a pretty much every game thing in the NBA.. Likely every center in the league would be better than who Brazil had.

Obviously he would have been a better pro in his youth than his old age. But all the rumors about him to me seem far-fetched.

[Jdoug312]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

I guess my "what ifs" were too perplexing for responses

[ojandpizza]

I guess my "what ifs" were too perplexing for responses

I'll give my input on yours.

Benji - what a kid does in high school shows very little to me. Look at Kwame Brown.. I'll leave it at that.

Kobe- had Kobe not gone to LA and played for Phil and with Shaq I do find it easily possible his legacy wouldn't be close to what it is now.. Actually if you take his rings away his legacy isn't much different from any of the great scorers to come through the league... I still doubt Iverson would have gotten a ring, his team was close to the worst in finals history.

Pippen - I'm one of those guys who think Jordan could have won his rings without Pippen as long as his supporting cast was still good of course.. Replace Pippen with another star or a couple exceptionally good role-players, or a good inside threat, and I think the Jordan/Phil combo still gets the job done. Maybe not all 6 of them, but the first 3 before baseball.. Jordan was determined to win, it had been brewing all through the 80's.. Everyone knew his time was coming.

[griznation1]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

What if Dražen Petrović didn't get killed in the car crash? Though relations with him and the Nets weren't the best...this guy is a bit underrated for me.

What if Shaq never joined Kobe with LA? Maybe Kobe would be stuck with 2 rings his whole career?

What if LeBron stayed with Cleveland and actually had a better supporting cast? Could he have won a ring?

What if MJ didn't retire? Maybe he could have gone 8 years in a row.

[DonWuan]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

I guess my what ifs are a little different.

What if Shaq shot 70ish percent from the freethrow.

What if Rasheed Wallace never found the 3pt line and played majority of his game in the post.

What if Iverson was given another chance

What if Lebron never left CLE

[JerzeyReign]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

What if Pippen was never traded to the Bulls?

What if Lebron never got the best of Lenny Cooke at the ABCD camp?

What if Boog Smith left the streets alone?

What if Benji Wilson never got shot?

What if The Goat stopped messing with "glass"?

What if Pee Wee left the streets alone? Him pulling up in Rolls Royces just from hustling are a thing of legend.

[sir lucious lft ft]

What if Robert Horry misses that shot off the Divac tip out.

What if Kendrick Perkins didn't blow out his knee start of game 7

What if James Harden played in the finals like he is playing now.

[ojandpizza]

What if Robert Horry misses that shot off the Divac tip out.

What if Kendrick Perkins didn't blow out his knee start of game 7

What if James Harden played in the finals like he is playing now.

lol @James Harden.. It's not like he played bad, he was shut down..

Any team with brains should know Durant and Westbrook can't beat them alone.. Every team before Miami made the mistake of not focusing on the scoring load off the bench in Harden.

In all honesty Harden isn't exactly a super tough match-up to defend.

[buickbeast]

Re: The Official "What If" Thread

In all honesty Harden isn't exactly a super tough match-up to defend.

I don't follow the Rockets, but it seems like everytime I catch Sportscenter Harden puts up some nice #s

[ojandpizza]

I don't follow the Rockets, but it seems like everytime I catch Sportscenter Harden puts up some nice #s

He is, but he is shooting a lot. About as much as LeBron and Durant with more 3's than them. If the Rockets are a playoff team I think you'll get to see what I'm talking about.