What If? It's a question that has accompanied us through our franchises' darkest years. It doesn't do much, except getting us satisfaction of realizing that we were *this close*. What if Carmelo had gone #2 in the 2003 draft instead of Darko? Well, this is my top ten "What If"s of the 21st century (in no particular order). I've compiled my selections on the significance of the change if in fact the contrary had occured.
The infamous "Malice at the Palace" occurred on November 19, 2004 which resulted in nothing but suspensions and animosity.
Most of you should know the story, but if you don't, here you go. With under a minute to go with the Pacers up 15, Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) lands a "hard" foul on Ben Wallace, causing Wallace to react. A small scuffle occurred, but it simmered down quickly. Trying to get away from the trouble, Artest lies on the scorer's table. That's when someone in the stands throws a glass full of soda on his stomach, resulting in Artest beating the imbecile. The whole scene turned so ugly so quick, the game had to be cancelled.
The suspensions following were very harsh on Artest:
Pacers suspensions:
• Artest was suspended for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, without pay.
• Stephen Jackson was suspended 30 games.
• Jermaine O'Neal was suspended for 15 games.
• Anthony Johnson was suspended for 5 games.
• Reggie Miller was suspended for 1 game.
Coming into that game, the Pacers were 6-2, and were about to be 7-2 with that victory. They had just came into the year having lost to the Pistons in the Eastern Conference, filled with remorse. Through those 7 games that Artest played, he had averaged 24 points. He was really developing into an offensive weapon in addition to his immense defensive ability. Losing him proved to be a huge detriment in the long run of the season. Jermaine O'Neal also averaged 24 points that year. To put the icing on the cake, the season in question was going to be Reggie Miller's last year in the league. Their undisputed leader, a future hall-of-famer, and premier offensive weapon just gone. Instead of the Pacers being a top three seed, they fell to the 6th seed. Even though they upset Boston in the first round, they fell to the Pistons in the second round in six games. To even get that far was a huge accomplishment for the depleted roster they had, but missing Artest really hurt them offensively and defensively vs. Detroit.
So I leave you with this question:
What if Ron Artest hadn't jump into the stands to beat up the Detroit fan? Could they have gotten past Miami and San Antonio and won the 2005 title?
Well, there should be no argument to the FACT that Kevin Durant was the best player of the 2007 draft. But obviously, the Portland Trail Blazers didn't think so. You can't exactly blame the Blazers for selecting Oden. They were convinced that they had a prolific scorer in Brandon Roy at the time, and that they could form a superior frontcourt by pairing him with LaMarcus Aldridge. The microfracture surgery which caused him to miss his whole rookie season wasn't the Blazers' fault. Oden was good when healthy, in a limited role. Looking back, this should have been what happened in many people's minds.
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One year later, in the 2008-09 season, the Blazers were able to make the playoffs with a 54-28 record and the 4th seed. They had the #1 offense along with the #13 defense. If you add KD to that team and take Oden out, you get an even better offense with a slightly worse defense. I assure you, the offense that would have been added would have generated many more wins. And who knows? Maybe KD's output may have allowed for B Roy to rest more and elongate his career. The output generated by KD could have allowed for Roy to rest his knees more.
So...
What if Kevin Durant went #1 instead of Greg Oden? Could that team get past the Lakers in the west?
The top 5 picks of the 2003 NBA draft were supposed to be very VERY good. Yes, including Darko Milicic. It held true for 4/5 of them. But how did the Pistons, a 50 win team the year before, get the second pick? In 1997, the Grizzlies traded their first round draft pick for a seasoned veteran in Otis Thorpe. The pick was a receiving protected pick, meaning that it would start out as a top 14 protected pick, then shrink to top 12, top 5, etc. The Vancouver/Memphis Grizziles were so abysmal in those 6 years, that the pick was never given up until 2003. The pick in 2003 was top 1 protected, which put GM Jerry West in a LeBron-or-nothing situation. So when the draft lottery came around and the picks were announced, well, let's just say Mr. West wasn't too happy.
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So imagine a situation where the Grizziles do in fact get LeBron. He comes onto a team with a good Pau Gasol who averaged 18 points in LeBron's rookie year, a prime Shane Battier, the assist wizard Jason Williams, three good wing players in James Posey, Bonzi Wells, and Mike Miller, and a decent front court supporting cast featuring Lorenzen Wright and Stromile Swift. All of these players averaged at least 9 points with the exception of Battier, who averaged 8.5 points. Just to remind you, this team made the playoffs in 2004 as a 50 win, 6th seeded team. They were 7th in offensive pace and 11th in defensive pace.
To put things in perspective, compare them to the 2007 Cavaliers team. LeBron left because he never got enough help to surround him in Cleveland. There were four players to average more than 9 points on that team. They based themselves on defense (4th in the league) but were in the bottom half of the league on the offensive end (18th in the league). We're talking about a LeBron who put up 27 points on 48% shooting STILL being 18th in the league on offense.
Imagine if rookie LeBron was situated in Memphis, surrounded by the wonderful pieces that Jerry West had assembled. They could have been a 55-60 win team down the road.
Then I want you to imagine the domino effect as well. If Memphis had indeed gotten LeBron, Pau would have surely been happy with his position in Memphis, meaning he wouldn't want to get traded. That means no help for Kobe would have arrived in LA. The only reason why Kobe is still a Laker is because they had traded for Pau; he had options to be traded to the Bulls or the Pistons. There was even a chance that the Suns could have gave up Shawn Marion and maybe Boris Diaw to get Kobe.
Ahh, yes. The beloved Suns. Or the much hated Suns. I could never really tell because these Suns barely come up when talking about the best teams of this century. They have been highly criticized for their style of play with the "7 seconds or less" offense because they rarely focused on defense. They were always in the bottom three in defensive efficiency, but always first in offensive efficiency. No analyst from anywhere ever believed they could win because they truly believed "Defense wins championships". Well, that's held true for almost every team. Every championship team since 2000 has been in the top 10 in defense, usually deviating towards the top 5 (all except the 2001 Lakers, who were 21st. That is very ironic because they had one of best playoff performances of all-time). But people often forget the Suns almost pulled it off; multiple times.
I chose this Suns team because it was the best version of the 7SOL teams. They had more wins in '05, but they had little playoff experience and lost in five games to a highly experienced Spurs team (because they lost Joe Johnson the series before), and the '06 Suns were missing Amar'e. The '07 Suns had their best chance to win the title when top-seeded Dallas was knocked off in the first round by Golden State's #WEBELIEVE campaign. But yet again, they were matched up with the Spurs in the second round.
Game one was highlighted by the bloody nose Steve Nash encountered after bumping into Tony Parker. The Suns lost that by a close margin, 111-106.
The Suns came into Game 2 prepared, and took care of business, winning by 20, 101-81.
In a pivotal Game 3, a referee by the name of Tim Donaghy, who was banned (a year after this series) from NBA reffing for fixing and cheating in NBA games, was on the referee squad. There were many TERRIBLE calls which favored the Spurs. Now did Donaghy fix the game? I don't know. What I do know is that it was an atrociously called game. See for yourself below. The Suns lost, 101-108.
After being down for a large part of the fourth quarter the Suns come back out of NO WHERE to take the lead and be in a position to win (sorry for the bad quality).
Out of frustration for losing the lead, Robert Horry of the Spurs decides to hip check Steve into the scorer's table; a totally uncalled for and hard foul.
Then, there was the Suns' biggest mistake. Now by rule, players aren't allowed off of their benches; only coaches are. In response to the terrible foul by Horry, Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw get up from their bench to check on Steve. Upon further review by commissioner David Stern, he determined that Diaw's and Stoudemire's reactions were not commendable and that they would be suspended a game.
Despite the Suns valiant effort without either of their frontcourt players, they fell to the Spurs in Game 5, 88-85.
I believe that the punishment was very foolish considering the magnitude of the game.
The Suns then fell in Game 6, due to Bruce Bowen's great defense on Steve Nash. The full series mini-movie is below, and I recommend you watch it since this series was dubbed as "the real finals" of that year.
The Suns should have won in Game 3, and should have had a very significant shot to win Game 5. If the Suns did win that series, they would have played the Utah Jazz, and there is no doubt in my mind they would have lost that series. Going to the NBA Finals to play the fairly empty Cleveland Cavaliers roster would have been easy to claim their first NBA title.
If they had won that title, it would have had an everlasting footprint on the rest of the league. It would have changed the way GM's would build teams. They would try to model after the Suns to deviate to offensive based teams. Of course, defensive teams like the Spurs would never have gone extinct, which means there would have been way more variety in the association.
So...
What if Game 3 was officiated quickly and what if Amar'e and Boris had never come off of the bench? How would that Suns team had impacted the NBA for the future?
Little do people know that Kevin Garnett was almost a Sun in the 2007-08 season. Let me lay the framework down for you. Back in 2007, Shawn Marion was the longest tenured Sun on the team. His contributions to the team very a big part of the reason why those teams were great, but he never got the credit he really deserved by the public. Marion had always played in the shadows of Nash & Stoudemire, even though he had been a 20 point, 10 rebound guy.
Marion knew that true basketball analysts would see his true value, which they did. So one day he requested a max deal from GM Steve Kerr and owner Robert Sarver. Allegedly, Steve Kerr said to Marion that he wasn’t a max player, and that the only max power forwards in the league were Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan. This made Marion irate, causing him to demand a trade.
Following the playoffs of 2007, trade talks heated up. Kobe wanted to leave, Kevin Garnett wanted to leave, and Marion wanted to leave. The Suns were the frontrunners in acquiring KG for the days up to the draft until he was traded to the Celtics. His first choice was the Suns, and he refused to play for the Celtics (until they got Ray Allen). As you’ll see in the article, the Celtics were going to get Marion, the Suns were going to get Garnett, and the Wolves were going to get the #5 pick in the 2007 draft along with multiple trade sweeteners. Later, the deal reportedly simmered down to just a two-team deal, with just Marion and sweeteners to the Wolves for KG.
Eventually, the trade never happened because of Marion’s reluctance to play for the Wolves or the Celtics, and Garnett was then traded to the Celtics a month later.
Midway through the 2007-08 season, Marion was traded to the Miami Heat in exchange for an extremely worn out Shaquille O’Neal.
There are two elements to this deal: the Heat’s future, and the Suns’ future. Minnesota’s future wouldn’t have been affected that much because at that point in Marion’s career, he was about the equivalent in value as what the Wolves got in return from the Celtics.
If in fact the Suns had gotten KG, they would have been the instant favorites to win the title. You have two MVP’s on the same team in Nash and Garnett along with a superstar Amar’e at the core. We don’t know which players would be traded away as sweeteners from the Suns, but I’d assume they would have kept the revived Grant Hill, Raja Bell, and Boris Diaw. You’re looking at a probable starting lineup of:
• Steve Nash
• Raja Bell
• CONSISTENT AND HEALTHY Grant Hill
• Amar’e Stoudemire
• Kevin Garnett
with Diaw and Barbosa coming off of the bench. The Suns played an 8-man roster in the D’Antoni era. With the addition of Grant Hill that year, they had someone to guard elite scorers like Kobe, LeBron, and Tracy McGrady. With Marion playing power forward, he was a bit out of his comfort zone because Grant’s role was similar to the one he was used to playing. Marion was a good post defender; not an elite one, but an above-average one. By replacing Kevin Garnett in Marion’s role, they would improve their defense of the paint greatly, taking a lot of workload off of Amar’e. Garnett was also an offensive stud, averaging 20.5 points per game through 2007. I think this team could have won out the West because they finally had someone to match up with the likes of Duncan, Nowitzki, Yao, and Pau Gasol.
Now if the Suns had indeed gotten Garnett, Marion would have never gone to the Heat, meaning that they wouldn’t have been able to dump Shaq’s lucrative salary. Without dumping his salary, the Heat wouldn’t have been able to assemble the big three with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh when they did.
So…
What if Garnett had been traded to the Suns?
Pistons had the second pick despite having a 50 win team the year before (look above for an explanation if you’re wondering why). The top three prospects in the draft were LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Darko Milicic. Darko had been a mystery to most of the league until a month or so before the draft. When the Pistons were in New York City to play the Nets in the playoffs, they saw a draft workout by Darko. President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars fell in love with him immediately.
If you watch Darko’s highlights from Serbia, you can’t really be mad with him being a lottery pick. He was a gifted scorer; he had a decent dumper, excellent footwork, and a large variety of post moves. The Pistons ultimately decided to go with a gamble. I’m not saying that Darko should have been the second pick, but you should fault GM’s for being intrigued in him. Maybe Darko could have been a good player on a bad team. Being on a title contending team destroyed his minutes, which could have had an utmost impact on his confidence.
I consider the possibility of the Pistons getting Melo rather than Dwyane Wade because Wade was considered at most a fourth pick, so there was no way the Pistons were going to pick him up.
Imagine the Pistons picking up Carmelo. Many of the people with this same question lingering in their minds say that the Pistons would have won a multitudinous amount of titles. This is a question that I have the most trouble with.
While Melo is a prolific scorer, he is an egregious defender. Those Pistons teams, from 2002-2008, were some of the best defensive teams ever, ranking in the top 7 every year. From 2002-2005, the Pistons were in fact in the bottom half of the league, but from then to 2008, they were in the top 10. Considering that the Pistons made the finals in 2004 and 2005, do you really think that they needed Melo those two years? Yes, they lost in 2005, but it was a hard fought, seven game series. Putting Melo would require for Tayshaun Prince to be taken out of the starting lineup. In 2004-05, he had 9.4 win shares, which is really attributed to his defensive abilities. That same year, Carmelo had 4.9 win shares. If you compare the box plus minus between the two players, you can really see the value in Prince and the fault in Carmelo. The box plus minus is defined as the amount of points a player contributes to a team per 100 possessions in relation to the league average. So for instance, if a league average player contributed 100 points per 100 possessions and Player X only contributed 96 points per 110, his BPM would be +10. In 2004-05, Melo had a BPM of -1.2 while Tayshaun had 2.1; his defensive PM of 2.0.
From then until 2008, Melo had BPMs of 1.5 (-1.6 DBPM), 2.0 (-1.1 DPM), and 1.6 (-0.6 DBPM).
The defensive lapses by Melo could have costed them defensive troubles, but would his offense be able to cancel out the effects on the other end?
The Pistons defense was really their identity through those years and age broke them up in the end. There were times from 2006-2008 where they could have really used a go-to guy and closer like Melo.
Look at the series versus the Cavaliers in 2007. The margin of victory for game one was three points, three points in game two, six points in game three, four points in game four, two points in game five, and sixteen points in game six. We all hear about Melo’s ability to perform in the clutch, and by looking at the miniscule victories by both teams, it would be hard to believe that the Pistons couldn’t have used a guy like Melo within those circumstances.
So…
What if the Pistons had snagged Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko at the #2 pick?
It would be hard to imagine what or even who the Spurs would be today without Tim Duncan. He is and has been the core, heart, and soul of this team for the past eighteen years by bringing five titles to San Antonio.
But where would they be if they had lost him in free agency?
In fact it was extremely close to happening.
One year removed from a title, Tim Duncan had many offers flying at him in the free agency period of 2000. Ten years before Miami did it and eight years before Boston did it, Orlando tried to assemble their own superstar big three combo by meshing the talents of Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, and Tim Duncan.
Orlando brought in both Grant Hill and Tim Duncan to pitch Orlando as a future destination to form the ultimate big three combination on July 1, 2000. Grant came to the meeting with crutches for his ankle, but both he and Tim left the meeting with huge smiles on their faces.
Grant left Florida, definitively saying that he would sign with Orlando.
Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy to convince Tim to leave such an established situation in San Antonio for a rebuilding process in Orlando.
About a week later on July 12, Duncan announced he would stay in San Antonio.
It was a long mulling process. A process that would have led to Duncan playing in Orlando if David Robinson didn’t cut his vacation short just to convince Tim to stay in Texas.
"To say we're not down here on pins and needles would be a lie," Spurs owner Peter Holt told the Orlando Sentinel at the time.
After missing out on Duncan, the Magic shifted their focus on extending McGrady to a maximum contract.
For the next six years, Orlando only attain bare mediocrity. McGrady had two scoring titles in his tenure, but Grant Hill was absolutely DERAILED by injuries. In the four years he played with McGrady in Orlando, he played a total of 47 games out of a possible 328 games (he missed all of the 03-04 season). They made the playoffs three times (all first round exits) and after a lot of frustration traded McGrady to the Rockets. They had an abysmal season in the 2003-04 season, which landed them the first pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, where they picked up Dwight Howard. That marked the beginning of the Dwight era and ended the era of what could have been.
If David Robinson hadn't cut his vacation short, what could have been?
Well you ask anyone that question in 2000, they'd tell you the Magic would win a championship, but I'm not so sure about that assentation.
First of all, the "Big Three" would have been a big two because Grant Hill was practically invisible with all the missed time. Second of all, I think Duncan was able to develop into such a beast because he didn't have gifted score-first players like McGrady on his team. Maybe McGrady would have been a hindrance to Duncan's development, but that doesn't still mean that Duncan would have been bad.
I'm not saying that this team would have been bad; in fact they would have been very good, but not good enough to get past the Detroit's and Indiana's of the league at the time.
But hey, who knows. Maybe Duncan could have given more rest to Grant and his ankles and turned them into a championship team.
So...
What if Tim Duncan had signed that max contract with the Magic back in 2000? Who would have taken over as the powerhouses of the West in the years of the Spurs' contending absence?
What if Tim Duncan had signed that max contract with the Magic back in 2000? Who would have taken over as the powerhouses of the West in the years of the Spurs' contending absence?
LeBron's back in Cleveland, but would he have been if they hadn't picked up Andrew Wiggins with the first pick?
Cavaliers had had luck on their side for the past five years, starting with Mo Williams, believe it or not. In February of 2011, the Cavaliers packaged Mo Williams and Jamario Moon for the Clippers' 2011 1st round draft pick and Baron Davis. That pick turned out to the the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, or Kyrie Irving.
Can you believe that the Clippers traded two number one overall picks two years in a row to get two point guards?
Again the Cavaliers won the lottery in 2013 and made the wondrous choice by picking Anthony Bennet.
We all know how that's turned out so far.
Then, they defied all odds (literally) and got the number one pick for the second straight year with a 1.7% chance of winning. They picked up Andrew Wiggins.
LeBron infamously left Cleveland back in 2010 with "The Decision" special on ESPN, which caused much hatred for him. The free agency of 2014 lured him back to Cleveland, but not without some promises. He probably under the assumption that the Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love trade was going to fall through.
So...
If the Cavaliers didn't defy the odds, would LeBron have come back? Had he stayed in Miami, or tried something new (like Phoenix lol) could he have brought them to a title? Would Miami have been good enough to defeat the Warriors?
Looking back on the 2009 NBA Draft, you could say that four of the teams that passed on Stephen Curry are kicking themselves right now.
Can you believe that a team with two picks in the top seven in a draft class with three superstars, three all-stars, and eleven great role players (some borderline all-stars) would only pick one role player (Ricky Rubio) and a player that's not even in the league anymore (Johnny Flynn)?
Well, the Timberwolves did just that.
They picked two point guards back to back, passing on the talents of Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, Taj Gibson, DeMarre Carroll, and Danny Green.
But let's focus on the other most probable chain of events (and probably best outcome) for the Timberwolves; the Timberwolves land Stephen Curry at pick number six.
Assuming they picked Rubio at pick five, they would start the 2009-10 season with Curry grouped with Kevin Love and Al Jefferson, one of the strongest frontcourts in the league, with Rubio coming in two years later. That's a lot of promise for the years to come. Curry actually went to the Warriors who, other than Monta Ellis, had very little young developing talent to work with. Kevin Love was still developing at that point, so assuming that they were bad for another two years and snagged someone, oh I don't know, Klay Thompson in the draft, you're looking at a VERY nice core with the developed versions of Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Ricky Rubio somewhere on the spectrum. That could have ended in a championship with Rick Adelman.
Rick Adelman.
Let's explore another possibility.
It was draft day 2009, the Suns front office deeply mulling about the impending and upcoming free agency of Amar'e Stoudemire in 2010. They're looking left and right for a good deal, and then they found one -or so they thought.
The Suns offered Amar'e along with other complements for Stephen Curry had he fallen into the Warriors' hands (which he did).
Suns GM at the time Steve Kerr was "very far down the road" with the trade. It was at the last moment when the Warriors pulled the trade.
Good for the Warriors!
Look at Steph now and look at Amar'e now. You can't help but wonder how different the league would be had Steph gone to a different location other than the Bay Area. I'd imagine the Timberwolves would have taken a path similar to the one that the Warriors took, by building through the draft. However, if he was on the Suns, I think the Steph Curry we've all grown to love would be very different. They would have slotted him as an apprentice to Steve Nash and have Nash mentor him to become the assist guru that he was. Curry would not only retain his shooting skills (maybe even improve from the 50-40-90 master), but he would become a prolific passer and an even deadlier weapon.
So...
What if Stephen Curry had landed in a different spot?
Ahhh, the old and regretted Chris Paul trade to the Lakers. Here's a pretty self-explanatory diagram of what the trade would have been if you don't remember.
Here's the brief version of the story:
In December of 2010, the New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn decided to sell the franchise. Due to a lack of interest in investors, he sold the franchise to the NBA for $300 million. Around comes the 2011 offseason and an unhappy Chris Paul who told the Hornets he only wanted to be traded to the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, or the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Hornets then get a decent deal (compared to the one they finally got because they got the first overall pick) from the Lakers and Houston Rockets that would give them Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, and a Rockets 2012 1st round pick.
Since the Hornets were a league owned team at the time, David Stern and his office could still veto the trade. Due to a plethora of owners around the league, primarily Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, started complaining about how the league was allowing the formation of "Super Teams" across the league.
It's ironic that Dan Gilbert was the one complaining against the "Super Teams" because he just went out and made his own last year by his definition.
Anyways, the trade got rejected and Chris Paul was later dealt to the Clippers for a better deal (Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Minnesota's Unprotected 2012 First-Round Pick -> Anthony Davis).
But if the trade had gone through, what would have happened?
Well first, the Lakers wouldn't have needed another point guard so they wouldn't have went out and gotten Steve Nash. He could have signed somewhere else, like Dallas or New York.
The rumor I remember reading about in 2010-2011 was the possibility of assembling a big three in New York with Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard. That 's why Paul was so adamant about getting to New York. So, had Chris Paul went to the Lakers, I think Dwight would have came to L.A. for more than just a year stint. He could have been extremely better with a playmaker like Paul. I think THAT team could have been the one to achieve the LeBron/Kobe finals everyone so desperately wanted, not the disastrous one that occurred in 2013.
The Clippers still would have been at the bottom of the league.
The Rockets wouldn't have been able to trade for James Harden with Kevin Martin and would have been stuck with an aging Pau Gasol.
The Hornets/Pelicans would have never gotten Anthony Davis. Instead the Clippers would have gotten him and paired him in a frontcourt with Blake Griffin. Damn that sounds crazy. We see how good the Pelicans are now when The Brow is grouped with a bunch of role players, but if he was paired with Blake Griffin AND those role players? That would be scary.
So...
What if the Chris Paul trade went through?
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