Greatest teams that could have been, but never were?

UcanUwill · Post #21 » by **UcanUwill** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 9:55 pm

Healthy Blazers. Also same Blazers with younger Sabonis in the 80s... can you imagine?

Paz · Post #22 » by **Paz** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 9:58 pm

2014-2015 Miami HEAT

Dragic/Chalmers/Napier
Wade/Dragic/Johnson
James/Beasley/Walker
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Whiteside/Birdman

Potent on both sides of the ball. Easy shoe in for the 2015 Championship.

What happened is James left and Bosh/McRoberts had season ending injuries.

If only...

Madhouse · Post #23 » by **Madhouse** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:01 pm

Paz wrote:2014-2015 Miami HEAT

Dragic/Chalmers/Napier
Wade/Dragic/Johnson
James/Beasley/Walker
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Whiteside/Birdman

Potent on both sides of the ball. Easy shoe in for the 2015 Championship.

What happened is James left and Bosh/McRoberts had season ending injuries.

If only...

I don't think they trade for Dragic in this case.

HoopsterJones · Post #24 » by **HoopsterJones** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:24 pm

The Celtics with Len Bias. Adding a #2 pick thanks to Seattle after winning a chmpionship.

Henry Turner · Post #25 » by **Henry Turner** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:08 pm

Pistons with wade or melo instead of Darko.
They would have been unbeatable for 3/4 years.

MrKnox · Post #26 » by **MrKnox** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:23 pm

The 1996-97 Bullets team looked really promising, especially after their spirited showing in the playoffs against the Bulls. They had Chris Webber, Rod Strickland, Calbert Cheaney, Juwan Howard, Harvey Grant, Ben Wallace etc. Also, the late '80's Caveliers were loaded. Everyone who watched basjetball back then were banking on the Cavs owning the '90's. They had Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper, John "Hot Rod" Williams, Larry Nance etc. Could have been a championship team if Jordan didn't ruin them.

stjf · Post #27 » by **stjf** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:27 pm

For a brief moment on Draft Night 2008, the Memphis frontcourt was Marc Gasol and Kevin Love.

Consider the 2012 Timberwolves that never were:

To frame the stupidity of the future GM:

2006: Draft Brandon Roy #6 and trade him for PG/SG Randy Foye (#7) to save money.
2007: Draft SG/SF Corey Brewer #7, passing on Brandon Wright's potential and Joachim Noah's questionable skill.
2008: Trade for Kevin Love on draft night

David Kahn-era:

2009: Use picks #5, #6, and #18 to select three PG: Rubio (two years away from the NBA), Flynn, and Ty Lawson (traded immediately). Use pick #28 on Lawson's UNC teammate Wayne Ellington, another guard.

2010: Having the 2nd worst record in the NBA, the lottery gave them the #4 pick; John Wall, Evan Turner, and Derek Favors are off the board. You might think, with Al Jefferson slated to be a free agent in weeks time and front court depth being Kevin Love and rookie-to-be Nikola Pekovic, the team might look to select a big man, like Demarcus Cousins or Greg Monroe; you would be wrong. Clearly they couldn't pass up the aged talent of SG/SF Wesley Johnson, who was older than Ellington and Flynn (and Love; and not much younger than Brewer). Having spent his 5 1st rounders exclusively on guard/wings, it was also necessary to trade the 1st round pick acquired from the Lawson trade for another guard (Martell Webster).

2011: The worst record in the league nets them the #2 pick, although I doubt Kahn would have used #1 on another PG (Kyrie Irving)... but maybe i'm giving him too much credit. Following a season in which he traded for Darko Milicic and Michael Beasley, the generational talent of Derrick Williams was an obvious choice at #2; with a front court of Milicic, Pekovic, Love, Beasley, and Anthony Randolph, how could there ever be a problem? The Timberwolves also held #20, which had been acquired along with Kosta Koufous and a 2012 1st rounder, for Al Jefferson. The Wolves would select Donatus Montiejunas at #20 for the Rockets who had agreed to take on Jonny Flynn's contract, and receive back Brad Miller (more front court!), pick #23 (Nikola Mirotic; who was traded immediately for Malcolm Lee and cash, and another asset turned into cash) and #38 (Chandler Parsons; traded back to Houston that night for cash).

2012: The Timberwolves pick was to be conveyed to the Clippers, payment for a 2005 trade for Sam Cassell; the CP3 deal rerouted the pick to New Orleans, who decided on Austin Rivers. The Timberwolves did have a 1st round pick however, Utah's from the Jefferson trade, but they decided to move the pick two days prior to the draft. It was another trade with Houston -- Chase Budinger for #18, which turned out to be Terrence Jones.

Better drafting would have resulted in lower draft picks, so this is a hypothetical exercise, but lets consider it anyway. Suppose Kahn picked Curry at #6 instead of Flynn; the subsequent team would likely have been bad enough to draft Cousins at #5 or Monroe at #7, or stuck picking a wing at #9-10 choosing between Paul George and Gordon Hayward. Maybe they're still a bottom-half lottery team at this stage, and instead of Derrick Williams and the bigs at the top (Kanter, Tristan Thompson, Valancuinas, and Biyombo), they're picking from Brandon Knight, Kemba Walker, Jimmer Fredette, Klay Thompson, Alec Burks, the Morris twins, Kawahi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic (#8-16, in order). Does anyone think it's not likely they could have walked away from 2010/2011 with some combo of Cousins/Monroe and Leonard/Thompson, or George/Hayward and Vucevic at the worst? A core of Rubio, Curry, and Kevin Love, with a bench of Pekovic, the Jefferson picks from Utah, and enough cap space to bring in some vets to play under Rick Adelman, and there would be a roster that would rival the Westbrook-Harden-Durant-Ibaka' Thunder on pure talent, this year's Warriors on depth, and likely be dominating the league for a decade if they managed to resign everybody.

Frank Dux · Post #28 » by **Frank Dux** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:34 pm

Collymore wrote:Pistons with Wade instead of Darko would have been fun to watch.

Or Carmelo, or Bosh, or basically anyone else in that draft. Misdrafting Darko set that franchise back for 10 years.

mup · Post #29 » by **mup** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:41 pm

Henry Turner wrote:Pistons with wade or melo instead of Darko.
They would have been unbeatable for 3/4 years.

Not sure if that's true. Their minutes would have been severely limited on a championship contender. Anthony was an all star as a rookie in Denver because Denver sucked. He would have been the 8th guy in the rotation (if that) on a Detroit team that had much bigger goals than developing a rookie. Darko sucked but part of the reason he sucked was that detroit was the worst team for a rookie to go to in 2003. If wade or Anthony go there, it's just as likely they sit the bench for 3 years, become disgruntled, demand a trade and never turn into anything. It's one of those things where you just never know, but if you remember that pistons squad, no rookie was coming close to cracking the Billups/rip/prince/wallace/wallace starting 5.

Anthony, as you know, dominated the ball in Denver. The 03 through 07 pistons were in championship mode. No way Billups and company would have let him have even a tenth of the touches Anthony got in Denver. As a result, I don't see any way Anthony is other than a malcontent who gets traded half way through his second year. That's not an insult... Just trying to imagine how a rookie who needs the ball could have fit into the well oiled machine that was the mid 2000s pistons. Just no place for his high volume shot game.

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Paz · Post #30 » by **Paz** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:51 pm

Madhouse wrote:
Paz wrote:2014-2015 Miami HEAT

Dragic/Chalmers/Napier
Wade/Dragic/Johnson
James/Beasley/Walker
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Whiteside/Birdman

Potent on both sides of the ball. Easy shoe in for the 2015 Championship.

What happened is James left and Bosh/McRoberts had season ending injuries.

If only...

I don't think they trade for Dragic in this case.

Why not?? I'd take Dragic over Cole/Granger/Hamilton/2 firsts EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. I'm 100% sure the HEAT would still make the trade.

Prospect Dong · Post #31 » by **Prospect Dong** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:33 am

Paz wrote:
Madhouse wrote:
Paz wrote:2014-2015 Miami HEAT

Dragic/Chalmers/Napier
Wade/Dragic/Johnson
James/Beasley/Walker
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Whiteside/Birdman

Potent on both sides of the ball. Easy shoe in for the 2015 Championship.

What happened is James left and Bosh/McRoberts had season ending injuries.

If only...

I don't think they trade for Dragic in this case.

Why not?? I'd take Dragic over Cole/Granger/Hamilton/2 firsts EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. I'm 100% sure the HEAT would still make the trade.

I think keeping James hurts the vlaue of those picks, and reduced the heat's ability to resign Dragic. It's not impossible that they would have gone through with it anyway, but it seems unlikely.

Johnlac1 · Post #32 » by **Johnlac1** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:40 am

UcanUwill wrote:Healthy Blazers. Also same Blazers with younger Sabonis in the 80s... can you imagine?

Walton comes into the league healthy and stays that way for ten years. Plus, Geoff Petrie stays healthy. Petrie was considered one of the top sgs in the league before he came down with a series of injuries ala Walton. They're healthy, all the troublemakers like Wicks are shuffled off to other teams, and the Blazers maybe win five or six titles from '76 into the '80s.
Certainly super strong teams like the Lakers, Sixers, and the Celtics would have given them problems in the early '80s, but the Blazers would have been a powerhouse for about 8-10 years.

Ridicululz · Post #33 » by **Ridicululz** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:51 am

A fully healthy Blazers team with Roy and Oden come into mind right away.

mup · Post #34 » by **mup** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:52 am

Johnlac1 wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:Healthy Blazers. Also same Blazers with younger Sabonis in the 80s... can you imagine?

Walton comes into the league healthy and stays that way for ten years. Plus, Geoff Petrie stays healthy. Petrie was considered one of the top sgs in the league before he came down with a series of injuries ala Walton. They're healthy, all the troublemakers like Wicks are shuffled off to other teams, and the Blazers maybe win five or six titles from '76 into the '80s.
Certainly super strong teams like the Lakers, Sixers, and the Celtics would have given them problems in the early '80s, but the Blazers would have been a powerhouse for about 8-10 years.

How old are you? 100? Just kidding grandpa, but how do you think it works out if maurice stokes never bangs his head on the court? He and twyman were one of the best 1-2 combos in the league and would have led the Cincinnati Royals to at least one championship. If that tragedy never occurs, maybe the royals never move to Kansas City, maybe oscar Robertson ends up on another team, and maybe the celtics don't win 11 titles in 13 years.

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Paz · Post #35 » by **Paz** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:52 am

Prospect Dong wrote:
Paz wrote:
Madhouse wrote:
I don't think they trade for Dragic in this case.

Why not?? I'd take Dragic over Cole/Granger/Hamilton/2 firsts EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. I'm 100% sure the HEAT would still make the trade.

I think keeping James hurts the vlaue of those picks, and reduced the heat's ability to resign Dragic. It's not impossible that they would have gone through with it anyway, but it seems unlikely.

No one knows where the current version of the HEAT's 2017 (protected) pick and the 2021 pick will fall. My guess is it will be similar to what it would have been with James (most likely a BIT better) and Dragic would be re-signed with bird rights. The only person that would be a re-signing risk would be Whiteside because we don't have rights to go over the cap to re-sign him.

Rodrizzle · Post #36 » by **Rodrizzle** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:01 am

Im thinking the 00-01 season. The year Zo went down with the kidney issue. Heat were poised to take the title that season.

PF Brian Grant,AC Green
SF Anthony Mason,Ced Ceballos,Bruce Bowen
C Zo Mourning,Causwell
PG Hardaway,House,Carter
SG Jones,Majerle

Damn shame about the Zo illness

Prospect Dong · Post #37 » by **Prospect Dong** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:06 am

Paz wrote:
Prospect Dong wrote:
Paz wrote:
Why not?? I'd take Dragic over Cole/Granger/Hamilton/2 firsts EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. I'm 100% sure the HEAT would still make the trade.

I think keeping James hurts the vlaue of those picks, and reduced the heat's ability to resign Dragic. It's not impossible that they would have gone through with it anyway, but it seems unlikely.

No one knows where the current version of the HEAT's 2017 (protected) pick and the 2021 pick will fall. My guess is it will be similar to what it would have been with James (most likely a BIT better) and Dragic would be re-signed with bird rights. The only person that would be a re-signing risk would be Whiteside because we don't have rights to go over the cap to re-sign him.

The (correct, in my view) basis of your post was that the Heat with james would be a lot better than the Heat without him. That's a little less certain down the line, but still pretty certain. I'm much less excited about getting a pick from a roster that has Lebron James on it.

And Bird rights on Dragic don't do anything to help with the luxury tax bill. It gets more complicated if we imagine Wade and Bosh taking discounts had Lebron stayed, but very unlikely a team could handle four veteran max deals for any length of time. Not the team that amnestied a still-productive Mike Miller to save a few bucks anyway.

Austincys21 · Post #38 » by **Austincys21** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:12 am

Durant going 1st
Roy still playing

Roy Durant and Aldridge

Austincys21 · Post #39 » by **Austincys21** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:14 am

Paz wrote:2014-2015 Miami HEAT

Dragic/Chalmers/Napier
Wade/Dragic/Johnson
James/Beasley/Walker
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Whiteside/Birdman

Potent on both sides of the ball. Easy shoe in for the 2015 Championship.

What happened is James left and Bosh/McRoberts had season ending injuries.

If only...

I can't see miami trading for Dragic if Lebron stayed

DLeagueAllStars · Post #40 » by **DLeagueAllStars** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:20 am

Warriors never trading wilt and having front court of wilt nate thurmond and rick berry