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In 1969 the Suns and Bucks flipped a coin for the #1 pick. Jerry Colangelo called heads, it was tails and the rest is history. The Bucks ended up with a top-3 player all time and the Suns got Neal Walk at #2.

Anyway what are the 70’s like if the Suns won the coinflip and paired him Gail Goodrich and Dick Van Arsdale right away? Also, It’s close enough to LA that maybe he spends his entire career there.

Even more fun, what if Mikan had offered him the million dollar check up front as the league had planned and he'd signed with the LA Stars of the ABA who stayed in LA. Kareem with Willie Wise and Mack Calvin would have dominated that league (yes, I say that even though I am a big Mel Daniels and Artis Gilmore fan) and probably pressured an earlier and more inclusive merger. That would have been interesting too.

Even more fun, what if Mikan had offered him the million dollar check up front as the league had planned and he'd signed with the LA Stars of the ABA

Imagine the NBA/ABA war that would have ensued had Alcindor/Jabbar gone to the ABA and they then got a national TV contract to rival the NBA.

Jabbar, Erving, McGinnis, Gilmore, Gervin, Issel, Roger Brown, Willie Wise, et al all on home screens a couple times a week.

The competition for signing college stars (and high school stars) would have been fierce (fiercer than it was). But with the ABA signing players to long term deferred Dolgoff Plans and the NBA paying real dollars up front, it might have been the NBA that went under and the ABA that lasted.

Then we'd have been watching that red, white, and blue ball all these decades since.

Suns would have been a very good team in the early 70's but not as dominant as the 71 Bucks were. Alcindor (Kareem) would have teamed up nicely with Van Arsdale who could play off of him in a similar manner that McGlocklin did in Milwaukee (not as good of a deep shooter but better all around). And Kareem played better with a strong PF that concentrated on defense and rebounding and few did that better than Paul Silas. But Connie Hawkins' game wouldn't thrive as well since Kareem in the low post would cause more congestion in the paint and negate the Hawks' biggest weapon in those swooping drives to the basket. And most importantly, the Suns didn't have a quarterback to run the offense the way that Oscar did in 71 for the Bucks.

Samurai wrote:Suns would have been a very good team in the early 70's but not as dominant as the 71 Bucks were. Alcindor (Kareem) would have teamed up nicely with Van Arsdale who could play off of him in a similar manner that McGlocklin did in Milwaukee (not as good of a deep shooter but better all around). And Kareem played better with a strong PF that concentrated on defense and rebounding and few did that better than Paul Silas. But Connie Hawkins' game wouldn't thrive as well since Kareem in the low post would cause more congestion in the paint and negate the Hawks' biggest weapon in those swooping drives to the basket. And most importantly, the Suns didn't have a quarterback to run the offense the way that Oscar did in 71 for the Bucks.

I’m sure the Suns keep Goodrich if they get Kareem. Both UCLA guys.

DirtyDez wrote:

Samurai wrote:Suns would have been a very good team in the early 70's but not as dominant as the 71 Bucks were. Alcindor (Kareem) would have teamed up nicely with Van Arsdale who could play off of him in a similar manner that McGlocklin did in Milwaukee (not as good of a deep shooter but better all around). And Kareem played better with a strong PF that concentrated on defense and rebounding and few did that better than Paul Silas. But Connie Hawkins' game wouldn't thrive as well since Kareem in the low post would cause more congestion in the paint and negate the Hawks' biggest weapon in those swooping drives to the basket. And most importantly, the Suns didn't have a quarterback to run the offense the way that Oscar did in 71 for the Bucks.

I’m sure the Suns keep Goodrich if they get Kareem. Both UCLA guys.

They likely would, but even Goodrich wouldn't complement Kareem as well as Oscar, who was past his prime in 71 but still very effective. Goodrich had the (small) size of a traditional PG back then but was more of a shoot first guy than a true quarterback. I think someone like Lenny Wilkens would have been a better fit with that team than Goodrich since Van Arsdale could only play SG or a swing role but was not a true PG. Alcindor made the Bucks a very good playoff team in his rookie season; I think it was adding Oscar that made the 71 team a GOAT-level team. Replacing Goodrich with Scott doesn't solve that issue since Scotty was also a guy who looked for his own shot first rather than setting up the offense and getting the ball to Kareem as he gets into his optimal position.

no change,
Red Kerr (jokingly) said we were going to take Neal Walk anyway.