Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 36540 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2024 12:03 pm Post subject:
MJST wrote:
The two biggest what if for me personally, is what if Del Harris didn't stop Jerry West from making the move to get Tracy McGrady and adding him to the Kobe/Shaq Lakers. It would have cost us Eddie Jones, but we'd have gotten T-Mac before he broke out. And he would have been with the Shaq Kobe Lakers.
The other one is what if Magic didn't retire right before the Lakers drafted Kobe and signed Shaq. We would have had Magic, Kobe, Shaq on the same team, even if it was for one or two seasons.
Eddie Jones was traded for Glenn Rice anyway, who left after the first championship. I suppose the question is whether McGrady and Kobe would have developed into the same players they were, or if they would have impeded each other’s development.
That could have been six or seven consecutive championships instead of three. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
The two biggest what if for me personally, is what if Del Harris didn't stop Jerry West from making the move to get Tracy McGrady and adding him to the Kobe/Shaq Lakers. It would have cost us Eddie Jones, but we'd have gotten T-Mac before he broke out. And he would have been with the Shaq Kobe Lakers.
The other one is what if Magic didn't retire right before the Lakers drafted Kobe and signed Shaq. We would have had Magic, Kobe, Shaq on the same team, even if it was for one or two seasons.
Eddie Jones was traded for Glenn Rice anyway, who left after the first championship. I suppose the question is whether McGrady and Kobe would have developed into the same players they were, or if they would have impeded each other’s development.
That could have been six or seven consecutive championships instead of three.
Tracy has implied that he had more of a Scottie Pippen mentality and would have been perfectly fine taking a backseat to Kobe and Shaq and focusing on scoring some of the time and defense.
The two biggest what if for me personally, is what if Del Harris didn't stop Jerry West from making the move to get Tracy McGrady and adding him to the Kobe/Shaq Lakers. It would have cost us Eddie Jones, but we'd have gotten T-Mac before he broke out. And he would have been with the Shaq Kobe Lakers.
<snip>
Eddie Jones was a very good player, but T-Mac was otherworldly; if not for his back he could easily have been Top 20 all-time. Adding him to Shaq/Kobe would have been devastating to the rest of the league.
Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 4192 Location: Space City
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2024 7:06 am Post subject:
Biggest What if for me.
What if David Robinson joined the Lakers instead of the Spurs. This would have affected both the Magic Lakers, the Kobe Shaq Lakers and potentially the Bulls run
Im old enough to remember Roy Firestone talking about this in the Laker pregame show.Here's the article in the times in 1987.
Quote:
Well, there goes the dynasty.
David Robinson, the most important basketball player to come out of college since a two-headed phenom named Magic Bird, has signed to play with the San Antonio Spurs.
That terrible sound you hear is Laker hearts breaking.
Robinson’s signing with the Spurs late last week drastically upsets the Lakers’ decorating plans. Jerry Buss will have to find something else to hang on the Forum wall space reserved for the four or five championship banners of the--trumpet fanfare, please--Robinson era. Something in mourning. Black would be appropriate.
The Lakers, understand, really wanted this guy. So did several other NBA teams, of course, but the Lakers thought they had the kid.
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 23013 Location: La Jolla, San Diego
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2024 7:10 am Post subject:
venturalakersfan wrote:
Runway8 wrote:
What if Jerry West had his way and drafted Sidney Moncrief? There'd be no:
- No Showtime lore.
- No launching of Riley's career.
- No big stage for Big Game James.
- Kareem sits at 1 title.
- Jerry West loses shine.
- Without Showtime, does Shaq still want LA?
- Does Kobe still force his way to LA?
That's why despite his front office hiccup, and the Magic Johnson Hour talk show... Magic, IMO, is Laker's GOAT.
Jerry West didn’t draft anyone that year, he wasn’t the GM until 1982. And he wanted to draft Magic, he scouted him.
Are we talking semantics? Regardless who did the actual DRAFTING, it's well known that he preferred Sidney. Even before all the shows like Winning Time revealed this to the more casual fans, we've been talking about this for decades in forums. His voice means a lot in the organization right? So you may be right on a technicality, but Jerry West did prefer Sidney over Magic. Scouting Magic doesn't mean preferring Magic. Granted, what I know of this has simply been due to online articles and discussions going back even to the 1990's. So you telling me they're all wrong or lies? How is your info the truth? Shed light.
Here's an in depth article on West's apology demand from HBO. Second to last paragraph is West explaining how he only meant to point out Sidney's scoring abilities, and the Lakers should consider him. I mean if there was ever a time to deny he preferred Sidney, this would be it. But he only made "clarifications," not denials. Which tells me there is truth to this legend. And course, after the career that Magic has had, wouldn't you attempt to backtrack if you were Jerry West? Give him credit though, he didn't completely deny it. What he admitted only made this legend more credible.
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/jerry-west-demands-retraction-apology-portrayal-hbo-series/story?id=84179183
Biggest What if for me.
What if David Robinson joined the Lakers instead of the Spurs. This would have affected both the Magic Lakers, the Kobe Shaq Lakers and potentially the Bulls run
Im old enough to remember Roy Firestone talking about this in the Laker pregame show.Here's the article in the times in 1987.
Quote:
Well, there goes the dynasty.
David Robinson, the most important basketball player to come out of college since a two-headed phenom named Magic Bird, has signed to play with the San Antonio Spurs.
That terrible sound you hear is Laker hearts breaking.
Robinson’s signing with the Spurs late last week drastically upsets the Lakers’ decorating plans. Jerry Buss will have to find something else to hang on the Forum wall space reserved for the four or five championship banners of the--trumpet fanfare, please--Robinson era. Something in mourning. Black would be appropriate.
The Lakers, understand, really wanted this guy. So did several other NBA teams, of course, but the Lakers thought they had the kid.
We should be glad this did NOT happen. Robinson NEVER had what it took to lead a team to a ring as a 1 and is not enough to turn the series around in 1991 vs Chicago as a 2. Our best chance would have been in 1990 with Robinson as a rookie but that team's chemistry was torn apart by Riley to the point, it may not have mattered. He would have prevented us from drafting Jones in 1994 as well and would have definitely prevented us from getting O'Neal in 1996 when getting him was a stretch to begin with. We would have dealt Vlade a long time ago, so that affects us trading with Bob Bass and Charlotte when they needed a Center as well and Robinson was too good to trade for an untested 17 year old kid. So likely no Kobe and definitely no Shaq and no titles in the interim. Getting Robinson may have been the worst thing to happen to us. Having Robinson puts us in the worst of both worlds - like San Antonio in the 1990s. A good regular season team with his awesome advanced stats and regular season stats but never a real title contender because of Robinsons shortfalls in the playoffs. On top of that, in 1996, we would have been much better than San Antonio even with Robinson injured (Van Exel, Peeler, Campbell, Ceballos (who wouldnt be traded for Horry in this scenario with Horry's stock at its lowest in Phoenix and since Ceballos still able to do Ceballos garbage man things with no Shaq clogging the paint) and so we dont even get Duncan.
Last edited by 1995Lakers on Sat Aug 10, 2024 3:56 pm; edited 3 times in total
What if Jerry West had his way and drafted Sidney Moncrief? There'd be no:
- No Showtime lore.
- No launching of Riley's career.
- No big stage for Big Game James.
- Kareem sits at 1 title.
- Jerry West loses shine.
- Without Showtime, does Shaq still want LA?
- Does Kobe still force his way to LA?
That's why despite his front office hiccup, and the Magic Johnson Hour talk show... Magic, IMO, is Laker's GOAT.
Jerry West didn’t draft anyone that year, he wasn’t the GM until 1982. And he wanted to draft Magic, he scouted him.
Are we talking semantics? Regardless who did the actual DRAFTING, it's well known that he preferred Sidney. Even before all the shows like Winning Time revealed this to the more casual fans, we've been talking about this for decades in forums. His voice means a lot in the organization right? So you may be right on a technicality, but Jerry West did prefer Sidney over Magic. Scouting Magic doesn't mean preferring Magic. Granted, what I know of this has simply been due to online articles and discussions going back even to the 1990's. So you telling me they're all wrong or lies? How is your info the truth? Shed light.
Here's an in depth article on West's apology demand from HBO. Second to last paragraph is West explaining how he only meant to point out Sidney's scoring abilities, and the Lakers should consider him. I mean if there was ever a time to deny he preferred Sidney, this would be it. But he only made "clarifications," not denials. Which tells me there is truth to this legend. And course, after the career that Magic has had, wouldn't you attempt to backtrack if you were Jerry West? Give him credit though, he didn't completely deny it. What he admitted only made this legend more credible.
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/jerry-west-demands-retraction-apology-portrayal-hbo-series/story?id=84179183
Cant blame West for wanting Squid over Magic. Basketball skill-wise you could definitely see a case for Squid over Magic. This is one of those cases where the right process did not lead to the right outcome - which will happen occasionally.
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 23013 Location: La Jolla, San Diego
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2024 6:38 pm Post subject:
1995Lakers wrote:
hydrohead wrote:
Biggest What if for me.
What if David Robinson joined the Lakers instead of the Spurs. This would have affected both the Magic Lakers, the Kobe Shaq Lakers and potentially the Bulls run
Im old enough to remember Roy Firestone talking about this in the Laker pregame show.Here's the article in the times in 1987.
Quote:
Well, there goes the dynasty.
David Robinson, the most important basketball player to come out of college since a two-headed phenom named Magic Bird, has signed to play with the San Antonio Spurs.
That terrible sound you hear is Laker hearts breaking.
Robinson’s signing with the Spurs late last week drastically upsets the Lakers’ decorating plans. Jerry Buss will have to find something else to hang on the Forum wall space reserved for the four or five championship banners of the--trumpet fanfare, please--Robinson era. Something in mourning. Black would be appropriate.
The Lakers, understand, really wanted this guy. So did several other NBA teams, of course, but the Lakers thought they had the kid.
We should be glad this did NOT happen. Robinson NEVER had what it took to lead a team to a ring as a 1 and is not enough to turn the series around in 1991 vs Chicago as a 2. Our best chance would have been in 1990 with Robinson as a rookie but that team's chemistry was torn apart by Riley to the point, it may not have mattered. He would have prevented us from drafting Jones in 1994 as well and would have definitely prevented us from getting O'Neal in 1996 when getting him was a stretch to begin with. We would have dealt Vlade a long time ago, so that affects us trading with Bob Bass and Charlotte when they needed a Center as well and Robinson was too good to trade for an untested 17 year old kid. So likely no Kobe and definitely no Shaq and no titles in the interim. Getting Robinson may have been the worst thing to happen to us. Having Robinson puts us in the worst of both worlds - like San Antonio in the 1990s. A good regular season team with his awesome advanced stats and regular season stats but never a real title contender because of Robinsons shortfalls in the playoffs. On top of that, in 1996, we would have been much better than San Antonio even with Robinson injured (Van Exel, Peeler, Campbell, Ceballos (who wouldnt be traded for Horry in this scenario with Horry's stock at its lowest in Phoenix and since Ceballos still able to do Ceballos garbage man things with no Shaq clogging the paint) and so we dont even get Duncan.
I agree with your other post that Sidney is a heck of a player. I completely disagree with this take. The man single handedly flipped the Spurs by over 30 games. Spurs had won 20 whatever games the season before, then over 50 games in his debut. I watched his first game against our Lakers and was completely jealous of the Spurs. If my memory is correct, his debut against us was a buzzer beater winning by Byron Scott. It was the 89/90 season. I remember how the Spurs were just a handful, all because of Robinson. It was the game Chick said, "Scotties got it, Scotties got it!" It was a white knuckle game, and Byron hit the winner. This has always stayed in my memory, due to my first impression of Robinson and Byron's winner. Why wouldn't an absolute Prime Robinson in 1991 make a difference in the Bulls series. Wow, I think that is crazy talk. LOL! He would have absolutely made a difference. You talking about Robinson with the Lakers supporting cast, not the Spurs. With Magic and Worthy!!! Barkley, Malone, Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing.. these guys were all monsters in that late 80's early 90's period. If you can add one of them to your Showtime Lakers, it would have been over for the league.
To be fair, I did not read the latter half of your post. LOL! I just reacted base on you saying he wouldn't have made a difference in 90 and 91. I think he would have it. The rest of the chain reaction you speak of... yeah, you're probably right.
Biggest What if for me.
What if David Robinson joined the Lakers instead of the Spurs. This would have affected both the Magic Lakers, the Kobe Shaq Lakers and potentially the Bulls run
Im old enough to remember Roy Firestone talking about this in the Laker pregame show.Here's the article in the times in 1987.
Quote:
Well, there goes the dynasty.
David Robinson, the most important basketball player to come out of college since a two-headed phenom named Magic Bird, has signed to play with the San Antonio Spurs.
That terrible sound you hear is Laker hearts breaking.
Robinson’s signing with the Spurs late last week drastically upsets the Lakers’ decorating plans. Jerry Buss will have to find something else to hang on the Forum wall space reserved for the four or five championship banners of the--trumpet fanfare, please--Robinson era. Something in mourning. Black would be appropriate.
The Lakers, understand, really wanted this guy. So did several other NBA teams, of course, but the Lakers thought they had the kid.
We should be glad this did NOT happen. Robinson NEVER had what it took to lead a team to a ring as a 1 and is not enough to turn the series around in 1991 vs Chicago as a 2. Our best chance would have been in 1990 with Robinson as a rookie but that team's chemistry was torn apart by Riley to the point, it may not have mattered. He would have prevented us from drafting Jones in 1994 as well and would have definitely prevented us from getting O'Neal in 1996 when getting him was a stretch to begin with. We would have dealt Vlade a long time ago, so that affects us trading with Bob Bass and Charlotte when they needed a Center as well and Robinson was too good to trade for an untested 17 year old kid. So likely no Kobe and definitely no Shaq and no titles in the interim. Getting Robinson may have been the worst thing to happen to us. Having Robinson puts us in the worst of both worlds - like San Antonio in the 1990s. A good regular season team with his awesome advanced stats and regular season stats but never a real title contender because of Robinsons shortfalls in the playoffs. On top of that, in 1996, we would have been much better than San Antonio even with Robinson injured (Van Exel, Peeler, Campbell, Ceballos (who wouldnt be traded for Horry in this scenario with Horry's stock at its lowest in Phoenix and since Ceballos still able to do Ceballos garbage man things with no Shaq clogging the paint) and so we dont even get Duncan.
I agree with your other post that Sidney is a heck of a player. I completely disagree with this take. The man single handedly flipped the Spurs by over 30 games. Spurs had won 20 whatever games the season before, then over 50 games in his debut. I watched his first game against our Lakers and was completely jealous of the Spurs. If my memory is correct, his debut against us was a buzzer beater winning by Byron Scott. It was the 89/90 season. I remember how the Spurs were just a handful, all because of Robinson. It was the game Chick said, "Scotties got it, Scotties got it!" It was a white knuckle game, and Byron hit the winner. This has always stayed in my memory, due to my first impression of Robinson and Byron's winner. Why wouldn't an absolute Prime Robinson in 1991 make a difference in the Bulls series. Wow, I think that is crazy talk. LOL! He would have absolutely made a difference. You talking about Robinson with the Lakers supporting cast, not the Spurs. With Magic and Worthy!!! Barkley, Malone, Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing.. these guys were all monsters in that late 80's early 90's period. If you can add one of them to your Showtime Lakers, it would have been over for the league.
The problem with Robinson was not his production and talent. Honestly, his production and talent in the regular season makes him the 2nd best player in the 90s. Yes I know how good he was. The problem with Robinson is the guy consistently got bullied and punked in big games (literally every year in the playoffs pre-Duncan whether it was to Barkley, Malone or Olajuwon and lost to teams his Spurs should not have lost to because he came up small like the Run TMC Warriors who had no freaking decent center to begin with)
In terms of 1991 lets remember the gap between Chicago and LA was vast. Lets also keep in mind that Vlade had an EXCELLENT series for the Lakers vs Chicago and that while the gap between Vlade and Robinson was vast, you are assuming the mentally weak/shrimp Robinson would actually have a series that came even close to his potential. And this is the point I want to emphasize the most: David Robinson ALWAYS came up soft and small when you needed him most. Rodman notes that even the Little General Avery Johnson had to get on Robinson's ass for that same reason and was why Dennis Rodman never respected Robinson. Its the same reason I always compare Robinson to Tatum - who also came up small in these finals and had his teammates essentially carry him. You know who the soft ones are. When Magic retired, our supporting cast was not noticeably better than San Antonio with James Worthy essentially finished as an elite small forward starting from the first year Magic was gone. In fact Sean Elliott was a superior player to Worthy starting from that same year and you had guys like Dale Ellis, Terry Cummings, Rodman, Avery Johnson as his supporting cast.
Stress to say if David Robinson was the Lakers starting center instead of Vlade Divac I think the Lakers beat the Bulls in 91.
Then again, I think you could argue they do anyway if they weren't injured. But that's another argument. Like what if James Worthy didn't get injured right before the Playoffs, what if they weren't injured against Detroit.
Magic very well could have 7-8 rings if not for those unfortunate circumstances. That + his early retirement, there's a lot potentially left on the table there. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
Stress to say if David Robinson was the Lakers starting center instead of Vlade Divac I think the Lakers beat the Bulls in 91.
Then again, I think you could argue they do anyway if they weren't injured. But that's another argument. Like what if James Worthy didn't get injured right before the Playoffs, what if they weren't injured against Detroit.
Magic very well could have 7-8 rings if not for those unfortunate circumstances. That + his early retirement, there's a lot potentially left on the table there.
I think the real what-if to give Magic a legitimate chance to win titles in the 90s assuming Magic could continue to play was the Barkley for Worthy and Campbell trade with the 76ers. Shaq and everyone else (Pippen and Oakley) gives Barkley a lot of (bleep) but Barkley was a proven clutch performer who steps up in big games and is mentally clutch and strong. I would love to see how that duo does against the Jordan/Pippen duo.
What? LA was favored going into the series with Chicago and that was with an injured Worthy. Imagine a healthy Worthy. Byron Scott got injured in that series too. Chicago had nobody that could match up with Robinson (unlike Houston with Hakeem or other teams in the West with HOF bigs). And Robinson being the #2 guy on the team would have less pressure on him, knowing that Magic and Worthy are the veteran leaders on the team.
A healthy Worthy might have won that series. We’ll never know because he missed so much of it and was never healthy going into it. Imagine if Worthy and Scott were healthy and played every game, and Pippen got injured. And maybe Horace Grant got hurt later in the series. On paper it’s a rout the other way. Just like Worthy and Scott getting hurt gives Chicago a major advantage.
Last edited by Steve007 on Fri Aug 16, 2024 2:12 pm; edited 2 times in total
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 36540 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2024 2:11 pm Post subject:
Steve007 wrote:
What? LA was favored going into the series with Chicago and that was with an injured Worthy. Imagine a healthy Worthy. Byron Scott got injured in that series too. Chicago had nobody that could match up with Robinson (unlike Houston with Hakeem or other teams in the West with HOF bigs). And Robinson being the #2 guy on the team would have less pressure on him, knowing that Magic and Worthy are the veteran leaders on the team.
Would Chicago have beaten the Olajuwon Rockets and won eight straight championships if MJ hadn't retired? _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
What? LA was favored going into the series with Chicago and that was with an injured Worthy. Imagine a healthy Worthy. Byron Scott got injured in that series too. Chicago had nobody that could match up with Robinson (unlike Houston with Hakeem or other teams in the West with HOF bigs). And Robinson being the #2 guy on the team would have less pressure on him, knowing that Magic and Worthy are the veteran leaders on the team.
Would Chicago have beaten the Olajuwon Rockets and won eight straight championships if MJ hadn't retired?
No, Chicago struggled the most in the 3rd year of their 3-peats. We saw the same thing with the Lakers (and the attempted 4-peat was an even worse year). Even Golden State and Miami couldn’t do it with their super teams. The Bulls wouldn’t have the same exact teams in 96, 97 and 98 or the same amount of hunger to win, the same health, etc.
I think the Bulls could have 4-peated but there is still the question of whether they could beat the Rockets and I don’t know. Chicago would probably beat the Knicks in about 6 games but if the Bulls had any significant injuries that series would have been dangerous for them as well.
What? LA was favored going into the series with Chicago and that was with an injured Worthy. Imagine a healthy Worthy. Byron Scott got injured in that series too. Chicago had nobody that could match up with Robinson (unlike Houston with Hakeem or other teams in the West with HOF bigs). And Robinson being the #2 guy on the team would have less pressure on him, knowing that Magic and Worthy are the veteran leaders on the team.
A healthy Worthy might have won that series. We’ll never know because he missed so much of it and was never healthy going into it. Imagine if Worthy and Scott were healthy and played every game, and Pippen got injured. And maybe Horace Grant got hurt later in the series. On paper it’s a rout the other way. Just like Worthy and Scott getting hurt gives Chicago a major advantage.
Steve its a notable point that you made about Admiral being able to perform with less pressure. There certainly was evidence of that once Tim Duncan took over the lead role - Robinson had no further issues of his character being assassinated as soft and weak. But then we must keep in mind with a lesser role, a lesser impact is made as well so the 25 PPG 13 RPG Robinson is not the one we would/should expect to see.
As for Worthy and Scott. For Scott, he was close to useless the entire series as he had lost the touch that made him so deadly vs Portland and I dont think he was injured until the very end so he had no injury excuses. Now Worthy IS a valid point after the high ankle sprain from Game 6 vs Portland because at that point in time, I think he really would have outplayed Pippen had he come in healthy. The question is would it have been enough. To me, I think it would have been much more competitive but the Lakers go down in 6 games. Game 3 at the Forum was the only one where I thought the Lakers were the better team and they really did deserve to win that game. Game 1, the one they actually won, I thought the Lakers got really lucky to escape with a W. The gap between the teams were large and noticeable in Games 2, 4 and 5 where Game 5 seems competitive but was exactly like what the Pistons did to the Lakers in 1989 once Magic and Scott were out with blown hamstrings - play hard and then walk them down at the end.
You know what it is? Its kinda like had the older Kobe Lakers met the Miami Heat starting from 2012. The same kinda vibe where the older Lakers have to play close to perfect and execute to hold off the younger team but any letting go of the rope and it can get ugly fast because the younger more athletic team can run up points on the older team quickly with any letup.
What? LA was favored going into the series with Chicago and that was with an injured Worthy. Imagine a healthy Worthy. Byron Scott got injured in that series too. Chicago had nobody that could match up with Robinson (unlike Houston with Hakeem or other teams in the West with HOF bigs). And Robinson being the #2 guy on the team would have less pressure on him, knowing that Magic and Worthy are the veteran leaders on the team.
Would Chicago have beaten the Olajuwon Rockets and won eight straight championships if MJ hadn't retired?
No, Chicago struggled the most in the 3rd year of their 3-peats. We saw the same thing with the Lakers (and the attempted 4-peat was an even worse year). Even Golden State and Miami couldn’t do it with their super teams. The Bulls wouldn’t have the same exact teams in 96, 97 and 98 or the same amount of hunger to win, the same health, etc.
I think the Bulls could have 4-peated but there is still the question of whether they could beat the Rockets and I don’t know. Chicago would probably beat the Knicks in about 6 games but if the Bulls had any significant injuries that series would have been dangerous for them as well.
I said earlier I believe, I think the Bulls have the advantage in 1993/1994 as the role players for Chicago had exceptional years and played the NBA finalists Knicks to almost a draw without Jordan, meaning the wear and tear of the 3 peat had not set in yet on Chicago. The Rockets matched up well with Chicago (physically and mentally) and Olajuwon was the one and only superstar at the time who could match Jordan impact-wise throughout a series. Olajuwon-Thorpe-Horry was by far the best interior defense in the entire league at the time whether we are talking rebounding, shotblocking and mobility help defense. Still, I give the edge to Chicago.
I think 1994/1995 is a whole another animal. Lets say the Bulls win 1994 and thus Horace Grant returns to Chicago. Chicago, as a team were not as sharp and all the way there that they were the year before whereas despite a mediocre regular season, the Rockets looked sharper and better than the year before once the playoffs started where the Drexler trade was starting to really bear fruit. The Rockets went through a crucible of really good contenders knocking off 60-win Utah with Game 5 won at the hardest place to win Delta Center, 59-win Phoenix that would have won the chip had Danny Manning not torn his knee up again and 62-win San Antonio. Even with Horace Grant, I really think the Rockets have the advantage this year over Chicago.
And lets keep in mind this regarding the possible 8-peat. You have to assume Horace Grant is on the Bulls for the Bulls to win 94 and 95. If thats the case, the Bulls would have never considered Dennis Rodman. At the time, the Bulls were very hesitant to take on Dennis even with a big hole at power forward and forcing Kukoc to start there. With Grant, this isn't even a discussion where Krause calls Popovich. Now as good as Horace Grant was, he was not as good as Dennis Rodman so now you are putting the last 3 peat at risk as well in addition to all the attrition built up from long playoff runs.
If the CP3 trade doesn't get vetoed is Kobe still dead? Maybe he never tears his Achilles and he plays into his 22nd season a la Bron and that changes his post-career plans
If the CP3 trade doesn't get vetoed is Kobe still dead? Maybe he never tears his Achilles and he plays into his 22nd season a la Bron and that changes his post-career plans
I think so because it wasnt just his achilles. His entire body was breaking down and with CP, the assumption is we actually make deeper playoff runs in 2012 and 2013. Lebron is like the Nolan Ryan of pitchers: a genetic freak.
If the CP3 trade doesn't get vetoed is Kobe still dead? Maybe he never tears his Achilles and he plays into his 22nd season a la Bron and that changes his post-career plans
I think so because it wasnt just his achilles. His entire body was breaking down and with CP, the assumption is we actually make deeper playoff runs in 2012 and 2013. Lebron is like the Nolan Ryan of pitchers: a genetic freak.
That's a valid counterpoint. But I do think him playing like 46 mpg or whatever it was before he tore his Achilles was a direct cause, and with CP3 he doesn't need to do that. I'm sure he'd continue to get injuries that inhibit his ability to play, but in an era where his Achilles doesn't tear, I think maybe the end of his career looks something more like James Harden right now: maybe 70-85% of his prime and not as durable as in the past, but still a capable player, unlike the shell of a player we saw from '14-'16.
I remember after his 17th season (the one where he tore his Achilles), Kobe had the most win shares by any player in his 17th season. He was the original longevity freak hence "Vino." I certainly wouldn't expect LeBron-level durability but probably he'd be the forebearer to guys like Curry and KD who at 35-36 are still elite players
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