There are two things I don’t trust in this world: People
that don’t eat bacon, and the idea that everything in history is set in stone.
The first one is obvious. If you know someone that doesn’t like bacon, chances
are they are really a terminator sent from the future to murder the fuck out of
you. And yes, this is the only logical explanation.
By nothing historically is
set in stone, I’m more referring to my obnoxious tendency to never be satisfied
with the facts. Instead, I enjoy changing seemingly miniscule details that
ultimately re-writes everything we thought we knew about an event. You may know
this simply as the What If game.
Now, the history of basketball is rife with potential What
If scenarios to the point where Bill Simmons made it a full chapter in his book
and I shamelessly ripped off his idea a year ago. Or as we call it in the
hip-hop community, I “sampled” it. Anyways, the Golden State Warriors recently
won the NBA title thanks to some pretty remarkable luck and circumstance. This
doesn’t take away the fact they were one of the greatest single season teams in
history—after all, every championship team in any sport needs luck in order to
win—however, it reflects on the fact that the Warriors narrowly missed out on a
dream season had certain things in the league played out differently. It’s
time to take a stroll down memory lane and take a look at the NBA season we
almost had.
What If Tanking Worked?
The 2013-2014 season was a magical year filled with What
Ifs. But instead of asking what if things were different, we were asking what
if the 2014 draft class is the greatest class of all time? What if Andrew
Wiggins is the second coming of LeBron? What if Jabari Parker is really the
best player in the draft? What if the Knicks actually drafted a player that
wasn’t terrible? These questions led to an utterly blatant display of teams
tanking, most notably the Philadelphia 76ers, whom approached historical
dysfunction with a grace that would make Donald Sterling blush.
"Aww, shucks you guys"
If you remember correctly, the basketball Gods did not
reward the Sixers for their despicable effort in losing games, resulting in
them receiving the number 3 overall pick and Joel Embiid. The Cavaliers would
earn the number 1 overall pick and the pieces necessary to execute the trade
that brought them Kevin Love, and ultimately, LeBron James. So what if tanking
had worked and the Sixers had gotten the number 1 pick? While there is always a
chance that Sam Hinkie would still give his fan base the middle finger and
drafted Embiid anyways, it doesn’t seem plausible that he would pass up Wiggins
and Parker for an injured player that missed all of this season and possibly
all of next year. Instead, there is a chance that Parker would be drafted first
overall and potentially does not suffer a torn ACL that ended his season. While
I would’ve been down for a year of Parker and Wiggins battling for a true
Rookie of the Year race, this is not important at all to the scenario.
The big thing here is that the Cavs would not have had the
assets to lure LeBron back to Cleveland nor make the trade with Minnesota
that landed them Kevin Love. Which means JR Smith and Iman Shumpert would
likely have remained in New York to rot and the world would have never gotten
the amazing redemption story of Timofey Mozgov. In other words, the Cavs would
not look anything remotely close to the team that just went to the Finals. It
would have been another year of Kyrie hero ball and the emergence of full blown
Dion Waiters, which is tantalizing and terrifying at the same time. I think the
basketball Gods did us a solid on this one by not rewarding tanking.
What If the Warriors Pulled The Trigger on Kevin Love?
Before this season, Kevin Love was considered one of the
best players in the league and pretty much every team did whatever they could
to get him. This included the current champions, the Golden State Warriors. And
for a while, it appeared that Love was for sure heading to the Bay Area. The
deal was constructed to send Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, David Lee, and a
first round draft pick for Love and possibly Kevin Martin. If you recall, the
Warriors wouldn’t budge on breaking up the Splash Brothers and refused to make
any trade that included Thompson. This led to most of America believing that
the Warriors GM must be smoking some serious shit if he isn’t willing to trade
Thompson for Love. Of course, the decision to keep Klay, whom bloomed into an
All-Star, ended up being one of the most beneficial gambles in NBA history.
But what if Flip Saunders had somehow managed to pull off the trade and sent Love to the Warriors for Thompson? Here’s some things to consider:
1)
Golden State succeeded this season because they
were the best defensive team. No matter how good the offense was, they wouldn’t
have succeeded without the army of 6’7” players that made scoring a nightmare for
their opponents. Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes are not the best defenders
on the team, but they are still better than 75% of the league when it comes to
defending multiple positions. Barnes would usually start on the other team’s
best player, unless that player happened to be a point guard, in which case
Thompson would guard them. While Stephen Curry has improved drastically on the
defensive end, not having Thompson would put more pressure on Curry to defend
some of the most terrifying players in the league, which may have affected his
offense and his MVP candidacy.
2)
Speaking of offense and defense, the Warriors
thrived thanks to the emergence of Draymond Green. Draymond’s versatility on
both sides of the ball was perfect for the Warriors system, and he may have
changed everything we thought we knew about basketball and positions. And
really, the Warriors stumbled ass backwards into giving him an increased role
after David Lee was injured to start the year. So even without the Love trade,
we almost missed out entirely on Draymond Green, which is just a disservice to humanity. Had the Love trade gone through, there is absolutely no chance Green
would have succeeded. Love and Green play the same position, and while Green
might be more valuable in the Dubs current system, Love is undoubtedly the
better player.
3)
David Lee would have been a great replacement
for Love in Minnesota. They rebound similarly, they share an alarming disregard
for defense, and they are both capable of slapping up 20 points for your squad.
4)
Does Klay Thompson get better or worse in
Minnesota? I seriously can’t decide. On one hand, he would be playing with
Ricky Rubio, who is a pass first point guard that would feed Klay three
pointers for days. On the other hand, Klay benefits from all the attention
Steph draws every time he crosses half court. Also, what the hell
happens to Andrew Wiggins? This what if is starting to hurt my head.
5)
Cavs don’t get Love, obviously. Does Cleveland
still manage to make it to the Finals without Love? I’m leaning towards yes
because the East is awful and LeBron is a Marvel movie hero. But also it means they keep Andrew Wiggins (along with Anthony Bennett), another incredible what if scenario that needs to written by a true professional, presumably one that is sober.
"Nahhh"
6)
This would kill the Splash Bros, the NBA’s most
entertaining tandem. An NBA without the Splash Bros is a dark and scary place.
7)
No way in hell the Warriors become champions.
What If the Warriors Got Dwight Howard?
Of course that entire paragraph could have been for nothing
considering that the Warriors almost torpedoed their championship two summers
ago when they heavily pursued Dwight Howard.
Look, this isn’t an opportunity to bash Dwight and blame him
for everything wrong with basketball. The fact remains, however, that the
Warriors would not be champions right now had they signed Howard. And that has
nothing to do with Dwight’s presence. By adding Dwight though, the Warriors
would be subtracting a key component to their championship run, and that person
is the fucking Finals MVP.
If you remember correctly, the Warriors signed Andre
Iguodala after Dwight went to the Rockets. In a sense, Iggy was a consolation
prize. But not landing Dwight became a blessing in disguise, even if it didn’t
look that way at first. After a season where neither Iggy nor Harrison Barnes
(the player Andre replaced in the starting lineup) played particularly well,
new coach Steve Kerr decided to bench the former All-Star and start Barnes.
From the start of the season, Iguodala’s acceptance of his new role set the
tone of sacrifice, teamwork, and being in love with the CoCo.
"This is how you get it for the low low, Bron!"
We don’t need to pile on the praise of Iggy stepping up in
the big moment since we all know what happened. The point that does need to be
made, however, is that anytime you’re playing against LeBron James in the
Finals, the most valuable player on that team immediately becomes the person that has to slow
him down. I talked about how great Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, and Klay
Thompson are defensively, but they got torched pretty much anytime they got
stuck guarding James. Without Iguodala, LeBron would have averaged 50 points a
game in that series and would have probably beaten the Warriors by himself.
Iggy’s defense, as well as capitalizing on most of his open shots, was arguably
the most important reason the Dubs are champions. What actually is the most important reason, though, is Dwight choosing Houston over Golden State.
What If David Blatt Had Gotten His Timeout?
The Cavs managed to make it to the NBA Finals despite losing
Kevin Love in the first round and having a hobbled Kyrie in the semifinals and
conference finals before ultimately going down in game one of the Finals. With
that said, the Cavs likely wouldn’t have made it to the Finals had it not been
for Tyronne Lue slow motion diving in front of the speeding bullet that was
David Blatt getting lost in the moment.
It was game 4 of the semifinals against the Chicago Bulls in
a series that had the Bulls up 2-1. It was an epic back and forth game that saw the
Bulls tie the game with about eight seconds left. No big deal right? You have
eight seconds to get the ball to the best player in the world and let him make
a play, there should be no reason to panic. Well, first year head coach David
Blatt did, because he tried to call a timeout. The problem? The Cavs didn’t
have any timeouts left.
As beautifully illustrated here
If you are a fan of college basketball or the Fab Five, you
realize why this would have been an absolute death blow to the Cavs. For those
that don’t know, calling a timeout when you do not have a timeout automatically
results in a technical foul, which means the Bulls would have gotten a free
throw and possession of the ball. Remember, the game was tied with eight
seconds left. Had a referee noticed Blatt calling timeout, the Bulls would have
likely made the free throw, putting them up by one. They would have then been
rewarded possession of the ball, which means the Cavs would have had to foul in
order to send the Bulls to the line and extend the game. In most situations, the Bulls make all three free
throws and would be up by three. Even on the off chance that they miss the
technical free throw, leaving the game tied, the Bulls would still have the
last shot of regulation and a great chance to win the game, putting them up 3-1
in the series. No matter how great LeBron is, winning three games in a row
against an elite defensive team is borderline impossible and the Bulls would
have went on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Instead, LeBron James hit that memorable shot from the
corner to win the game, tie the series, and give Cleveland the momentum it
needed to get to the Finals.
What If Lil B Never Got Involved?
People want to put an asterisks next to the Warriors’
championship because they didn’t have to play the Spurs or Clippers in the
playoffs, and they beat an injury plagued Cavaliers in the Finals. I personally
think this is ludicrous because, as mentioned before, no championship team in
history has ever won without some other team catching an unlucky break. BUT if
we were to acknowledge an injury that changed everything about this season, we
have to talk about Kevin Durant.
The second best player in the world missed most of the
season after a series of setbacks regarding an injured foot. While the world
was treated to Russell Westbrook going Super Saiyan Goku on the league, Durant’s
injury caused the Thunder to barely miss the playoffs. This wasn’t just a lucky
break for the Warriors, it was a lucky break for the entire league. When Durant
and Westbrook are healthy, the Thunder are one of the toughest teams to beat.
Had Durant been healthy for even the last few weeks of the season, the Thunder
would have crashed the playoffs and made life a nightmare for the entire
Western Conference. So how did the Thunder become the most unlucky team in the
NBA? Well it all starts with this man:
Lil. Fucking. B. Aka the Based God. I don’t want to dive too
much into it because he’s gotten a lot of press about this but long story short,
there is a thing called the Based God's Curse and he’s fucked a lot of shit up
with it. During the playoffs, he famously cursed James Harden which, hopefully
by pure coincidence, resulted in Harden struggling mightily against the
Warriors. Lil B even threatened to curse the Cavs after witnessing their
celebration following the Eastern Conference Finals. Iman Shumpert had to tweet
at the Based God and more or less asked for forgiveness, to which Lil B called
off the curse. Of course, he totally could have been lying because Shumpert and
JR Smith couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives in the Finals. And of course, there’s Kevin
Durant, whom was the first person of note to rub the Based God the wrong way.
While robbing us of a season of Kevin Durant doing Kevin
Durant stuff was a dick move on Lil B’s part, he’s contributions to the Warriors
title run cannot be ignored. Lil B, you the real MVP.
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