If you could alter NBA history

[Marchesk]

Let's say you're gifted a time machine to temporarily change some aspect of NBA history, see the results, put history back as it was, and then post the basketball reference results from the altered history on ISH, what change(s) would you make? Never mind what it would take to make those changes, let's just assume you can.

I can think of 5:

1. Prevent Maurice Stokes from playing in the game he hit his head on the floor.

2. Convince Wilt to go to a New England college so that Auerback would have territorial rights to his pick.

3. Have Houston's GM trade Ralph Sampson to Portland for their 2nd pick in the 1984 draft.

4. Prevent Len Bias from using cocaine right after he was drafted by the Celtics in 86.

5. Have Krause trade Pippen for Kemp right before the season of their first title.

* Obviously, I'd have to make five separate alterations.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

I would probably murder Dr J and see how much that would change how basketball is played.

[ArbitraryWater]

1. Have Hawks winning the '57 and '59 titles
2. Suns win that epic Finals v.s. Boston in the 70's, so we have 9 different winners in a 10 year span (1970's)
3. No McHale block, no fluky 3 game first round... Lakers > Sixers in '81, Lakers three-peat with Kareem still at the helm.
4. Lakers make the '86 finals, lets see the GOAT Celtics put a beatdown on them.
5. No Kareem foul call in '88, Pistons win.
6. Bulls start dynasty in 1990?!
7. The Hue Hollins call, none of it... lets see how that finals plays out.
8. 1997 Rockets, everyone wanted them in the finals.
9. MJ plays in '99, perhaps ends his career with a title over the Spurs.
10. Horry hits that 3 on the road in '03, Spurs bounce back.. same as the next year after Fisher. Three consecutive Spurs/Pistons finals from '03-'05 (SA 5, 6, 7)
11. 2006 Mavericks/Spurs should have been the WCF. GOAT series.
12. Terry hits Dirk on the last second shot, forces OT... Mavs in 7, re-peat... :(
13. Hornets go to '08 WCF, Lakers in 6, Kobe as usual monster WCF.
14. LeBron goes to Miami in 2010, we get a Heat/Lakers final. 2011 Finals a bit different.
15. Spurs win 2012 G6, perhaps 3 straight Heat/Spurs duels. 2014, AC doe.. no cramps pls. Heat up 2-0.

[aj1987]

Prevent Wade from getting his meniscus removed, make him sit Game 5 of the '05 ECF, the '07 game against the Rockets, and make him sit prior to the play where he got hip checked by Cardinal in game 5 of the '11 Finals.

[305Baller]

Kings over Lakers.

[rmt]

Can't decide between:

Manu's foul on Dirk in 06 - that's probably a 3-peat there. I'm pretty sure Spurs beat Suns and Heat (Bowen to guard Wade, Duncan/Rasho/Nazr to guard Shaq and Parker running circles around a 37 year old Payton).

28 seconds with a 5-point lead in game 6 of 2013 Finals.

Both were unbelievable (and mostly Manu's fault).

[BasedTom]

Prevent Wade from getting his meniscus removed, make him sit Game 5 of the '05 ECF, the '07 game against the Rockets, and make him sit prior to the play where he got hip checked by Cardinal in game 5 of the '11 Finals.
His draft stock falls, he might even wait another year. Zero guarantee that he gets picked by the Heat (heat weren't 100% sure in the first place) So that's a tricky one.

i wish eddie jones would have been on the 06 title team and could have lived without antoine walker

[BasedTom]

brandon roy, yao, tmac, etc

[GrapeApe]

Prevent Wade from getting his meniscus removed, make him sit Game 5 of the '05 ECF, the '07 game against the Rockets, and make him sit prior to the play where he got hip checked by Cardinal in game 5 of the '11 Finals.

If all that went down, Wade may very well have 5 championships, 3 FMVP's, and a regular season MVP. It's crazy how unfortunate (and ill-timed) injuries have impacted his career. Granted, none of that accounts for the butterfly effect so in reality, who knows how things would have played out.

[Marchesk]

If all that went down, Wade may very well have 5 championships, 3 FMVP's, and a regular season MVP. It's crazy how unfortunate (and ill-timed) injuries have impacted his career. Granted, none of that accounts for the butterfly effect so in reality, who knows how things would have played out.

So we'd be looking at Wade like we look at Kobe right now, and there would be a serious debate for who was the 2nd best SG of all time.

[jongib369]

"Convince Wilt to go to a New England college so that Auerback would have territorial rights to his pick."

Convince Wilt to use his money to secretly record every game he plays in, to be given to a certain youtuber in about an hours time

Convince Red, Kareem, Wilt, and Russell to personally train/mentor high school Shaq from his freshman year up

Prevent Len Bias from using cocaine right after he was drafted by the Celtics in 86.

Convince Wilt to come back in the 80s and play for the Lakers, Celtics, or Bulls. Or maybe even not retire until the 80s (He's the true Ironman IMO given the shape he stayed in, looks to be in better shape than Kareem in the 80s :eek: )

Convince Oscar Robertson to either go to a school that lands him on the Celtics or Warriors. Russell/Jones/Robertson or Wilt/Thurmond/Robertson

:biggums:

[Psileas]

"Convince Wilt to go to a New England college so that Auerback would have territorial rights to his pick."

Convince Wilt to use his money to secretly record every game he plays in, to be given to a certain youtuber in about an hours time

Convince Red, Kareem, Wilt, and Russell to personally train/mentor high school Shaq from his freshman year up

Prevent Len Bias from using cocaine right after he was drafted by the Celtics in 86.

Convince Wilt to come back in the 80s and play for the Lakers, Celtics, or Bulls. Or maybe even not retire until the 80s (He's the true Ironman IMO given the shape he stayed in, looks to be in better shape than Kareem in the 80s :eek: )

Convince Oscar Robertson to either go to a school that lands him on the Celtics or Warriors. Russell/Jones/Robertson or Wilt/Thurmond/Robertson

:biggums:

Also, convince statisticians to start keeping blocks and steals official count since very early on.
Btw, I'd like to have known estimates on Mikan's shot blocking. I've barely heard of any.

Oh, and convince coach v.B.Kolff to re-enter Wilt in that Game 7...

[RoundMoundOfReb]

lol at you people wasting your time with weak era players. no one gives a crap about the 60s.

i would go back to 2012 and tell Sam Presti to not break up the most stacked team of all time.

[KobesFinger]

Tell Kwame not to rush out

[Duderonomy]

As mentioned the Phantom foul on Laimbeer in 1988.
The kings-Lakers 2002 WCF G6
2013 finals G6 Heat-Spurs. Pop should of left Duncan out. Not boxing out is unacceptable :no:
2006 NBA finals. Games 3-5 :facepalm
Funny the bad officiating always benefit the Lakers or Heat.

[sejoon101]

Stick lebron on the clippers in 2003

[jongib369]

Also, convince statisticians to start keeping blocks and steals official count since very early on.
Btw, I'd like to have known estimates on Mikan's shot blocking. I've barely heard of any.

Oh, and convince coach v.B.Kolff to re-enter Wilt in that Game 7...

Those would be great :cheers:

Three more

Go back in time, steal baby Chamberlain and give him to Shaqs stepfather, so Shaq and Wilt have a "sibling rivalry" going to push themselves harder. Also giving the step dad all available footage of Wilt and Shaq from our timeline so they still have a similar style

Kobe Bryant drafted by the Bulls, instead of a "MJ wannabe" he's literally his student to carry the torch for Chicago.


This one is silly, but how about this....Either Wilt is never traded from the 76ers, and becomes player/coach....Or to Lakers with the same thing happening(Imagine how disrespectful that'd be to West and Baylor :lol )....So for the 68 and 69 season we get to see a Wilt led team VS a Russell led team to end the "rivalry"

:biggums:

[the mesiah]

Convince Magic to not go in raw in those hoes
Convince Jordan to hire 24/7 security after 92-93 season for his pops
Tell Ben Kerner ,st louis hawks owner ,not to trade draft rights of the #2 pick in '56 draft .

[Spurs5Rings2014]

Can't decide between:

Manu's foul on Dirk in 06 - that's probably a 3-peat there. I'm pretty sure Spurs beat Suns and Heat (Bowen to guard Wade, Duncan/Rasho/Nazr to guard Shaq and Parker running circles around a 37 year old Payton).

28 seconds with a 5-point lead in game 6 of 2013 Finals.

Both were unbelievable (and mostly Manu's fault).

Those, but also Fisher's .4 second shot. Spurs 5pete and repeat, Duncan is unanimous GOAT with 8 chips and 6 FMVP's.

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[Marchesk]

Convince Magic to not go in raw in those hoes
Convince Jordan to hire 24/7 security after 92-93 season for his pops
Tell Ben Kerner ,st louis hawks owner ,not to trade draft rights of the #2 pick in '56 draft .

Russell and Pettit front court for the next 8 years would have been frightening.

[LoneyROY7]

The refs would have correctly called the ball going off of Reggie Jackson's hand in game 5 of Clips-OKC last year.

[zoom17]

Robert Horry misses the shot against the kings.

[jongib369]

Russell and Pettit front court for the next 8 years would have been frightening.
Switch West and Sam Jones

Put prime Nate Thurmond on the 2001 76ers

Bring the best 50's, 60's, and 70's Centers/Power forwards as rookies in the 1990 draft

[inclinerator]

probably something that would make me a lot of money

[Milbuck]

I would go back to yesterday and break Giannis' ankles so he couldn't do the dunk contest.

[bdreason]

Probably injuries. Walton. McGrady. Penny. Bird. Oden. Arenas. Jay Williams. Sabonis. Roy. Yao. Webber. G. Hill. Etc.

[Dro]

Not let Shaq get away with those offensive goaltends in the 4th quarter of game 6 in the 2000 Finals that spurred their comeback. We had them down 18 in that game and blew them out in game 5. Got damnit, I wanted to see what a game 7 would have been like.....

[J Shuttlesworth]

Hmm... probably just have Horry miss his 3, and the 2002 Kings would be champs

[Rodmantheman]

Perkins not get injured in the 2010 finals that Celtic team should have won more than one together.

[Lexington Steel]

Have the refs call the game fairly in all games of the 2012 Finals, mainly Game 2 and 3.

[RoseCity07]

Draft Chris Paul. Blazers still bad enough to probably get Aldridge and Roy.

If we win in 2007. Draft Durant.

Everything going perfectly

CP3
Brandon Roy
Durant
Aldridge

I think Roy would have had a longer career not having to carry the load.

[Marchesk]

CP3
Brandon Roy
Durant
Aldridge


Stacked, no excuses

[Smook A.]

3. Have Houston's GM trade Ralph Sampson to Portland for their 2nd pick in the 1984 draft.
This.

It was said they were also offering Clyde Drexler. Can you imagine if Rockets actually made that trade and drafted Michael Jordan with the 2nd pick? Our big 3 would've been Hakeem, MJ, and Drexler. Oh my god, what could've been.

[Timmy D for MVP]

Have Drazen fly.

[CavaliersFTW]

Didn't Eddie Gotlieb orchestrate territorial drafts for the sole purpose of drafting Chamberlain? Meaning... wouldn't convincing Wilt to go to a Boston school be useless because if that happened Gotlieb wouldn't have convinced everyone a "territorial draft" was a good idea in the first place? He's the one who started the whole motion. I'm actually not clear on exactly when he did this though, if he did it before Wilt actually had committed somewhere and just was HOPING it would work as a gamble I guess it wouldn't matter, but if he did it in hindsight knowing Wilt would go to his team than I don't think convincing Wilt to go anywhere else would effect where he'd be drafted.

Anyways, I'd try and change anyone dying/being seriously harmed. Len Bias, Maurice Stokes. The Maurice Stokes story is just plain awful. I'm sure the Bias one isn't much better but the Stokes one choked me up when I watched the documentary on him.

[KNOW1EDGE]

Don't let Len Bias do coke

Make the Blazers draft Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie.

Make the Blazers draft Kevin Durant instead of Sam Bowie 2.0

[raiderfan19]

Couple of things, never let Nash go. I understand why we did it and it probably was necessary for both to get better but it would have been fun to have him with the new rules.

Correct the officiating from the 06 finals.

Get dirk a healthy tyson for Tyson's whole career.

[supernova5912]

Bulls take Karl Malone (with the #11 pick) in the 1985 draft.

Lakers draft Sam Cassell (with the #12 pick) in the 1993 draft.

Pistons draft Carmelo Anthony (with the #2 pick) whilst Nuggets take Darko Milicic (with the #3 pick) in the 2003 draft.

Lakers draft Paul Millsap (with the 26th pick) in the 2006 draft.

Grizzlies take Ricky Rubio (with the #2 pick), Timberwolves take Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan (with the #5 & #6 pick), and Warriors take Brandon Jennings (with the #7 pick) in the 2009 draft.

Timberwolves draft DeMarcus Cousins (with the #4 pick) in the 2010 draft.

LeBrob James joins the Knicks instead of the Heat, plays with Amare Stoudemire, and Knicks never trade for Melo.

Timberwolves draft Jimmy Butler (with the #2 pick) in the 2011 draft.

LeBron never goes back to the Cavs, Melo joins the Bulls, and Josh Smith joins the Heat.