"What if..."

[RogueBorg]

https://terrigen-cdn-dev.marvel.com/content/prod/1x/102_cba0100_comp_005_v901_f89ebdcc.jpeg

Following in the spirit of Marvel's "What if..." series, what if Michael Jordan's career path had followed along the lines of Bill Walton, with one foot injury after foot injury, and the 90's Bulls as we know them never happened. How do the 1990's play out? Who wins the 6 NBA championships left in the void. Do the Pistons Three-peat in '91? Does Drexler and the Trailblazers get their ring? Who gets the ring from 1993, Barkley or Ewing? Is it safe to assume the Jazz get back-to-back rings or does another East contender like the Pacers rise up?

[TheCorporation]

Give Pippen a decent #2 and they'd still win as a Bulls team.

MJ + Pippen + Grant = Rings
Pippen + Pippen + Grant = Rings

Downgrade MJ to a Pippen type and they'd still win. Pip swapped MJ for Pete Myers and nearly did it. Give Pippen and Grant any solid #2 option from 91-98 and Bulls still win

Dumb thread :lol

Pip + Grant + Stockton = Win
Pip + Grant + Penny = Win
Pip + Grant + Xman = Win
Pip + Grant + KJ = Win
Pip + Grant + Payton = Win

2ez

[SouBeachTalents]

It's obv very difficult to say, imo, I'd pick the Western champ to win virtually every season. The one year I think an Eastern team takes it is Orlando in '96, though that'd be a great series with Seattle.

The complete wild card is what happens with the Bulls. If Jordan is out of the picture I'm assuming the front office would make moves to build the team around Pippen. Let's say you give the '94 Bulls another all-star caliber player, that's a potential chip right there.

[RogueBorg]

Pip swapped MJ for Pete Myers and nearly did it.

They didn't come close to winning it but cool story non-the-less.

[TheCorporation]

They didn't come close to winning it but cool story non-the-less.

You think if 1994 Pip had another Pip to work with (like MJ did) they don't win multiple chips? :lol

[RogueBorg]

It's obv very difficult to say, imo, I'd pick the Western champ to win virtually every season. The one year I think an Eastern team takes it is Orlando in '96, though that'd be a great series with Seattle.

The complete wild card is what happens with the Bulls. If Jordan is out of the picture I'm assuming the front office would make moves to build the team around Pippen. Let's say you give the '94 Bulls another all-star caliber player, that's a potential chip right there.

That's assuming Pippen becomes Pippen without the push of Jordan and the Pistons. Jordan probably doesn't become that Jordan if not for the Pistons. The Bulls can thank the Pistons in large part for becoming the team they became because of the wars with Detroit. The Bulls front office in '95 did nothing to address the loss of Grant and the Bulls really struggled until Jordan returned. But this isn't about Jordan, this is about how do the 90's turnout if Jordan suffered foot injuries and never became anything.

[RogueBorg]

You think if 1994 Pip had another Pip to work with (like MJ did) they don't win multiple chips? :lol

Depends, who's the other Pippen? I thought according to you there were no other players like Pippen in the league.

[TheCorporation]

Depends, who's the other Pippen? I thought according to you there were no other players like Pippen in the league.

Pip + Grant + Stockton = Win
Pip + Grant + Penny = Win
Pip + Grant + Xman = Win
Pip + Grant + KJ = Win
Pip + Grant + Payton = Win

Yes or no?

[loadingthelife]

https://youtu.be/x74y7FRlhZo

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Does Magic Johnson still retire? He started hiding from MJ\Pippen after the 1991 lost i think. He wasted 3-4 prime years because of a disease on his dick and knew he couldn't beat MJ\Pippen.

Stockton\Malone probably win back to back rings in 97\98.

[Kenny Griffin]

Give Pippen a decent #2 and they'd still win as a Bulls team.

MJ + Pippen + Grant = Rings
Pippen + Pippen + Grant = Rings

Downgrade MJ to a Pippen type and they'd still win. Pip swapped MJ for Pete Myers and nearly did it. Give Pippen and Grant any solid #2 option from 91-98 and Bulls still win

Dumb thread :lol

Pip + Grant + Stockton = Win
Pip + Grant + Penny = Win
Pip + Grant + Xman = Win
Pip + Grant + KJ = Win
Pip + Grant + Payton = Win

2ez

the hurt in this man is unreal

odd for a guy with a 2 million net worth


hey Steve get a life already. you're scaring us

[TheCorporation]

the hurt in this man is unreal

odd for a guy with a 2 million net worth


hey steve get a life already. You're scaring us

$1.5m 😎

[8Ball]

$1.5m ��

Next time you come to my neck of the woods, lets hang out.


Or if I ever come to Cali

[TheCorporation]

Next time you come to my neck of the woods, lets hang out.


Or if I ever come to Cali

Sounds glorious my friend. How do I add you? What's App or what? PSN messenget?

[lakerstekkenn]

https://terrigen-cdn-dev.marvel.com/content/prod/1x/102_cba0100_comp_005_v901_f89ebdcc.jpeg

Following in the spirit of Marvel's "What if..." series, what if Michael Jordan's career path had followed along the lines of Bill Walton, with one foot injury after foot injury, and the 90's Bulls as we know them never happened. How do the 1990's play out? Who wins the 6 NBA championships left in the void. Do the Pistons Three-peat in '91? Does Drexler and the Trailblazers get their ring? Who gets the ring from 1993, Barkley or Ewing? Is it safe to assume the Jazz get back-to-back rings or does another East contender like the Pacers rise up?

What if Jordan didn't have Phil and had a different coach running a different system ? Jordan scores like crazy and is still considered top ten greatest ever but only probably wins two rings everyone else Charles, Malone, Payton; New York get their rings, this is a fact, I don't believe a different coach handles Rodman like Phil demanding respect and don't even sign Rodman I believe if it was a different coach they replace the players after Jordan gets his two championships, the team doesn't get better with the right additions and the correct playoff adjustments.

[lakerstekkenn]

Portland had the better team against the Bulls but they played terrible to no defense leaving Jordan wide open at times there's no way Portland should've lost that series but when you don't play defense you won't win.

[Phoenix]

I think the Knicks have a legit shot in 92 and 93. I'm not sure if either the Blazers or Suns handle their physicality. The Bulls were able to withstand it, battered and bruised, because they had cut their teeth on the Pistons.

[8Ball]

Sounds glorious my friend. How do I add you? What's App or what? PSN messenget?

How do we add each other without the peoples on this forum finding out?

Throwaway email?

[97 bulls]

91 Pistons beat the Lakers
92 Portland beats the Cavs
93 Knicks beat the Suns
94 Bulls beat the Rockets if the Bulls aquire a good SG.
95 Rockets beat Magic
96 Sonics Beat the Knicks
97 Jazz beat the Heat
98 Jazz beat the Pacers

[RogueBorg]

91 Pistons beat the Lakers
92 Portland beats the Cavs
93 Knicks beat the Suns
94 Bulls beat the Rockets if the Bulls aquire a good SG.
95 Rockets beat Magic
96 Sonics Beat the Knicks
97 Jazz beat the Heat
98 Jazz beat the Pacers

I like it. It would've been hard to beat the Rockets with Jordan in '94. I don't think they beat them without him.

[getting_old]

You think if 1994 Pip had another Pip to work with (like MJ did) they don't win multiple chips? :lol


watching Pippen 1 and Pippen 2 quit on the Bulls at the same time would have been awesome

[Phoenix]

91 Pistons beat the Lakers
92 Portland beats the Cavs
93 Knicks beat the Suns
94 Bulls beat the Rockets if the Bulls aquire a good SG.
95 Rockets beat Magic
96 Sonics Beat the Knicks
97 Jazz beat the Heat
98 Jazz beat the Pacers

The irony about the argument that 'the Pistons were old in 91' that I hear around here, is that the Bulls were probably the only team keeping them from 3-peating. I think the Pistons beat LA too( probably in 7).

Just think of all the legacies and where guys like Ewing and Malone would be viewed nowadays if the above scenarios happened.

[RogueBorg]

The irony about the argument that 'the Pistons were old in 91' that I hear around here, is that the Bulls were probably the only team keeping them from 3-peating. I think the Pistons beat LA too( probably in 7).

Just think of all the legacies and where guys like Ewing and Malone would be viewed nowadays if the above scenarios happened.

It's really far reaching into the future as well. What does Kobe become if he has no one to pattern his game after? What happens to Lebron if there's no ghost to chase?
Also, what happens with the Dream Team? Do they have the same global effect as they had and if not, what is the international effect on the NBA?

[Phoenix]

It's really far reaching into the future as well. What does Kobe become if he has no one to pattern his game after? What happens to Lebron if there's no ghost to chase?
Also, what happens with the Dream Team? Do they have the same global effect as they had and if not, what is the international effect on the NBA?

Yep. Kobe's influences would instead be someone like Drexler or even.....Penny? Difficult to say who he uses for inspiration. He would definitely be a different player from what we got.

The marketability of the Dream Team hinged on this 'dream' team-up of MJ/Magic/Bird( albeit the latter two being past their prime, but back then there was still a mystique about it). I don't think the world would be quite as enamoured with the team if the highlight names were Barkley, Drexler and Ewing( popular names within the NBA landscape, but not on a global scale like the trinity were).

[97 bulls]

What if Jordan didn't have Phil and had a different coach running a different system ? Jordan scores like crazy and is still considered top ten greatest ever but only probably wins two rings everyone else Charles, Malone, Payton; New York get their rings, this is a fact, I don't believe a different coach handles Rodman like Phil demanding respect and don't even sign Rodman I believe if it was a different coach they replace the players after Jordan gets his two championships, the team doesn't get better with the right additions and the correct playoff adjustments.


The irony about the argument that 'the Pistons were old in 91' that I hear around here, is that the Bulls were probably the only team keeping them from 3-peating. I think the Pistons beat LA too( probably in 7).

Just think of all the legacies and where guys like Ewing and Malone would be viewed nowadays if the above scenarios happened.

Ewing, Thomas, and especially Malone. Malone finished 2nd in scoring to Jordan 5 times if I remember correctly. If he had 2 Championships, 5 scoring titles, 2 Finals MVPs, and 3 MVPs. He'd probably be top 5.

[getting_old]

Ewing, Thomas, and especially Malone. Malone finished 2nd in scoring to Jordan 5 times if I remember correctly. If he had 2 Championships, 5 scoring titles, 2 Finals MVPs, and 3 MVPs. He'd probably be top 5.


for us older folks, Malone can mean:

Moses, a warrior on the boards and a champion; or

Karl, who disappeared in the last 2 minutes of every single clutch game

[FKAri]

91 Pistons beat the Lakers
92 Portland beats the Cavs
93 Knicks beat the Suns
94 Bulls beat the Rockets if the Bulls aquire a good SG.
95 Rockets beat Magic
96 Sonics Beat the Knicks
97 Jazz beat the Heat
98 Jazz beat the Pacers

How the hell do the Bulls beat the Rockets in 94?

One thing to consider is if MJ never stayed healthy, the Bulls would never have filled their squad with the kind of talent to even consider going for a run. They'd be a treadmill team. Pippen would still be good but never become the player he became under MJ. MJ wouldn't be pushing him. He'd be focusing on his own rehab. A lot of the pieces the Bulls actually acquired would never be in Chicago if MJ isn't healthy.

[97 bulls]

How the hell do the Bulls beat the Rockets in 94?

One thing to consider is if MJ never stayed healthy, the Bulls would never have filled their squad with the kind of talent to even consider going for a run. They'd be a treadmill team. Pippen would still be good but never become the player he became under MJ. MJ wouldn't be pushing him. He'd be focusing on his own rehab. A lot of the pieces the Bulls actually acquired would never be in Chicago if MJ isn't healthy.
I agree. There's a lot of moving parts. I'm assuming a situation where Jordan doesn't exist. But everything else remains the same. All the draft picks, and moves etc. But the Bulls aquire a good SG in 94. If they don't? Then obviously the Bulls don't win at all.

[JBSptfn]

Another "what if": What if MJ was actually traded to the Clippers in 1988? At that time, some saw him as a ball hog, and there were questions about him ever being able to win a title.

Apparently, the Clippers were going to send the #1 and #6 picks in the 88 draft to the Bulls, along with any three players that they wanted off of the Clippers' roster:

https://www.sportscasting.com/a-look-back-on-the-crazy-trade-that-nearly-sent-michael-jordan-to-the-los-angeles-clippers-in-1988/

[Axe]

How the hell do the Bulls beat the Rockets in 94?

One thing to consider is if MJ never stayed healthy, the Bulls would never have filled their squad with the kind of talent to even consider going for a run. They'd be a treadmill team. Pippen would still be good but never become the player he became under MJ. MJ wouldn't be pushing him. He'd be focusing on his own rehab. A lot of the pieces the Bulls actually acquired would never be in Chicago if MJ isn't healthy.
Doesn't matter. They made the playoffs one time in the 90s without him anyway.

[Thenameless]

Does Magic Johnson still retire? He started hiding from MJ\Pippen after the 1991 lost i think. He wasted 3-4 prime years because of a disease on his dick and knew he couldn't beat MJ\Pippen.

What's Kawhi hiding from then with all his load management and fake injuries? You can't convince anyone that a little side bump from Joe Ingles took out an athlete in his prime. He came to LA wearing his pretend crown and hasn't done dick all since.