As the NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary, we'll be making bold assumptions about a series of events throughout history to see how these subtle changes affect the trajectory of the league.
The other world is tangent to ours – everything is devastated. You wear a short purple skirt, covered with a dust cloth to cover the transparent hanger; the sun is glaring slightly blue. —Dick Allen
It is worth noting that the famous poet who wrote the preface to the multiverse theory above and recently won the award is not the straight-line batsman in Major League Baseball who does not play by the rules. By the way, this batsman should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Given his elusive personality and penchant for shoveling dirt with spikes ("Oct. 2," "Cocaine," and "Boo" are advised to go online for yourself), Allen is sure to be a big fan of the multiverse, especially in the 1969 season, when he was willing to be teleported to other worlds, when he was resentfully forced to take on patrol defensive duties at first base, when he was resentfully forced to take on patrol defensive duties at first base, especially in the 1969 season, when he was resentfully forced to take on patrol defensive duties at first base.
To celebrate the NBA's 75th anniversary, the NBA league will select the 75 greatest players in history during this period, giving young fans a chance to ask, "Wait a minute, who is Dolf Sheyes?" "These kinds of questions. Here, we take you on an exploration of the NBA Multiverse, listing 10 conjectures that have the potential to change the history of the NBA League.
By chance, I had the privilege of participating in the NBA's 50 superstars 25 years ago, and I'm still sober enough to vote for the 75 superstars. I must add that I was not yet born when the league was first founded in 1946 and was still called the National Basketball Association (BAA). Well, not so long. I landed in 1949, months after the Minneapolis Lakers defeated washington Congress to win the first of five straight championships. Remember that the head coach of the Congress team at that time was Arnold Auerbach, who was not very famous at the time and was a cigar lover.
Here are 10 bold conjectures of what would have happened if this had happened. You can also come up with your own hypotheses and list them yourself if available.
1. What would have happened if Danny Biazorne's ship had been repatriated to Italy?
Biasson arrived at Ellis Island by boat with his mother and brother when he was 10 years old, but the ship was detained in New York City harbor for about a week. Because there was a flu outbreak spreading on board at the time, customs office officials delayed for nearly a week before approving everyone to disembark (not understanding why. Can you imagine something like this happening in this day and age? ）。 After arriving in the United States, the entrepreneurial Biazorne bought a bowling alley, and later bought the Syracuse Nationals. It was he who came up with the concept of a 24-second offensive time frame that saved the NBA league from an existential crisis.
In the early days of the NBA, procrastination tactics were a way for a team to pass the ball endlessly to each other on the outside to maintain their lead, which has become a recognized winning strategy for teams. (For whatever reason, the practice of restraining this strategy in double-bag clips, or even three-man packs, to force the opposing side to execute the offense has not become popular.) Imagine Hubby Brown seeing the team adopt procrastination tactics in the game... On November 22, 1950, in that famous Fort Wayne Pistons 19-18 win over the Minneapolis Lakers, all the fans on the court were sleepy. Pistons highest scoring player John Oldham scored just five points, while Lakers star center George McCann scored 15 of the team's 18 points.
Born in the small town of Milianico at the foot of the Apennine Mountains, Villathorne, after seeing the phenomenon of the Alliance, felt that something must change. As the fans continued to lose, a few years later, Biazorne and the team's general manager Leo Felice worked out that in the game where the team scored relatively "normal", each team would shoot an average of about 60 shots, adding up to about 120, so they divided 2880 (that is, the game time was converted into seconds) by 120, and the result came out!
Now it seems that will anyone else come up with the concept of an offensive time frame? There's no doubt it will. But who's sure it's still 24 seconds, a mathematical result that currently seems perfect? It's like the length of a basketball court is 90 feet. Maybe the time limit could be 28 seconds? Or even 30 seconds? 40 seconds?
Add fact 1: Late Dorf Sheyes became the league's first true superstar. The 6-foot-8-tall all-around player, who was already in the league's Top 50 stars (and will most likely remain on the 75ers' roster this time), took part in a trial offensive time-bound tournament in August 1954, a system that was officially implemented in the 1954-55 season, and although many had doubts about it, it has been used ever since.
Add fact 2: Aptly, the Nationals led by Biazorne and Sheyes won the league championship in the first season of the implementation of the offensive time limit.
Add fact 3: Shayes's son, center Danny Shayes, played 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for seven teams. His previous four years of playing at Syracuse University were not less than the rants of Jim Boynheim.
2. What if Ben Korner was more resourceful? Or at least a bigger picture?
The St. Louis Eagles owner has insisted he knows what the price will be paid in the deal to send Bill Russell. He sent his 1956 rookie Russell to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Cliff Hagen and "Simple Ed" Ed McCauley. But Cornell said he would do it because he needed Macaulay and the team needed the Missouri native, a St. Louis university star, to boost box office revenue. Besides, "Simple Ed" is the MVP of the first NBA All-Star Game and is a pretty good player.
But the more important reason is that St. Louis is a city of great racism, and to put it mildly, Russell wasn't loved by fans at the time.
The Hawks at Cornell also won a championship once in 1958. But Russell brought Boston more than a dynasty, and he single-handedly changed the style of play in the league. Through his super ability to block opponents' shots, control rebounds, launch fast attacks and end scores, he laid the Celtics' defensive counterattack and rapid conversion tactical ideas.
If the Hawks keep Bill Russell on their own, will they have a chance to become one of the most successful teams in the history of the league? --John. G. Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated
3. What if the Dodgers and Giants didn't relocate to the West Coast?
The westward expansion of the world of sports was once considered a revolutionary venture proposal. Everyone in the sports world, including Minneapolis Lakers owner Bob Schoart, was eager to figure out how the transcontinental relocation would affect the two new York baseball teams, and eventually the Dodgers and Giants realized their California dreams in 1958. It turned out to be a great result, so Scholt, with the mentality of staging a good play, took the superstar Elgin Baylor and later picked Jerry West as the founding capital, rejected the cold wind of Chicago, and threw himself into the bright and warm embrace of Los Angeles.
Were there other teams that originally intended to do this? There will definitely be. But maybe it's no longer the Lakers, and we'll never be able to witness West, the timeless symbol of Los Angeles, and later known as the performances. The Los Angeles Lakers have become a household name, and we've long forgotten other team names that aren't as apt as the Utah Jazz.
4. What if Jerry Colangelo had chosen the other side of the coin?
Throughout the history of the NBA league, the strength of the draft champions has occurred from time to time, which means that one of the rookies is above everyone else, and there is no need to discuss the ownership of the winners. To name a few, magic Johnson in 1979, Shaquille O'Neal in 1992, Tim Duncan in 1997 and LeBron James in 2003. But in my mind, the most typical example in history is the 1969 draft, when Lu Alcindo became the best candidate for the title, the result will be decided by two expansion teams that have just joined the league for the second year, the Suns in the West (16 wins and 66 losses in 1968-69) and the Bucks in the East (27 wins and 55 losses in 1968-69). (I believe Alcindo must have thought, why can't it be between Los Angeles and New York?) ）
Colangelo made the right bet, and the Bucks won the coin toss. And Alcindo immediately brought about a seismic change for Milwaukee. In his second season, he teamed up with point guard Oscar Robertson to help the team win the championship. The Suns, who only got the picks, chose center Neil Walker, and the Phoenix did not reach the Finals until 1976 and lost to the Boston Celtics. Alcindo, later renamed Karim Abdul-Jabbar, voluntarily applied to leave Milwaukee, but the Bucks already had their own championship title and didn't win their second championship in franchise history until 2021.
The Phoenix Suns have never won a championship. If they had won the coin toss and opted for Karim Abdul-Jabbar, perhaps the team would not still be hungry for the first championship trophy in team history. —Neil-Livel, Sports Illustrated
5. What if "going back to school for another year" didn't scare off the vast majority of people at the time?
At the time, Larry Bird's idea of going back to college geography for another year and refusing to go to the NBA league to break free was a bit strange for many teams. It was Bird's decision in 1978, when he was already eligible for the NBA because he had already finished his college course. (Bird was first admitted to Indiana University in 1974, playing for the Mountain Men for a year before leaving Bloomington, and another year at junior college.)
Bird's choice to return to Indiana State contributed to two things: First, the pinnacle matchup that Bird still remembers vividly, with the Michigan State basketball team led by sophomore Magic Johnson in the 1979 NCAA final. Second, it scared off five teams that were reluctant to wait an extra year for top talent, including Bird's hometown team, the Indiana Pacers, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Kansas Kings, the New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors.
Yet only the Boston Celtics and Auerbach were curious but determined: "Don't worry, the league worked fine in 1979, and it has been the same since then." So he selected Bird and tolerated the dismal 1978-79 Celtics' dismal record of only 29 wins and 53 losses without Bird, but the following season, Bird not only won the rookie of the year, but also greatly increased the number of wins to 61, and finally led the Celtics to the Finals five times, including three championships.
6. If the Portland Trail Blazers hadn't been so fond of... Jim Paxon?
The Portland Trail Blazers skipped Michael Jordan in favor of Sam Bowie in the 1984 draft, and the main reason for this can always be summed up as the value of the interior players in the 80s. There is no doubt about that. The second reason is less convincing, and that's about Clyde Drexler, the Blazers already have a "glider" and don't want to choose another shooting guard, or more specifically, a shooting guard like Jordan who is athletic and passionate.
But more people forget that the Rose City didn't want Jordan at the time because there was also a star-level point guard, Jim Parkerson, who averaged nearly 21 points per game in 1983-84. And Drexler, who was still a rookie on the team at the time? In the 1983–84 season, he entered the team's starting lineup only three times, averaging only 17 minutes of playing time, and the rotation status ranked 8th in the team. Needless to say, they pinned their hopes on the gliders themselves for the future success of the team, but as far as the situation was concerned, the Portlanders loved Paxon, which played a fairly important role in the decision not to choose Jordan.
We won't let go of the Trail Blazers so easily. Every team has a hard time looking back on the draft or player changes, but this is not the first time, nor the last time the Portland Trail Blazers have made an inexplicable draft decision, let's review it chronologically:
In 1972, the Blazers selected Center Larou Martin of Loyola University Chicago, who may be the worst champion in NBA history. They had the opportunity to choose Bob McAdoo, who would later become the top spot, or the rookie in the 11th place, whose name I can't remember for a while... I try to recall... Remember, Julius Owen!
Three years later, the Blazers picked Moses Malone in the ABA disbanded draft, and when he finished playing preseason for the team, the team decided to trade Moses Malone to Buffalo Braves because they didn't feel they could afford Malone's salary, or because they didn't want to coach a player like Malone, or because they thought that only Bill Walton needed a center, ignoring the fact that Moses Malone could completely transform into a big forward, or for the above 3 reasons, decided to trade Moses Malone to the Buffalo Braves. He only got a first-round pick as a chip, and later used that pick to select Rick Robbie.
In 2007, the Blazers completely ignored Kevin Durant, a first-year University of Texas student with a thin body but good shooting and rebounding, and chose center Greg Auden with a pick. Proponents of this choice cite a serious knee injury that limits Auden's athletic prospects, claiming that he has only played a total of 1 and a half seasons in the NBA, not because of lack of strength, but entirely due to injury. But I have to say that you are very wrong, if you choose 1000 more times, Kevin Durant is the right choice.
So out of pure curiosity, we laid out a lineup that the Trail Blazers refused to have: Byrd and Durant, Moses Malone as center, Jordan at the backcourt, plus a reliable organizational guard, Quinn Buckner (Portland skipped him in the 1976 draft and chose Wally Walker). How strong the pitch is is known.
7. What if Dork Rivers allowed magic players to bring their families on the road?
In the summer of 2000, most commentators thought Tim Duncan was leaving San Antonio. Thinking that there was no so-called "Spurs culture" at that time, Greg Popovich had not yet become a god, but a head coach who led the team to a lucky championship in a shrinking season. David Robinson is ready to leave the team, and Grant Hill (or maybe Tracy McGrady) will be a trade chip to come to the Spurs. If there is anyone most likely to travel to Florida, it must be Tim Duncan. Orlando's climate is a second St. Croix compared to San Antonio, duncan's beloved hometown.
While all odds point to Disney World's new interior stars, the situation took a sharp turn after Duncan visited the Magic. Sources pointed out that Duncan was quite unhappy with a request made by Rivers at that time, that is, the player was not allowed to board the team plane with his family.
Because one of the sources was Hill himself, and the story was later corroborated by Duncan's old teammate Bruce Bowen at the Spurs, I tended to believe that claim. (The truth is always hard to come by, or anything is hard to know from Duncan's mouth) But the more popular reason is that after returning from Orlando, Duncan's meeting with Popovich was an important factor in his final decision to stay. Despite his grumpy nature in public, Popovich has always been able to show a kind and charismatic side when needed, and he and Duncan have always had a tacit understanding.
We have every reason to believe that if Duncan can join and team up with McGrady, it may win 2 or 3 championships for the Magic, and the number of Championships will naturally decrease. Keep in mind, though, that in the early 2000s, hill was plagued by an ankle injury for a long time, and the team could rely on duncan and Maddy' two superstars. Is that enough to make the Magic a championship team? In fact, Maddy's Magic team broke through the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for three consecutive years, losing to three different opponents, the Bucks, the Hornets and the Pistons. With Duncan's help, the team would have been able to go further.
8. What if the inexplicable succession of point guard miselections in 2009 didn't happen?
There were a number of outstanding offensive organizers in the 2009 draft, but the Timberwolves preferred the most maverick path, picking organizational defenders in two consecutive high picks, namely Ricky Rubio at no. 5 and Johnny Flynn at no. 6, and it may take the team's defenders to single out the winner before deciding who controls the ball. The entire league was shocked at the time, and Rubio is said to be at least a year away from entering the NBA. (He actually spent another 2 years in Spain after being selected.) But to be fair, he grew into a good professional player) As for Flynn, although his performance at Syracuse University is indeed remarkable, no one will sign him with the top 10 picks. His draft quotes could have soared, at least for Minnesota, for one game, and that was the thrilling, gut-pounding 6 overtime battle at the Great East Division Championship, in which Flynn scored a game-high 34 points, including 16 free throws, and played 67 minutes without showing fatigue. It was indeed a classic game, but...
The only one after the two of them is the one-of-a-kind Stephen Curry! In addition, the more reliable point guards selected after Flynn include Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague and Darren Collison, not to mention the two-powered defenders such as Juju Holliday. Flynn played just 163 games in his NBA career, playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers before moving overseas to australia, China and Italy.
9. What if the Oklahoma Thunder decided to abandon Russell Westbrook?
The Oklahoma Thunder may not have really realized what they had gained when they drafted James Harden in the 2009 draft pick, with Blake Griffin (understandably) and Hashemite Tabik, who is 7 feet 3, tall (a completely unacceptable choice). To be fair, no one in the league can accurately predict the future, and everyone would think that Harden will take on the role of super substitute for the team, not only to fill the remaining playing time behind Durant and Russell Westbrook, but also to share the role player tasks of Saab Seflosha (defensive expert) and Jeff Green (not a defensive expert).
At that time, Durant, Westbrook and Harden were already considered the Thunder's big three, and also led the team to the 2012 Finals (defeated by the Heat), and Harden hoped to get the same maximum salary contract extension as Du and Wei, but it seemed incompatible with the team's plan. Eventually, the Thunder traded Harden out in December 2012, which was also seen as a business decision made by small-market teams to avoid paying luxury taxes.
So why didn't you choose to trade Westbrook in the first place? He was considered a talented and sometimes overly reckless player, wasn't he? Can the combination of Durant and Harden lead the Thunder all the way to defeat the enemy? Will Durant want to abandon Harden and choose the toughest road to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 offseason? If paired with a pass-first organizational guard, can Harden grow up with the Thunder like he did under Houston Rockets coach De Anthony? Will that make Durant a more lethal scoring weapon? (To be sure, we have a chance to witness the answer to that question this season, with the duo playing side by side in Brooklyn all year round) If Westbrook were traded to Houston, or another City team, would they be able to free their hands and play the same triple-doubles season as "Big O" Oscar Robertson?
The final point of view: the choice of trading to send Harden away, or the operation of not paying the luxury tax, all show that the team has some doubts about whether the big three can coexist harmoniously, and also confirm the popular theory that a basketball is not enough to score more than one superstar. However, years after the trio disbanded, Durant, Curry and Thompson found a perfect way to coexist in San Francisco and worked together to win two consecutive championships.
Can the duo of Durant and Harden lead the Thunder to victory in the mid-2010s? —Greg Nelson, Sports Illustrated
10. What if the Chicago Bulls didn't let Rose play on April 28, 2012 with 1 minute and 22 seconds left in the game?
The 2012 NBA Playoffs EastBound Bulls played game 1 against the 76ers, with just five minutes left, with Chicago 93-74 ahead of their opponents by 19 points. If I had been watching the game, whether it was shouting or muttering softly, I would have been tempted to say "Hurry up and swap Rose!" "One of the things I couldn't accept the most was that the outcome of the game was timed, and the manager was hesitant to replace the main star. But I've never seen a manager agree to do that, and they all have a "anything is possible" attitude and can't help but make up for the worst situations. Maybe all managers had the same nightmare, sitting on the Knicks bench that afternoon in 1995, watching Reggie Miller score eight consecutive points in the final nine seconds of the game and give the middle finger to the audience.
Not surprisingly, under the coaching of Tom Thibodeau, Rose remained on the field after entering garbage time in this game. When he broke through the inside line in a jump, his left leg landed unnaturally and he failed to jump up again to pass the ball. It was only 1 minute and 22 seconds before the end of the game, and there was no suspense in the victory or defeat, and Rose's left knee ligament was torn, almost forever losing his athletic ability.
That's right, dozens, if not hundreds, of players whose careers have ended or been shortened by injuries, Bill Walton, Grant Hill, Brandon Roy, Yao Ming, Greg Auden, and so on. However, it seems to me that Rose's injuries are the same as theirs. He won Rookie of the Year 3 years before suffering this major injury and was named the League's Most Valuable Player of the Season 1 year. Rose is the originator of the violent point guard in recent years, with a softer shooting feel and sharper court intuition, or more accurate grasp of position, than Westbrook. His presence brought the Bulls back into the ranks of the strong, but injuries ruined it all.
When Rose was traded to New York in 2016, we could tell from the video at the time that it was really one of the saddest atmospheres in the professional sports industry. Rose, who has just turned 33, can still perform efficiently on the field, but is a bit weak on the defensive end. The people of New York love him immensely, averaging 26 minutes last season. However, if it had not been for that injury, everything might have been different.