the what-if teams

once in a while, you wonder what would happen if certain trades/signing had actually happened or not happened. think about it.

what if stephon marbury didn't force the trade that sent him to jersey (then phoenix, then new york)? he would still be in minnesota with KG. the wolves would be a perennial playoff team at the very least. i remember when they played sonics in the first round and they almost made it to 2nd round. now neither of them are going anywhere fast. those two compliment each other well, with steph more of a scorer and KG having a lot of play making skills. a modern do-it-all version of stockton-to-malone. championship caliber team with a 3rd scorer and decent team defense. they were that close.

what if tim duncan signed with magic and grant hill was healthy? they would be the most dominant 2-3-4 combination of all time. a dynamic scorer with mcgrady, a do-it-all playmaker (possibly point forward) with hill, and one of the best low post player in duncan. how is this not automatically a championship caliber team? if they have one decent center and a servicable point guard who can bring the ball up and shoot the wide open 3s that the superstars would create, they'd have challenged and possibly beat the 3-peat lakers.

what if damon stoudamire, camby, carter, and mcgrady weren't traded and are all still in toronto? that's a frightening starting lineup capable of playing wreckneck speed basketball. a typical sequence would start with a camby block, with damon pushing the ball and two of the best finishers in the game running the wings. how do you stop that?

and don't even get me started on the warriors. carter, antawn jamison, webber, penny, gilbert arenas, larry hughes were all warriors (or at least drafted by the warriors) one time or another. simply ridiculous.