5 Biggest What If’s in NBA History.

1. What if the Pistons don’t draft Darko? – In the 2003 NBA Draft Lebron James was the obvious #1 pick. Three other players on the board were coming off remarkable college seasons. Chris Bosh a 6’10 Power Forward from Georgia Tech, Dwayne Wade who was coming off a terrific NCAA tournament run, leading Marquette to the Final Four, and Carmelo Anthony who led Syracuse to the National Championship as a Freshman. The Detroit Pistons had the #2 pick and were coming off a 50-win season and a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. How did one of the best teams in the league that year end up with the #2 pick in the draft you ask? Thank Ortis Thorpe for that, in 1997 as part of a trade with Vancouver for the veteran Power forward, Detroit received a protected pick. After a 28-win season for the Grizzlies, the Pistons ended up holding the #2 pick in a loaded draft. Joe Dumars the two-time NBA champion was the General manager, and they were replacing Rick Carlise with legendary coach Larry Brown, the belief was even if the Pistons missed, they couldn’t miss. Detroit shot an airball. Instead of selecting from a trio of Hall of Famers, they picked 18-year-old Darko Milicic from Serbia. What’s so perplexing about the pick is the fact that even at the time no one really understood why the Pistons were doing this. It wasn’t as if Milicic was some phenom, he was a young player from Europe at a time when European players were still only making marginal impacts in the game. Most people agreed that Lebron and Melo were the best players available and that Wade was a close third. I don’t recall anyone claiming that Milicic going to be a great player, except for Jay Bilias who prefaced it with the caveat “has a chance”

2. What if Isaiah Thomas doesn’t get injured in game 6? – In game 6 of the NBA Finals the Detroit Pistons looked ready to dethrone the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Pistons had spent years battling one of the great dynasties of the era the Boston Celtics only to find themselves staring at another one in the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite that Detroit held a 3-2 series lead headed back to LA for Game 6. In the third quarter, Hall of Fame PG Isaiah Thomas suffered a severely sprained ankle. He returns to put on a magnificent performance scoring 25 points in the third giving the Pistons an opportunity to win the title. They would ultimately lose by one, which forced a game 7 on the Laker’s home court. Thomas who played 44 minutes in the game before was only able to play 22 minutes finishing with 10 points in a game the Pistons lost by three.

3. What if Pop doesn’t sub out Duncan in game 6? – In Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the Spurs looked to be on the brink of one of the biggest upsets in Championship history, holding a 3-2 series lead and a five-point game lead with under 30 seconds remaining. With the Spurs on defense Hall of Fame coach, Greg Popovich decides to take out Duncan to give his team the opportunity to switch all screens. The Heat would retrieve offensive rebounds first on a brick from Lebron that bounced back to him allowing him to calmly sink a three to cut it to two. Then after Kawhi Leonard split a pair of free throws, Lebron would miss another three only to have the ball rebounded by Chris Bosh, who had the advantage of not having to contend with Duncan. The ball was quickly kicked to Ray Allen, who set his feet behind the three-point line to hit the game-tying three. The Heat would go on to win the series in 7.

4. What if Robert Horry never hip-checks Steve Nash? – The 2007 NBA playoffs were one of the wildest postseasons in history. The 8th seeded Golden State Warriors knocked off the team with the best record, the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, and the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the top-seeded Pistons in the East, which had been to 5 straight Conference Finals. Because of these upsets, the winner of the 2 v 3 matchup in the Western Conference would have home court advantage throughout. The 2nd seeded Phoenix Suns had homecourt and the league MVP in Steve Nash. Trailing 2 games to 1 against the Spurs, the Suns would rally to get a crucial game 4 victory in San Antonio. During the waning minutes of the game, Steve Nash pushed the ball upcourt, only to be cut off by Robert Horry, instead of drawing the charge, Horry hip-checked the reigning MVP, sending him flying into the scorer’s table. The violent collision caused Suns starters Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw to step onto the court, a violation punishable by a 1 game suspension. The irony of the situation was that neither did anything to escalate the altercation and there was much speculation that Stoudemire was running in to check on the well-being of his teammate, meanwhile, Horry who was a role player was also suspended for game 5. In the end, the Suns got the short end of the stick, missing two valuable starters for the pivotal game 5 at home. Although the undermanned Suns fought gallantly they would lose the contest 88-85.

5. What if Scottie Pippen doesn’t have a migraine in game 7? – By the time the 1990 season rolled around, it was apparent to everyone that it was Michael Jordan’s time. That is everyone except the defending champion Detroit Pistons. Behind their trademarked Jordan rules the Pistons harrassed and hammered the league’s best player for 6 games. The Eastern Conference Final would be decided in a game 7 to be played in Michigan. The Pistons were the champs, but the Bulls had Jordan, and all he would need was a little help from his supporting cast, specifically Scottie Pippen the 3rd year player from a small NAIA school in Arkansas had emerged as the perfect complement to MJ. Unfortunately on the day of the game, Pippen would suffer the Migraine heard around the world. Popular myth is that Pippen didn’t participate in the game, but he did, in fact, he played 42 minutes. The problem was he essentially spent his time getting his cardio in. Pippen made one field goal. finishing with 2 total points for the game. Much like he did every night, Jordan carried the Bulls leading the team in points and assists, but it wasn’t enough as the Pistons won en route to winning back-to-back NBA titles.