What one event in basketball history would you change that would have the most significant long-term effect? This does not have to be Boston specific.
With your handle, that's not a big surprise.Len Bias was first to pop in my head too
Celts win the 1997 lottery.
These have to be the answer. As bosockboy notes, though - if Bias's career pans out, the Celtics probably aren't in a position to be eligible for the 1997 lottery. And it'd be easy to think that putting The Big Fundamental in green just turns The Spurs Dynasty into the Celtics dynasty, but SoSH recently relived the Joe Forte or Tony Parker swing and a miss. It goes without saying that the Pitino era in Boston ends differently with Duncan anchoring the squad, but Pitino is no Popovich.Take the coke away from Len and explain to him that he had a heart condition.
I was looking up the Bird stuff and ran across this article where Ainge may be replaced with Bird and Bird was praised for trading Kawhi Leonard for George HillBias is the obv #1 so I'll take a pass here and go with.......
Red Auerbach putting sentiments aside when he had the deals for the corpses of Bird and McHale on the table to reload on the fly. He'd then have had the Parish, DJ and Ainge deals to follow and set us up to contend throughout the 90's.
Fortunately for us, Ainge openly admits to wondering what the heck Red was doing while learning from this in making the monumental Brooklyn trade w Pierce and KG.
This is mine as well. Obvious bonus is that his dad doesn’t get murdered.2. Michael Jordan doesn't "retire". For this one we may have to include saving his father's life. The Bulls maybe win 6-7 championships in a row, and there's no discussion for the GOAT
Man, that was also bad. And not just Hardaway, even without hitting a home run they could have at least gotten someone to help those late Bird teams.Smaller scale--passing on Tim Hardaway for Michael Smith in the 1989 draft. We needed a home run that year and whiffed.
oops, forum mistake tooWhat one event in basketball history would you change that would have the most significant long-term effect? This does not have to be Boston specific.
Charmed life, no doubt, but it was some very lean years from Bird's prime to Pierce's prime. And pre-KG, the Pierce Celtics were watchable, but never really a contender aside from that charmed 2002 run. We had posters here making fun of Vin Baker's alcoholism - it just wasn't an era that made either players or fans look good.All things considered, Celtics fans have lived a charmed life. There have been tragedies and lean years, but the Celtics have been almost constantly relevant and enjoyable. There's a throughline to be drawn from Russell to Bird to Pierce to Garnett to IT4 to today.
That probably would have required Perkins not getting hurt during 2010 game 6.Bias situation is good. More recently, I wish KG didn't get hurt the year after the title. I think they could've 3-peated.
This is the answer if we're in this as individuals. I want to make sweet sweet love to that story every time it comes up in conversation.Scrounge like crazy for a couple hundred grand to buy a 10% share of the ABA Spirits of St. Louis, just before they signed the settlement with the NBA for the perpetual 1/17 share of league broadcast revenues.
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/31/sports/sp-aba31
That's fair. I was excited for Gary Payton in green.Charmed life, no doubt, but it was some very lean years from Bird's prime to Pierce's prime. And pre-KG, the Pierce Celtics were watchable, but never really a contender aside from that charmed 2002 run. We had posters here making fun of Vin Baker's alcoholism - it just wasn't an era that made either players or fans look good.
Tim Duncan would have made us all quickly forget the missed opportunity of Paul Pierce. Give me the top 10'ish player of all time over a completely awesome story in Pierce any dayI think the 1997 Draft is completely overblown. For starters, we likely don’t get Pierce in 1998 draft, which would have hurt.
You would have had a top 10 player for just a few years. Give me Pierce for his career over 4 years of Duncan.Tim Duncan would have made us all quickly forget the missed opportunity of Paul Pierce. Give me the top 10'ish player of all time over a completely awesome story in Pierce any day
Duncan despised Pitino, and that draft occurred before rookie scale pay. He would have been gone in two years and Boston would have ended up with nothing.Tim Duncan would have made us all quickly forget the missed opportunity of Paul Pierce. Give me the top 10'ish player of all time over a completely awesome story in Pierce any day
Good move except Gaston and M.L. Carr would still be around. Well, Gaston was going to be around either way, unless...How about... not hiring Pitino and Chris Wallace in 1997?
This andOlder: Portland drafts Jordan
Newer: OKC wins game 6 against the Warriors in 2016.
Portland has an absurdly long sad history when it comes to drafting big men:Older: Portland drafts Jordan
Any scenario where Russell doesn't play in Boston changes history dramatically.Suppose Bill Russell had signed with the Globetrotters?
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2016/06/22/bill-russell