Fun thread! Just for fun...
The Philadelphia 76ers win the 1997 NBA Draft Lottery and draft Tim Duncan #1 overall.
Larry Brown is still named coach that offseason.
They don’t trade #2 pick Keith Van Horn with Michael Cage and Lucious Harris to the Nets for Tim Thomas, Anthony Parker, Eric Montross, and Jimmy Jackson. Tom Chambers still plays one game, then retires. Dino Radja still fails his physical, nullifying trade with Boston.
A roster including…
Tim Duncan (21)
Allen Iverson (22)
Jerry Stackhouse (23)
Derrick Coleman (30)
Clarence Weatherspoon (27)
Lucious Harris (27)
Terry Cummings (older, bench guy)
and others.
In reality, the 97-98 76ers finish 31-51 and are 14th in the Eastern Conference. The 7th and 8th seed won 43 games that year… does Duncan as a rookie win them 12 more games and into the playoffs? I think so.
The Chicago Bulls swept NJ in round one and beat Charlotte 4-1 in round two, before playing seven tough games against Indiana. If a 76ers team with Duncan faces Chicago in the first or second round (#7 NY beat #2 Miami), does that take enough out of Chicago to give Indiana the edge in the ECF? If Jordan fails to achieve his second three-peat, does he decide to continue playing? That's a stretch.
Also… Sabonis comes over to Portland after the 1986 draft. Trading Larry Bird and Kevin McHale for Sam Perkins, Detlef Schrempf, etc.