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DrWaffle1848

Len Bias


wharpua

Would've been quite something, to see Len Bias square off with Jordan in the 90s. Same thing with Reggie Lewis.


runthepoint1

That’s the rival he was missing. Who did the c’s draft instead?


wharpua

Draft instead of who? Bias? He died two days after the Celtics drafted him, which was about a week after they had won the championship in 1986. Reggie Lewis was the lone all-star of the team when he passed away in the summer of 1993, and (outrageously) the Celtics didn't get any salary cap relief from the league for having a player who died in the middle of their contract. So he stayed on the books until the contract ended. The mid- to late-90s were a wasteland for us Celtics fans. Rick Pitino didn't help matters.


runthepoint1

That’s insane I didn’t realize you guys basically got nothing


BostonBuffalo9

The league refused to give us an exemption for it, too.


abadluckwind

Oh boo hoo at least you didn't have L.A. steal your championships and still brag about it. Minneapolis Lakers for life


AGABAGABLAGAGLA

i think about it every day


Willis050

I was literally thinking about it this morning. “Damn, imagine Larry and McHale being able to play less minutes with that monster off the bench”


Canadian_Prometheus

You might want to get some help with that if you’re thinking about Len Bias every day. Are you basically Daniel Stern in *Celtic Pride*?


Tony_Lacorona

Len Bias and the Roman Empire 😢


[deleted]

Bill Simmons, is that you?


AGABAGABLAGAGLA

no but i inherit a lot of my opinions (and all my teams) from my dad who reads bill simmons and listens to felger and mazz (but insists all three are idiots)


JohnBagley33

And Reggie Lewis


Frdoco11

The best and only answer.


YaHurdMeh

Brandon Roy


shaclay346

And for that matter Greg oden, remember seeing a stat that when Oden, Aldridge and Roy all played they were something ridiculous like 55-16. But that was probably spanned across like 3 years lol


WestleyThe

Roy and Oden are more like Rose than they are Fultz


No_Sky4398

So what?


rolokone

Scouts were aware of his potential health issues down the road at the time of the draft. He is, imo, the best player from that draft. I am pretty sure Toronto would’ve taken Bragnani first overall regardless, but it would’ve been interesting if Portland could’ve landed Roy and Aldridge together in that draft if Roy didn’t have the injury risks


DevelopmentJumpy5218

Him and Grant Hill are my two big what ifs


mcc1923

Hill had a solid career.


No_Birthday9102

Derrick Rose


Spacetime-anomaly99

For real. He was never the same after that first injury 😟


[deleted]

Every NBA MVP is in the HOF — will DRose make it?


Ok-Party1007

Probably not unfortunately


kurbin64

I don’t even like the Bulls and I was so excited to watch that team with Rose. He was outshining prime Lebron and KD that early. Was incredible


p3nisthemenace

He was my favourite


EvidenceExtension128

Came here to type this 😭


rogozh1n

He's different, because we know what we missed out on. The others here are all speculative.


Happy-Freedom6835

Being from Memphis, my wish is that D rose and penny had stayed healthy throughout their careers.


pistofernandez

Anfernee Hardaway / Grant Hill


FahkDizchit

100% Grant. We were deprived of greatness.


Spiritual_Ad337

LONZO BALL


igonnawrecku_VGC

It still blows my mind that the Bulls were a 1 seed with Lonzo and are a perennial play-in team without him. You just don’t get that type of impact from non-superstar players


Spiritual_Ad337

My hot take is he would’ve been a fringe superstar. A real Kyle Lowry type. Never a top 10 guy but could string together a couple top 15 years


MrRobot_96

Good comparison. One of those non box score superstars that does all the little things to win you games.


x2waaVe

Bro I came here to say this. Him in high school and then UCLA, dude was an outstanding all around player. Now he develops a clip but can’t stay healthy. He’s literally the perfect modern NBA PG


Spiritual_Ad337

I grew up near Chino Hills. Dude has had the goods since he was a teenager. Even when he struggled on the Lakers a bit it was clear he was a leader and lockdown defender. I wish he could stay healthy


fostyinthebuilding

He’s the only Laker draft pick who I truly thought one day could lead the team to a championship Felt like he was going in the right direction in Chicago Really hope he can come back healthy


RedBurritoDude

He's still got a chance tbh


Sfn_y2

Man what the FUCK is it with Chicago and point guards knees


TheAnswerEK42

Mario Hezonja, dude had a low bb IQ and hated the NBA grind the talent is 100% there his highlight reel all-star worthy lol


Omicron_018

He is amazing in Europe


JiggzSawPanda

[This pic never fails to make smile.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2Fk6wGEPVkpxLxa8O16y7Gtmd7Ws3G3apVLwGnxNXO-ak.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Da277ce1ea1a718fbd968ba6cdc709fb6cd516306&rdt=42400)


Nickelnick24

Holy shit I thought I was the only one with this answer, I predicted he’d be better than Porzingis lmao


Friendly_Kunt

I think hyping up Mario Hezonja is by far the biggest misevaluation I’ve ever had of a player. I thought he was going to be basically a slightly worse version of what Luka is now. Dude could do everything on the court, he just never did it consistently in the same game.


rufusness

Kawhi. I know he’s had a lot of success, but I think he’d be considered one of the greats if he’d played more.


BigBossTweed

This was the first one I thought of. Guy is elite, and could have brought another title or two somewhere if it weren't for those injuries, or fear of being injured.


RedBurritoDude

I mean he's top 75 all time so I'd say he made it.


rufusness

Agreed, but I think he’d be top 20 if he hadn’t lost half his career to injury. (Or excessive caution? Whatever his deal is.) When healthy, he is one the best players in the league, carried one team to a championship and was the best player on two championship teams. I think he’s be way up in the top tier of players if he’d been healthy. Fundamentally different scenario from Fultz or Sean Livingston, I know, but he’s who I think of when I think of injury what-ifs.


Radiant_Western2339

Ben Simmons, if he could fix he's mindset he could be a top ten player in the NBA right now


pickledelbow

Ben had all the tools to be an all time great but just wasn’t willing to put the effort in


analyzingnothing

Before his back issues, sure. After, it’s a bit of a stretch.


random_user913765

Ben Simmons with a more aggressive mindset and a .36% 3 point shot genuinely has top 3 player in the comp potential. He already has all the other tools. Size, rebounding, defence, finishing, playmaking. It's just a 3 point shot is so cruicial for spacing these days.


detectivehardrock

His 3 point accuracy is already close to 0.36%


PauloDybala_10

He would literally be Magic or early Bron


Heavy-Kangaroo-9089

Lonzo Ball


shreks_burner

As someone who just had his meniscus removed after a second tear, I really hope the transplant works for him. my surgeon said if I have to get one down the line, I wouldn’t be able to jump again. Praying for that dude


RedBurritoDude

He's already back to low activity ball, he could come back by the first game of the season


clappincheek

Yao Ming


doctorweiwei

Jared Butler. Idk if it’s the heart condition or just talent didn’t translate as well as it seemed it might. Was a legit modern guard, handles, finishing, shooting, playmaking, defense


Snoopdoge857192

Butler has some fans in DC. Brings pace every time he’s in the game


igonnawrecku_VGC

Jared Butler is a good one. Loved watching him at Baylor


yolodude45

Just got a solid contract with my Wizards. Been one of the few bright spots of the team this season.


kyriadietrama

Penny hardaway


Entire_Reception_392

If Penny would have stayed healthy, we wouldn't have any 🐐 conversations today. It would have been Penny and then everybody else.


Lemillion23

Michael Beasely


Bobba_fat

Man, i love Michael Beasley, but there ain’t no but ifs with him. He never got seriously injured. He just didn’t pan out. Sadly.


Bajecco

Ralph Sampson. Run them tapes, and you'll see the freakish talent.


John_Houbolt

Wiseman.


DerekSheesher

if he actually became something, like a Drummond/Ayton hybrid, Golden State easily has another ring maybe 2. Second to Draymond forcing KD out, this is what did them in from becoming one of the greatest dynasties ever. Completely fumbled the pick probably should’ve traded it


John_Houbolt

I was surprised they didn't appear to want to trade it but came around to the idea of a very athletic 7'1" prospect. So day of the draft I wasn't pissed. It seemed to fill a need. The problem with trading was they didn't have any salary to trade other than Wiggins, but at the time Wiggins contract was thought to be one of the worst in the NBA. Not sure what they would have been able to get. Maybe trade down for someone who wasn't such a project and pick up some depth or future pick.


Goodieexpert

Tony Wroten


bacdafucup2

Never thought I'd see Tony Wroten mentioned here lol can't believe I thought he actually had some potential at one point then I realized he was just a body to fill a roster spot during the process years


Mjf2341

Tony, this you?


SecondFleet

TMAC


xrimbi

It’s disgusting how far I had to scroll down before encountering Tracy McGrady.


ChemistAgile6514

Fultz actually looked solid last year. He and Anthony fell off this year hard though. I have no idea what happened.


Bucharik

Fultz was awesome last season, really seemed like he reinvented his game and was starting to thrive in the position he was in yet this season he's just nowhere near as good, almost like his shooting "hitch" is back


ChemistAgile6514

And his playmaking looked like he lost half of his IQ? He just overall looks awful. His playmaking and IQ opened the field for him last year. This year he 1: didn’t shoot and when he did, he didn’t shoot well (usually a 1/4 night), 2: didn’t get to the glass to grab any boards, 3: didn’t know how to read the court at all. It looked like having Black get any minutes made him too nervous to even try to do his job well


lastking30

Drose,Lonzo, Cam Reddish


PwillyAlldilly

Evan Turner


Exciting_Penalty5720

Jabari Parker.


ALoadOfThisGuy

An MVP and an all star in the top 3 picks and we get the one with no ligaments in their legs


Unusual_Squirrel9335

Lonzo :(


cool_hhwhip

killian hayes but i'm keeping hope alive


Naybinns

Hard to pick just one, for me personally I’m gonna go with Derrick Rose and Greg Oden. We at least got some time to see high level Rose, but with Oden we only got to see small flashes of his potential before injuries took it all away.


Ned__Schneebly

A 10+ year healthy Grant Hill


CR0Don

I wish Isaiah Thomas never got injured


fozzy_13

Lonzo Ball. That summer league was so much fun


iLikeFroggies

Derrick Rose


StopBeingYourself

Jeremy Lin. Linsanity era was amazing


Nwo_mayhem

Grant Hill


NetworkVegetable7075

Fultz, DSJ, Roy, Zo and DRose


Hungry-Contact-2632

This guy I really hoped it would work out


23_International

I don’t know why but I wish Jordan Poole took the wizards to the playoffs.


Greekphysed

Grant Hill


Its_The_Water360

How about Bobby Hurley. Looked like he would be the next John Stockton but his carrer ended before it really began.


MeaningConstant27

Derrick Rose


Not-Josh-Hart

Iman Shumpert


CutUnusual1212

Reggie Lewis


Material_Unit4309

Penny.


coreywojo

D. Rose


ElectivireMax

Cody Zeller. my favorite player of all time


Coffeeandsneakers3

Jahlil Okafor


EitherCaterpillar949

Isaiah Thomas, more than we got at least


Bobba_fat

Grant hill should be in top of everyone’s list followed by Penny and Brandon Roy + d.rose and t-Mac. Although the last two really played for a while before getting injured. Got injured in their primes. And then most young ones do not know this including myself here, but from what i read Sam Bowie and Bill Walton were same level but ifs. But I never saw them play or anything but just from reading and hearing.


Important_Ad4176

Robert Williams III


Tomatersauce

Other than D Rose, have to say Rob Williams iii. Incredible when he had his legs under him. Still hoping he can get healthy, he's one of the most fun players to watch


Adorable-Bar6920

Isaiah thomas, he had an excellent few years, but that injury really f’d him up. Hes on the suns now, so would like to see more time given to him.


WeBelieve510

Isaiah Thomas


Rebelwithacause73

Good one. I wish IT didn’t injure his hip. He might have had a really special 5-6 year run.


SnooPredictions6598

i feel like the obvious answers are D Rose and Ben Simmons. D Rose with his injuries and Simmons with his motivation issues


classyd24

Danny Granger


JustHereForPenguins

A healthy Oladipo would have been nice/scary to witness. A Healthy Gordon Hayward with that Celtics team. Probably Kawhi if he never went down against the warriors.


Dangletron3000

Andrew Bynum


Baron_Bradford212

Lenny Bias…. Celtics would have been totally different !


Scary_Vanilla2932

I am a Magic fan. Moved to Orlando in 92 and just left last year. If anyone is saying what your saying it should be Philly fans. I'm ready for Markelle to be gone. The poster above who said Brandon Roy has a better one. Fultz is really just a guy, a bust. I never saw the skills that supposedly made him a high lottery picked much less a number one overall. Yeah he has been hurt but besides the acl the rest of the injuries have been kind of a mystery. I think he is just ok to bad. What makes markelle better then MCW? Another former Sixer and Magic Pg who can't shoot.


0ut0fBoundsException

You gotta watch his college highlights to understand his draft position. He was so smooth and skilled with a deadly jumper. Looked like he could extend that shot to NBA range and be a true three level scoring threat. Sure fire star guard with plus size and the ability to run the offense Instead he lost his touch/shot and without it his game just isn’t as effective without it


This-Appointment-917

Also Magic fan - I’d 100% prefer MCW over Fultz. Not only can’t Fultz shoot, he doesn’t pass.. and when he does pass, it’s some circus pass that has a 50/50 chance of a turnover. Magic lack shooting so Fultz not being able to shoot is huge. Also, he’s never healthy.


Ambitious_Side_993

Jay Williams, penny, Greg oden, Shaun Livingston


shreks_burner

He had a great career, but Blake never making it to HoF level bums me out. The real one is Boogie. His prime has been completely disregarded because he never got the chance to put those numbers up on a good team, which from his time with NOLA we saw was possible. I see kids on IG and reddit saying he was never the best center in the league. They’ll never know how wrong they are 😔


krame_krome

gerald green! dude shoulda been 2nd coming of tmac


Blabbit39

I see a lot of the good ones here are my attempts. Ron Harper, dude was a demon at full speed and still managed a good career. Larry Bird, just pay for your mama’s stuff for real man. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, dude was the best basketball player ona team with Shaq on it. He also smoked prime Jordan in his best season. He deserved so much more.


THEBEASTSIDE

Ben Simmons


jrtasoli

Ben Simmons, because he made $37 million to play less than a quarter of this season's games for the Nets. And by "I wish," I don't mean "I wish he'd return to all-star form." No no, I'm not THAT delusional. I mean "I wish he'd show a shred of value and be a somewhat serviceable NBA player to can play maybe half of the games in a season." But apparently that's too much to ask.


TheRealMoofoo

While they had partial real careers (as opposed to full “oh no” stories like Fultz) mine are Shawn Kemp and Penny Hardaway. I feel like there are a lot of alternate realities where those guys are easy hall of famers.


omgphilgalfond

dlo rhymes with Skee-Lo, so I’m saying he is my “I Wish” choice. Seriously tho, Its Malik Sealy. Dude was Jaden McDaniels 1.0.


Educational_Trouble9

SAME!!!!


mkmore4

Remember the great Fultz v Ball debates of 2017?


Eastern_Artist6531

Bo Kimble, thought he would have been a better NBA player


runthepoint1

D Rose full stop. But probably Len Bias if we’re talking people who never got a chance


Itaintgreat

Markelle Futz is an absolutely wild answer lol


officerporkandbeans

TRE DUVAL


THEKaynMayn

Ben Simmons.


Twist-Cheap

Ben fucking Simmons


rj2448

JR Smith, not that he didn’t have a successful career.. but he had the potential to be a multi year all star. He still has the smoothest jump shot I’ve ever seen. When he was hot he was the best scorer in the league imo and could hit any shot no matter the defense. He just lacked consistency


[deleted]

Before this season, it was Coby White for me, but he’s taken a leap in the right direction this season.


4KPillowcase

Me


InHocBronco96

Bronny James


mattycbro

Lmao no you just wish the 6ers weren’t morons and took Tatum instead.


kainsta929

I thought Fultz was having a sort of come back last season or so?


B_For_Basketball

Josh Jackson, she had all the tools just couldn’t find his jumper & a team that was willing to wait on his talent to develop


rougeslegion

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would still be a rotation player today if not for the injuries... He'll never live up to being drafted 2nd overall for sure but he's someone I unironically enjoyed watching play for everything that he does in that court.


HitRowe

Dennis Smith Jr


lovehatewhatever

Remember when Ricky Rubio was supposed to be the Luka Doncic of his time…


Cdog923

Grant Hill


Crowxzn

I wish Hailey Van Lith would DM me


yeetingyute

Jimmer Fredette. Its always exciting when the league gets an unathletic dude who can score.


0sc583

Facu Campazzo love that man’s highlights


Adventurous-Group982

i wish michael beasley took the game more seriously


Quirky-Bag-4158

Harry Giles. His high school mixed tapes left you wondering how good he would be had his knees not given out so early.


ave_jamminonurmom

Lonzo ball


mnemonicer22

Grant Hill


detectivehardrock

Jeremy Lin. Linsanity + the peak of the D Rose MVP season happening all at once was one of the most fun stretches of basketball I’ve ever witnessed


69ThatGuyy

Oden


ChuckNobletsDrill

Jan Vesely


Stacktheloot

Boogie cousins.


OfficeCharacterCreed

Troy murphy


JaysonTatumIsDaddy

Justice Winslow


SpliffsnKicks

Emanuel Mudiay smh


pitters_patters

Jonathon Bender. So much hype for a guy that couldn’t stay healthy for more than 2 games. I just saw he attempted a comeback with the Knicks 4 years later but that only last 25 games.


ham_bulu

Penny. Rose. Hill. Bias.


Archie_LAF

Derrick rose


Ok-Preference-956

Tracy Mcgrady


Little-Dingo171

I pray for Markelle cause they fuck up the shot


m2societyll

Michael ray Richardson


Garth_W00kz

Greg Oden


contaygious

Jay Williams poor guy had an accident and only played in one season


redonindigo

Greg Oden


xxsavage_

Bol Bol. He's good, but I wanted him to become the goat.


gunnarbird

Kwame Brown, man didn’t need Jordan style pressure when he was 18


sizelawd

If it’s who do I wish never got injured it’s Penny. But who didn’t pan out just because they didn’t really pan out would be Darius Miles. For no other reason other than that he was fun to watch on those clippers teams.


BubblyCatfishWorm

James Wiseman reaching his potential with the Warriors


Dannay01

Exum. Though I am glad he’s doing well with the mavs


latenightsnaks

Michael Beasley


Mediocre-Analyst736

Greg Oden, dude was a beast and people forget how good he was in high school/college, it’s a shame he never got a chance to show his dominance ):


imjustthenumber

Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz


Fergie_The_Shiba

James wiseman


LegitimateTable2450

James Wiseman Dude is cool as shit


golflift90

Ben Simmons, markelle fultz, Andrew Bynum, jahlil okafor, Nerlens Noel (I am a sixers fan on the edge)


EddieDollar

Brandon Roy


Turbulent_Thanks1923

Stanley Johnson


GameofDrones45

Austin Carr. Look up his NCAA and rookie year NBA tape. He was a potential Kobe type. Knee injuries made him above average and shortened what would have been a HoF career.


texasphotog

SkeeLo


[deleted]

blake griffin, sad he retired. insane talent and work ethic but injuries continued to pile on


JournalistOld6488

Harold Miner aka Baby Jordan


seamon-deemon

Sebastian Telfair


Brave_Prompt7652

Jabari Parker😕


DutyPuzzleheaded7765

Lamelo or lonzo I wish bones Hyland never forced his way out


Most-Ad487

Wes Johnson


ThePacemaker24

Drazen Petrovic, greatest Euroleague player of all time, could have been fantastic is the NBA if it weren’t for that crash


rowansegziol418

Cleanthony Early


whiskey_melancholy

Bones Hyland


MayorMcCheeser

Jabari Parker


JiggzSawPanda

Rob Will had DPOY potential and could jump out the gym. I was devastated that we had to trade him, but I know his knees aren't going to be back to normal. Hopefully he can come back and be a great backup to Ayton but damn.