Twin Towers Part 2
The NBA would have seen the new version of the Twin Towers (Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson) and Shaq would have teamed up with Chris Webber in the Orlando Magic frontline. They would have been complemented by Dennis Scott at the 3, Nick Anderson at the 2 and future NBA head coach Scott Skiles (who had 20 assists in one game in his career once!) at the 1. Backing them up at the bench would have been 6-8 Donald Royal and 6-9 Jeff Turner. The team would have probably done worse than the actual 50-32 record they compiled in the current universe but the alternate universe's win total would probably have been something like 46, which would have still gotten them into the playoffs (and earned a better matchup than a Reggie Miler led Indiana Pacer team).
Golden State's Run and Gun Dream
GState on the other hand, would have ended up with Latrell Sprewell (the pre-choking Spree) teaming up with Hardaway to produce one of the most exciting backcourts in the league. Knowing their head coach at the time, he would have probably gone with a small ball lineup of Penny at the 1, Spree at the 2, Chris Mullin at the 3, Billy Owens at the 4 and Chris Gatling (who eventually made an all star team) at the 5. Avery Johnson (yet another future NBA coach) would have been the back up point guard and 6-9 Victor Alexander would've been the substitute post. Not a bad team. Would have been the 2004-07 Phoenix Suns of their time in the alternate universe. Everyone would have rooted for them.
The Effects of Non-Trade in 1995
In the current universe, the Magic made the NBA finals in 1995 and lost to the 6th seeded Houston Rockets and Nick Anderson went from an 80 something percent FT shooter to a 40% FT shooter thereafter following a breakdown at the line with Game 1 on the line (that the Magic were leading!). In the alternate universe, the Magic would have not signed Horace Grant as a free agent, given their more than capable PF in Chris Webber manning the post. Instead, they would have seen more playing time from Darrell Armstrong (yes, that Darrell Armstrong) and probably would have signed a complementary small, someone along the lines of David Wingate. A rusty just coming out of retirement MJ would have still lost to them, albeit in 7 games instead of 6. The Magic would have went on to lose to Reggie Miller and the Pacers in 7 games and the NBA finals would have seen Clyde Drexler and Company beat Indy in 6 games to win the title.
Bigger Effects in the Alternate Universe
The fun thing about the UNGWI concept is we can project the alternate universe from the point of alteration to any specific point in time after that. Remember how in the alternate universe, the Magic never signed Horace Grant? Well, this would have come in handy as the money they would have saved from that non-deal could have been added to the money offered to Shaquille O'Neal to convince him NOT to sign with Jerry West's Lakers. So O'Neal would have stayed in Orlando, the Magic would have never entered the Rony Seikaly era (ugh!) and Chris Webber's psyche would never have been affected by being traded around because he would have never gotten into a disagreement with Don Nelson. Would the alternate universe Orlando Magic have been able to stop MJ's 72 win season in 1995-96? Probably (the Bulls may have won 69). But they would have been powerless to stop Jordan, Rodman, Kukoc, Pippen and company from winning the east and the NBA finals that year. If the trade of Webber for Hardaway and 3 draft picks hadn't happened, the most affected team would have been the LA Lakers, who would've enjoyed more years of Cedric Ceballos and Vlade Divac but would have been stuck with 1988 being their last championship year.
