What if The Hornets Had Kept Kobe Bryant in '96?

This week's ungwi post centers around one of the best draft decisions of all time for the Lakers. They didn't actually draft a player but they did trade away a very valuable piece of their puzzle at the time (Vlade Divac) for a promising young player from Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia. Still, one wonders what would have happened if the Hornets never made that trade, keeping Kobe Bryant and opting not to mortgage their future for a few winning seasons in the late 90's.

Initial Implications

The Hornets would have been patient with Kobe, letting him learn the NBA game while other Hornets acquisitions would garner most of the playing time. Anthony Mason would have still been a focal point of the offense, with Charlotte having given up favorite grandma Larry Johnson in exchange for the renowned point forward. Glen Rice would have been the starting shooting guard, and the amazing Mugsy Bogues would have been the starting point guard for the team. Their choices for their front court would have been a very sprightly Elden Campbell and the two headed monster of Matt Geiger and George Zidek. Bryant would have been an ideal sixth man on the team, called upon to relieve Rice or to play in "small" lineups with Mason at the 4 and Cambell at the 5.

Future Ramifications Part 1

The Hornets would not have made it very far past the Eastern Conference playoffs that year (not with MJ's Bulls on a mission to avenge their loss to the Magic), but it would have been interesting for Bryant's development. He would have learned tons from sharpshooter Dell Curry and veteran forward Ricky Pierce.

In this alternate universe, we would assume that the Hornets would make Bryant their player of the future, and paired him up with Glen Rice at the wings to form one of the most potent 1-2 punches in the league. Their ability to do so would have made Mason expendable, and would have allowed them to trade him for a post presence in 1997-98 such as, say, oh, Rony Seikaly. In the meantime, they would have kept their core intact enough to be a force in the playoffs and avoid the lottery in a year like 1999, thereby depriving them a chance to draft Baron Davis. However, they would have still come away with a solid pick that year, possibly nabbing Andrei Kirilenko with the 24th pick ahead of Utah. A projected 1999-2000 roster would have been built around the following players:

5-Seikaly, 4-Campbell, 3-Rice, 2-Bryant, 1-David Wesley, with Kirilenko and Ricky Davis coming off the bench.

Future Implications Part 2

Now this is where it gets interesting. The acquisition of Bryant (one of the league's brightest talents) would have probably convinced owner George Shinn that basketball is worth keeping in North Carolina, and he might have sold the team to Michael Jordan instead of relocating it to New Orleans. Jordan, bored out of his wits, would have bought a stake in the team, un-retired himself and played as a Charlotte Hornet instead of as a Washington Wizard (Bad Retro Bullet Jersey and all). So imagine with me a 2002-03 Charlotte Hornet roster comprised as such:

5-PJ Brown, 4-Kirilenko, 3-Bryant, 2-Jordan, 1-David Wesley with Glen Rice hanging around for the ride. While it would definitely not have been championship material, it would have surely been fun to watch and it would have saved everyone having to watch the Charlotte Bobcats. So the theory is, keeping Kobe in '96 could have saved basketball in Charlotte and could have delayed the renaissance that the sport enjoys in New Orleans ever since the Jazz left the town for Utah.

What If The Orlando Magic Didn't Trade #1 Pick in '93

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.

Welcome to UNGWI

Welcome to UNGWI, a chance for every NBA fan to sit and wonder "what if?" In this blog, we will explore the endless possibilities in parallel universes shaped by GM decisions. The fun part is, we will examine drafting, trading and contract decisions all armed with the convenience of 20/20 hindsight. If you're not familiar with this exercise, think of the movie "Back to the Future." Now imagine we had a time machine and we went back in time to tell Joe Dumars: "hey, I think it would probably be better if you drafted Chris Bosh or Carmelo over Darko Milicic." An alternate universe would then be created, wherein the Pistons would have seen development from Bosh, not felt the need to pull the trigger on the trade for Rasheed Wallace (with Atlanta!) and might not have won an NBA title at the expense of the Lakers. The best thing is, you can let me know if you agree with me and it will be a fun debate for each post. And while Isaiah Thomas has not given any sort of endorsement for this creative concept blog, I'd like to think that he would if he ever got a chance to read it. Have fun and keep those comments coming! Go UNGWI!