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What is up, fellow thermonuclear A
efforts, I am Damp Valley coming at

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you with another installment of the what
If series here at Hardwood Knox. Just

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as a brief refresher, I pulled
people who follow cover root for every single

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NBA team and asked them what their
biggest what if would be for that franchise.

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Their responses I turned into a Bleacher
Report article, the link to which

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I will try and put in the
descriptions. You can check out the full

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version there, but I'm providing an
audio version for each division as just ordered,

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this quick digestible content that hopefully you
can enjoy. I know audio versions

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of articles can be tough, but
I did practice, and I think these

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are turning out fairly. Okay,
Before we get started, just the quick

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reminder, if you haven't checked this
out before he is, consider throwing us

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that permanent subscription Apple Spotify, follow
us there, download every episode, throw

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us ratings and reviews. Those help
out a ton. Also consider shouting us

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out on Twitter, recommending us to
people you know, or just bumping the

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promotions that I'll put out on Twitter. All of that stuff helps just a

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boatload. It's time, though,
to get into some more NBA what ifs,

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and we're gonna go with the Northwest
Division here and first up in the

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Northwest, the Denver Nuggets. Jamal
Murray's torn left ACL in April twenty twenty

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one was my immediate and truthfully only
pick when looking at the Denver Nuggets is

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franchise trajectory. I was wondering if
I was just trapped in the present.

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It turns out, though, that
Adamadez, the VP of Created Production at

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DNVR Sports, agreed with me.
This is what he wrote on the subject.

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To me, Murray's injury in twenty
twenty one is number one because he

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was playing the best and most consistent
basketball of his career. In the months

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leading up to it, Aaron Gordon
appeared to solidify the starting lineup, and

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we all know the heights Nikolaiokis was
retreating. Equally important the runs Murray's injury

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has been especially wide open in the
NBA. The Bucks and Warriors are both

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great teams, but not quite the
same juggernaut as the twenty seventeen Warriors.

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Lastly, the hardest part of the
Murray injury lies with not knowing what the

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Nuggets have in their Big four as
much as I believe it is an incredible

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mix of talent and fit, we
simply don't know how they'd fair in a

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playoff series against the league's best,
smartest, and most versatile teams. So

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it's an injury that's already cost Denver
two playoff runs and could very well cost

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the Nuggets a third if the team
just isn't as good as everyone thought it'd

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be, or if the fit isn't
as perfect as it appeared in those six

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glorious games between the Gordon acquisition and
the Murray injury. For me, Dan,

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no alternative sinks in quite like this
one. You could go into the

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distant past and find more than a
few. You could gobble up the low

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hanging fruit and roller Well, what
if the Nuggets never drafted Nikolyokas at number

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forty one in twenty fourteen, But
some variation of that question can resonate for

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every single squad who bags a star. Madas did, however, include George

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carlsw ten cancer diagnosis and David Thompson's
drug addiction as not bowl alternatives when we

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were having this discussion, and both
are definitely worth in honorable mention there as

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well. Minnesota Timberwolves are next up
on our NBA what if exercise. Congratulations

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are order for Minnesota Timberwolves fans.
The ever thoughtful Derrick James, formerly of

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a Wolf among Wolves and Knis Hoopis
And also he currently just started a new

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substack on the Wolves. He it's
a newsletter, Derrick James Substack. Check

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him out on Twitter where you could
follow it. It's at Derrick James MBA

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spelled exactly as it sounds. But
he did not go with the franchise's decision

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to pass on Steph Curry twice in
two thousand and nine. On the one

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hand, no, I still think
we need to acknowledge it because it's a

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pretty big deal. And to Derek's
credit, he did. This is what

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he said to me. Let's remember
that then Timberwolves general manager David Kahn and

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then coach Kurt Rambis were not the
nurturing types. Look at how it played

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out with Johnny Flynn, one of
the players who they selected before Curry.

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Flynn had a below average to average
rookie season and had hip surgery around the

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beginning of his second season. When
he returned, the team did not seem

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to have the patience for him.
Given that Curry had a smattering of ankle

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issues early in his career, the
Rambis conduo likely would have mishandled that situation

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too. Remember, many people were
on shore what position Curry was in the

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NBA, and though he was bigger
than Flynn, he still wasn't huge by

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NBA standards. Curry would also have
been playing in Rambis's triangle offense, a

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system that often involves a point guard
giving up the ball early. This to

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me tracks it would be harder to
stomach steps success if it came after he

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had warned a wolf's jersey as opposed
to his never wearing one at all.

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So there's that element. And then
also James did go Derrick. James did

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go on to explain that he had
to go to the Kevin Garnett era for

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his pick. This is what he
wrote on that we know. Garnett's extension

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changed how teams operated, but it
also made building around him difficult. Talented

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free agents like Kendall Gill and Lafonso
Ellis came and left often because the team

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could no longer fault them. But
the problem wasn't Garnett's contract. It was

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the illegal Joe Smith contract. In
two thousand that cost the team four first

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round picks originally five, but two
thousand and three's was restored. Sure these

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would be middle late first but the
team's worth their assault find value later in

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the draft. Between two thousand and
two thousand and five, the Wolves drafted

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only eight players. Of those,
none of them played three hundred NBA games,

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So maybe the Wolves were unlucky to
draft well anyway, but at least

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they would have had a chance.
While the passing of Curry is one of

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the most discussed what ifs, Derrick
James continued the illegal Joe Smith contract and

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the consequences probably matter more because of
how much better the early two thousands teams

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were than the late two thousands teams. The two thousand and four Western Coverence

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Finals would have been different if Sam
Cassell didn't hurt his hip in the previous

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round and a young ascending player or
two may have buoyed the Garnett era for

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a few more years and prevented some
of the tensions that soured the Icon's relationship

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with the franchise. And I think
it just makes sense to go with this

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one in the end, because you're
dealing with it's to talk about, Well,

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what if Steph was in Minnesota?
Would you have still become Steph Curry

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with the Blazers. That's too hard
of a question to answer. It still

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can be at the top of your
what if I totally I totally get that,

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but I think that Derek ultimately went
with the right choice. Next up

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in the Northwest Division, we have
the Oklahoma City Thunder. This one was

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obvious to me. For a franchise
that hasn't even been in its current market

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for two decades, The Oklahoma City
Thunder sure are brimming with what ifs noe

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moments from the Seattle SuperSonics were not
considered for this exercise. Everyone's favorite what

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if on a national level remains the
same more than a decade later. What

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if the Thunder never traded James Harden
to the Rockets. That's merely the tip

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of the spear, though. What
if they don't blow at three to one

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lead against the Warriors in twenty sixteen? What if Kevin Durant never left?

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Does Al Horford go to Oklahoma City
still in his prime? In a world

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where Katie returns to the Thunder,
move Russell Westbrook to shift up the star

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pairing what if various injuries didn't muck
up multiple playoff runs following the thunders twenty

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and twelve finals appearance. And yet, even with all of that and more

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upper consideration, the answer feels obvious
for a different choice. I ax Brandon

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Rubar of Delhi Thunder. This is
what he wrote to me. There's a

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reason why Patrick Beverly is Thunder public
enemy number one. The thunders all time

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best team was in twenty and thirteen, the year they made the finals and

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traded Harden. They finished sixty and
twenty two, were the West number one

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seed, and had the number one
offensive rating, number four defensive rating,

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and one of the all time best
net ratings. The Thunder were primed to

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return to the finals for a rematch
versus the Heat. If Oksey wins it

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all that season, then the Harden
trade narrative, Katie's future, and Westbrook's

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legacy are all flipped, and that
Thunder team is held in higher regard.

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This is me now, Dan.
Generally, I'm not a fan of speaking

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in absolutes. Did Beverly cost the
Thunder a title? We can't be sure,

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but Russ's meniscus injury was the first
and a string of ill time setbacks.

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Sirgebaka's calf strain loomed over the two
thousand fourteen postseason, Katie missed significant

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time with the Drones Jones fracture the
following year. Fun In totality, it

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seems fair to say that injuries probably
cost the Thunder at least one championship,

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and in the end so much more. Also shout out to Bev and Russ,

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who as of this recording, are
teammates at the moment. The next

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team up, the Portland Trailblazers.
I spoke with Wacher Reports Bryant Knox for

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this one, and when I approached
my esteemed editor about partaking in this project,

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he answered my question with another one
to ask, what if the Portland

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Trailblazers, you have to start with
the prerequisite where the hell to begin?

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Knox is not kidding Brandon WA's career
and injury arc, Wesley Matthews's torn achilles

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in twenty fifteen, drafting LaRue Martin
at number one in nineteen seventy two rather

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than Bob McAdoo who went second overall, or some dude named Julius Irving who

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went number twelve, losing the coin
toss for the right to get Hikimlajan at

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number one in nineteen eighty four,
and then taking Sambowie at number two ahead

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of Michael jordan At who went number
three. The list is extensive. Knox

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settled on the Blazers, selecting Greg
Oden over Kevin Durant at number one in

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two thousand and seven. This is
what he told me. Owen's career swiftly

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diss from fantastically promising to doom to
buy injury. One day after the draft,

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thousands of Blazers fans rallied downtown around
him. A few days later,

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the twenty year old graced the cover
VSPN the magazine ready to win. Quote

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like fifteen championships but five years,
eighty two games and three micro fracture surgeries

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down the road. The experiment ended
on March fifteen, twenty twelve. The

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Blazers held a fire sale at the
trade deadline, waving Odin. Three months

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later, Portland watched Durant lace up
in his first NBA finals. This isn't

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purely about not being kad either,
as Knox and I discussed on the side,

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It's about his never getting the chance
to fully actualize himself on the court

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a what if via absentia. There's
another side to this, that ass Knox

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told me what if Greg had stayed
healthy? I think it's the outcome any

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Blazers fan would choose, even over
drafting KD. I couldn't bring myself to

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roll with that, and just with
all of it said, the Kadie element

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still looms over Portland like an unending
eclipse. And then Knox did close with

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this fifteen years later, when Durant
hits the trade market and then leaves it,

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and Lillard hits Photoshop amid another rebuild, but then signs an extension.

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Katie's ghost is alive and well in
Rip City, and he's among the most

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prominent of the very expansive, very
ghastly bunch. I think this has to

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be the correct answer in some form, whether it's what if Greg Gordon stays

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healthy or what if the Blazer's draft
Katie. I think this hits harder than

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the Michael Jordan's stuff, for sure, but you could certainly go back to

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one of the Blazers many what if
draft scenarios. The next and final team

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that will be in the Northwest Division, And yes, I'm aware that this

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is very topical when you actually stop
and think about it, But it is

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the Utah, the Utah Jazz.
So I spoke with Dan Clayton from Salt

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City Hoops about this one. But
first, I mean, look, despite

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having an historical track record of what
if, the Utah Jazz's choice almost had

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00:10:58,879 --> 00:11:01,519
to skew more recently, how could
it not? We just witnessed the unmaking,

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with more unraveling likely to come of
a core that routinely spent the regular

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season not merely thriving but dominating.
Quinn Snyder is gone, Rudy Gobert is

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gone, Royce O'Neill is gone,
Donovan Mitchell is gone. This nucleus was

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championship material, and it didn't age
out so much as grows stale and implosive.

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But what if it didn't? What
if it got over the hump,

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or what if it at least cracked
the conference finals? Is anything different now?

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Perhaps? But you first need to
identify the moment that could have reinvented

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the Jazz's fate, and Dan Clayton
found one. This is what he wrote

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to me a more recent what if
Jermaine to the Jazz's current situation starts with

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Edmund Sumner's leg sweep on April sixteen, twenty one. Utah was on a

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sixty two win pace before Sumner got
tangled up with Jazz star Donovan Mitchell.

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The Jazz were forced to be reckoned
with a top four offense and defense,

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and Mitchell doesn't hurt his ankle that
night. Maybe he captures all NBA honors

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and earns a Supermac's extension. Maybe
Joe Angles doesn't over tax himself over the

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final month of the regular season and
has more left in the tank for the

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eventual Clippers series. Maybe Mitchell standoff
with medical professionals before Game one of the

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playoffs, a relationship altering moment for
sure never occurs. Maybe if he plays

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Game one, the Jazz don't need
five games to get past Memphis, and

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Mike Conley Junior doesn't tweak his own
hammy in Game five, forcing him to

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miss nearly all of the Clipper series. Most importantly, maybe Mitchell isn't vulnerable

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to re injury in Game two versus
LA. Through Game two, Mitchell was

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shooting fifty five percent on drives in
the playoffs, and the Jazz had the

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Clippers on the road ropes. After
the tweak, he shot thirty percent going

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toward the hoop. He just wasn't
the same. The Jazz also suddenly didn't

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have enough guards who could stay in
front of the ball. Defensively, Mitchell

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couldn't move laterally, Ingalls was exhausted, Conley was hurt. Whether you believe

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those Jazz were true contenders, I
do. Clayton inserted the version that literally

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limped out of the playoffs was a
different team than the one dominating before Mitchell's

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injury. They've never been the same
since, and look, as we know,

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we're never gonna get a chance to
see if they ever could have been

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the same again. That Jazz team
was dismantled, and I agree with Clayton

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that was probably just the Flashbowl moment
of He didn't look at it and say,

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oh, this is the beginning of
the end, but that's almost where

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it can be traced back toward.
I hope you enjoyed this installment of NBA

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what Ifs. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe in his podcast

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wherever you were getting it until next
time. I think with the shout out

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to one, he only the indelible
a legend unto himself filled with so many

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what ifs, such as, what
if he won rightfully the past five MVP

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Awards. Frank Neila Keene