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What is up, fellow thermonuclear afers. I am Dampa Valley coming at you

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with our fourth installment of the MBA
What If Project. Before we dive into

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it, please please let me remind
you to continue rating, reviewing, and

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most importantly, subscribing following whatever you
call it this podcast wherever you might consume

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it if it's your first time checking
us out. All these episodes are not

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as short. We normally do more
in depth dies, but this just felt

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like some quick, digestible content I
could put out during the dead of NBA

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summer slash but whatever it is in
advance of training camp at this point.

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It also coincides with when I'm traveling, as I've noted time and again.

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But please, it mean the world
if you throw us the permanent subscription,

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tell people about us, join our
discord I keep forgetting everyone. The links

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to that are in the podcast description. We think. I think you'll have

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a lot of fun coming hanging out
with all of us in discord, but

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just following this podcast along. Like
I said, the Pacific Division will now

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be up in our MBA what If
Project, And just as a reminder,

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this is something I already worked on
and got permission to provide an audio version

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of it from Wacher Report where I
talk to people who follow cover or root

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for every team, and we're talking
about smart people, awesome people, and

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I asked them what their biggest what
if was for the team that they cover.

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I took their responses packaged it into
this massive article. It's now being

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released as an audio version. I
know these could sometimes be tough to follow.

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I know I'm also a fast talker
at times. I did practice for

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this. I think it's still just
useful, some quick content that we can

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get through in the heart of September. So why not let's dive right in

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here. The Golden State Warriors are
up next in our what if exercise good

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luck winnowing down there what if options? What if they didn't collapse in the

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twenty sixteen finals, would Kevin Durant
still board the bandwagon that summer? Or

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what if they didn't overcome a three
to one deficit of their own against the

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Oklahoma City Thunder that same postseason?
What if the Warriors never swap out Mark

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Jackson for Steve Kerr, Or what
if it David Lee injury didn't create the

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original runway for Draymond Greene to take
on a more prominent role. What if

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the Warriors traded Klay Thompson for Kevin
Love. What if the Warriors select LaMelo

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Ball at number two in twenty twenty
over James Wiseman. What if Chris Cohen

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never sold the team the Joe Lake
cub and Peter Goober. Naturally, I

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was more than happy to shift the
onus of this decision onto my cherished colleague

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co host of this podcast, Bleacher
Reports, Grant Hughes. Here's what he

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wrote to me. If we accept
that Stephen Curry is the person most responsible

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for transforming the Warriors from laughing stock
to a glamor market powerhouse, which we

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should accept that because it's true,
then we have to choose the moment that

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would have removed him from the organization
Entirely. It could have been him and

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not Monte Ellis who went to the
Bucks in a package for Andrew Bogit in

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twenty twelve. Hughes continued to explain
that, judging by the fan response at

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the time, most might have even
preferred that Curry had been the one to

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go. The home crowd relentlessly booed
Governor Joe Lake up in the aftermath of

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the trade. If only they'd known
then that the next seven years would include

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three titles and five finals trips,
a remarkable run of success driven by Curry,

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who'd win a pair of MBA MVPs
in the process. Basically every other

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sliding doors moment in the relevant portion
of Warrior's history hinges on that one transaction.

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Remove Curry from the equation via that
trade, and the Dubs would have

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been led by Ellis, who never
averaged over twenty points per game following the

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trade, and if we're being honest, was always a glorified six man masquerading

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as a starter. In that alternate
reality, there are no Splash Brothers.

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Raymond Greene wouldn't have had an all
time shooter and op ball mover to minimize

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his weaknesses and play to his strength. The seventy three win season surely never

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would have happened, and k D
would neither arrived nor depart. The whole

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course of Warriors history would have gone
in another indisputably worse direction. Curry saved

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the franchise that nearly traded him.
I agree with Hughes here, that just

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has to be the biggest What if
the Warriors with this indomitable, historically great

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force, and Curry is the nerve
center of it all. The next team

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up is the LA Clippers, and
they had lots to choose from too many.

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What if, Sir Pepper throughout the
Lob City era, specifically for the

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La Clippers the Josh Smith game,
anyone but the most important among them,

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happened away from the court. As
SB Nations Sabrina Merchant astutely pointed out,

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Here's what she wrote to me,
what happens if the Vstiviano audio is never

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released? Getting out from under Donald
Sterling and under competent let alone. Actually,

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good ownership is the single biggest reason
why the Clippers have been a championship

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contender and will continue to compete in
the years to come. This is just

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something that I'm not even sure people's
minds immediately go to, but I agree

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with Sabrina that this is the direction
we have to go. Chris Paul came

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to the Clippers even with Sterling in
the fold, but it would be a

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gross oversight to say the former team
governor wasn't a detriment to the organization's livelihood,

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or for that matter, a racist
stain on society. Smaller market teams

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were generally more committed to spending on
players and franchise personnel than the Sterling era

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Clippers. That is a start contrast
to how they run under current team governor

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Steve Bomber and his willingness to bankroll
steep luxury, tach payments and soon to

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be record breaking payrolls. Attributing the
arrival of Paul Georgian Kwai Leonard to Bomber

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alone goes way, way, way
too far. But would both players be

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as interested in joining the Clippers if
Sterling were in the fold? That's more

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debatable. What is an up for
argument is how much more respective and innovative

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the Clippers are as an organization without
Sterling and as much credit as the NBA

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received when it exiled him. The
league only made the call after the audio

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was released of Sterling's racist rant to
v Siviano, suggesting that without those recordings

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the organization could be much worse for
wear today. Kudos to Sabrina for being

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for remembering to point that out.
It's clearly the biggest what if for the

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Clippers. Next up, the Los
Angeles Lakers. We know where this is

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headed. Basketball reasons. Those two
words alone are enough to send Los Angeles

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Lakers fans down a rabbit hole of
what could have been of who was stripped

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from them. In twenty eleven,
as the NBA merged from a lockout,

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the Lakers agreed to a three team
trade with the Houston Rockets and then New

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Orleans Hornets that would have landed them
Chris Paul in exchange for Palcosol Palcosol excuse

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me for the pronunciation there, and
lamar odom. Then NBA Commissioner David Stern

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in the league, which was managing
the Pelicans at the time, eventually scuttled

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the deal. CP three went to
the Clippers, and the Lakers began a

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long downward spiral that spawned what if
moments galore, many of which are the

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direct result of or could have been
avoided if this story trade went through.

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Just ask Jabari Ali Davis of nineteen
Media Group, because I did, and

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this is what he told me.
I've heard all of the reasoning and ultra

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annoying relitigation of the events. Only
thing I'll state is, regardless of where

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you stand on the outcome, the
series of events that transpired reportedly during and

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after those negotiations was peculiar. Peculiar
to say the least. Beyond pairing a

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prime CP three with a still really
good Kobe Bryant, the Lakers could have

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conceivably turned around and also brought into
talent like Dwight Howard at the time.

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Now, there's definitely a conversation to
be had about just how terrible the fit

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Dwight would have been with both Kobe
and CP three's personalities the same video games.

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Jabari noted, but even if the
Lakers wanted to move on and recalibrate,

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they still would have had a prime
Dwight to then deal for parts to

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solidify the roster around Kobe and CP
three. And since we're now in purple

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and gold, make believe land the
Lakers would have wound up would have wound

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up making the catastrophic Steve Nash deal, Nor would Kobe have had to play

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himself into the ground until his actual
achilles exploded just two years later. This

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was enough for me all that from
Jabari, but he wasn't done. He

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continued diving even deeper into purple tinted
glasses. Kobe also probably sits atop the

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scoring list by the end of it, as the duo plus whatever consortium of

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talent the Lakers put around them wins
a tiler or two along the way,

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It completely changes the conversation surrounding CP
three's career and it puts an end to

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the greatest Laker debates. Personally,
I'll push back on Jabari saying Kobe definitely

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would have bagged the all time scoring
crown just because Yo, Father time comes

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for everybody. It is intriguing to
think about how differently CP three's legacy would

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be viewed by the lazy hot takesters
had he nabbed a title in this alternate

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Lakers universe. And not only do
I think this is the right pick,

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I really probably think it's it's the
only what if pick for the Lakers.

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Our next team up in this MBA
what if exercise the Phoenix Sun. And

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I'm sure some people don't know where
this is going. Remember that time the

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Phoenix Suns could have drafted Kareem Abdul
Jabbar. Sam Cooper from the Timeline podcast,

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sure does. This is what he
wrote to me. To find the

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Sun's biggest what iff moment of them
all, we must venture all the way

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back to the very beginning in nineteen
sixty eight, the Suns and Bucks entered

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as the league's freshest expansion teams.
After difficult inaugural seasons for both organizations,

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they participated in a coin flip to
determine the rights to the nineteen sixty nine

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drafts number one pick, a pick
that would surely be used on UCLA standout

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lou Alsendor. As the story goes, Cooper continued, the Suns pledged to

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tie their destiny to the results of
a fan pole, as fifty one point

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two percent of Suns fans wished to
select heads on the coin flip. That's

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precisely what the team did. When
the coin came up tails. General manager

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Jerry Clangewell drove around the city aimlessly
for hours as the gravity of the situation

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sunk in lou Alsendor. Later,
Kareem Abdul Jabbar went to win three MVPs

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and one championship in Milwaukee before packing
his bags for La Neil Walk the number

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two selection in that draft. He
carved out a solid career, starting at

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center for several years, but he
was never an All Star, much less

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an MVP. This is a spectacular
work by Cooper. The what if Team

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X drafted player? Why discourse is
always fickle, usually revisionist history. This

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isn't that Kareem to Phoenix was the
hope. More recent missed opportunities or bad

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luck might take the cake for others, though, What if John Paxson doesn't

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hit a championship winning shot against Phoenix
in nineteen ninety three. What if Robert

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Orrey doesn't hip check Steve Nash in
two thousand and seven. What if meta

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world piece then Ron Artest didn't buried
at game five buzzer beater in the two

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th ten Western Conference Finals. What
if True Holiday doesn't stripped Devin Booker at

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the end of Game five in the
twenty twenty one NBA Finals. What if

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the Suns don't get absolutely gobsmacked in
Game seven of the twenty twenty two semi

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Finals. Worthy choices abound for the
Suns, and I can't quipal with any

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of them, but getting Kareem as
hoped would have altered the entire trajectory of

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the Sun franchise. Cooper closed with
this while simply rostering Kareem brings no guarantee

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of championship level success, It's not
difficult to envision this version of the Sun's

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becoming a powerhouse extremely early into their
franchise history. That reputation boost very well

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could have created a ripple effect,
allowing the organization to strive for even greater

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heights in the nineteen seventies and beyond. Or next team up is everyone's favorite,

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the Sacramento Kings. Teams with the
numerable what if moments that warp the

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past, present, and future make
it difficult to dwindle down the field to

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a lonely flashpoint. In the case
of the Sacramento Kings, though Jillian Edge

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of Sports Ethos believes the answer is
clear. Losing the twenty twenty two Western

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Conference Finals, she wrote, no
question this team would have had a title.

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It might not have stopped them Aloves
from loving their money outside of basketball

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years later, but I think it
puts a different light on the organization as

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a whole, and maybe they could
have sold them earlier without the drama every

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off season of will they moved to
Anaheim, Virginia Beach, Las Vegas or

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Seattle. I was there for every
home game that series and experience emotions,

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every emotion possible during that span.
The sad thing is the only high to

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come close to this since then came
off the basketball court, keeping the team

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in Sacramento. That was really some
great visuals there from Jillian Others, though

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they'll gravitate towards the decision to let
Marvin Bagley the third at number two in

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two and eighteen over Luca don Chich, who went number three. That's a

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viable option. So two were the
team's decision to fire Rick Adaman, the

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decision to fire Michael Malone, the
disaster piece that was twenty fifteen free agency,

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and a litany of other draft and
organizational missteps. But tangible title chances

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carry profoundly more emotional tonnage than hypothetical
windows contingent upon Rhods not traveled that two

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thousand and one two thousand two Kings
squad was dominant. They finished with a

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top six offense and defense while leading
the MBA in point differential per one hundred

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possessions. Falling to the eventual champion
Lakers is one thing. It's another to

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have that law. It's ensconced in
controversy specifically claims that Games six was fixed,

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even if it wasn't, coming within
moments advancing to the NBA Finals,

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knowing LA went on to sweep the
then new Jersey Nets stings beyond a measure,

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because while the King's Corps wasn't immediately
dismantled, that season represented a pinnacle

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heights and opportunity not only never again
sniffed by this nucleus put the entire franchise.

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As Jillian wrote to me, the
Kings are in year sixteen of no

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playoffs and being the punching bag of
the NBA. It has been a downhill

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slide since that two thousand and two
series, both gradual and steep. I

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hope you all enjoyed this fourth installment
of the NBA would if exercise we're going

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through. Please remember to subscribe to
this podcast if we haven't done so already,

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Join our discord link is in the
podcast description, follow us on all

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the socials. Links to those are
in the podcast description. And until next

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time, I leave you all the
shout out to the one, the only,

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the indelible, Frank the la Kei
to chre