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Top 10 what-if? careers in NBA history and unluckiest NBA franchise

Top 10 NBA (hall of fame) what-if careers:

1. Bill Walton
2x champion, 1x mvp, 1x finals mvp, 2x all star, 2x first team. What if Walton was healthy is the biggest what if in hall of famer history because he only had 2 healthy seasons when he was in the NBA. during those 2 healthy seasons, he won 2 rings, an MVP, a finals mvp, 2x all star and 2x all-NBA. That’s as good a 2 year stretch as any of the greatest players ever. He had various foot and ankle injuries after 1978, that season was also his best season averaging 19/13/5 the most Russell like stats out of any center in recent memory. Had he not been injured? Maybe he would be considered on par with Kareem who is one of the top 3 greatest players of all time.

2. Arvydas Sabonis
Considered one of the best European players of all time, he was never able to play for the NBA in his prime due to the Soviet Union restricting him. By the time he came to the NBA in 1995 (he was drafted in 1986) he was a shell of himself due to many injuries. We will never know how good a prime Sabonis would have been in the NBA, but his best season was in 1998 averaging 16/10/3. If he hadn’t been injured? Maybe he would have become a top 5 center of all time.

3. Maurice Stokes
3x All star, 3x All NBA, HOF the most tragic story on here, Maurice stokes led the league in rebounds in 1958, and only played 3 seasons before suffering a career ending head injury and stroke thus becoming permanently paralyzed on his last regular season game in 1958. one could only imagine how good he could have been. his average was 17/18/6 in 1958 before the injury. Maybe he could have ended up a top 20 or top 15 player of all time.

4. David Thompson
4x All star, 2x all NBA, HOF the player who stopped UCLA’s 88 game winning streak. Had 73 points in a game before and was considered Michael Jordan’s idol. never got injured but had a drug problem. Because of his cocaine habits, he was averaging 27/5/5 a game in 1978 his best season before those stats steadily declining since. He wasn’t even in his prime yet, and who knows? He could’ve been a pseudo-Jordan if he didn’t do drugs.

5. Grant Hill
7x All star, 5x all NBA, was a triple double machine and considered the next Magic or Oscar when he was playing with the Pistons. Right after he got traded to the Magic he had various ankle injuries and was never the same again. best season was in 1997, averaging 21/9/7/2. Maybe he could’ve been a top 5 SF of all time if he wasn’t injured.

6. Drazen Petrovic
Never an All star or all NBA, but was a rising star on the Nets before his untimely death at age 28 in a car accident. the previous season in 1993 he was averaging 22/3/3.5. Maybe he would’ve been a top 15-20 shooting guard if he didn’t die.

7. Tracy McGrady
7x All star, 8x all NBA, was scoring champion 2x, since 2006 suffered recurring injuries and never was able to sustain his excellence. Was considered on par with Kobe for being the best shooting guards at that time before those injuries. Best season was in 2003 averaging 32/6.5/5.5. Maybe he would have been a top 10 shooting guard if he wasn’t injured.

8. Bernard King
4x All star, 4x all NBA, HOF was the 1985 scoring champion when he tore his ACL which at that time was a career ending injury. He was averaging 33 points a game before this injury. best season was in 1985, averaging 33/6/4. Could have been a top 10 SF if he wasn’t injured.

9. Derrick Rose
3x All star, 1x all NBA, 1x MVP – No one will know what Derrick Rose could have been if he didn’t suffer his ACL tear in 2012 during the playoffs; he was considered one of the best players in the league before then, and won an MVP before in his best season in 2011, averaging 25/4/8 a game. Could’ve been similar to Russell Westbrook, a top 15 point guard, if he wasn’t injured.

10. Penny Hardaway
4x All star, 3x all NBA, had persistent injuries from the 1998 season onwards. Was considered then next Magic Johnson due to his combination of size and passing ability. Best season was in 1996, averaging 22/4/7. Maybe would have been a top 15 point guard if he wasn’t injured.

Honorable Mention: Yao Ming
8x All star, 5x all NBA, HOF, had persistent ankle foot injuries during 2006 and never was fully healthy again. only had 3 full healthy seasons in the NBA, best season was in 2007 averaging 25/9/2. Maybe would have been a top 15-20 center if he wasn’t injured.

The Blazers have to be most unluckiest NBA franchise:

1972 – Larue Martin, possibly the biggest #1 draft pick bust of all time
1975 – Bill Walton – only had 1.5 healthy seasons for the Blazers
1984 – missed Jordan and picked Sam Bowie who was also injured his whole career
1995 – got Sabonis who was far past his prime and also injured
2006 – Brandon Roy, had to retire from degenerative knee condition
2007 – Greg Oden, another one of the biggest draft busts ever

has there been an unluckier NBA franchise?

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March 2016 updates… wow year is 1/4 gone already…

Some minor updates to give out these days:

-Currently dating a wonderful Korean girl 🙂 the only regret I have is that I’m not sure how much time I have with her before I leave Korea…
-The Golden State Warriors are hot hot hot! on pace for a record season that will probably surpass the 1996 Chicago Bulls (72-10). Steph Curry is the best player on the planet, and because of my basketball reviews on Amazon I was asked to review a Steph Curry biography by the Author, Clayton Geoffreys who gave me a free copy. I gladly did and the review is live now 🙂
-starting up a new language exchange site with a few friends, Ping2Pong which I believe is a great language exchange, better than the rest out there, because it encourages people to teach their language first before learning a language. Give and receive.
-Lots of Lets Play videos have been uploaded on youtube, I’ll have a few at the end of this post for u guys to show. In addition, I’m now part of a MCN called Pave Network which means I should be increasing my views soon 🙂
-Last 3 months have been pretty brutal in terms of workload, balancing work at Walmart, with starting up a new language exchange site, and doing youtube videos all at once. So I haven’t been outside that much these days 🙁 coming back to San Francisco next month will be a well needed rest for me 🙂
-In addition going back to SF means I will have some new gadget review videos and stuff soon 🙂 upcming games/gadgets include Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (imported from Japan), the Oculus Rift of course, Lenovo X1 Yoga (first laptop with OLED screen), and iPhone 6se (finally a small smartphone again!)

Most of my Lets Play videos are focused on my favorite gaming genres: Open world third person, First person shooters, Sci-fi RPG, and real time strategy. So here’s my favorite games for each:

Open World third person:
1. Sleeping Dogs
2. Saints Row 4
3. Just Cause 2

First person shooter:
1. Duke Nukem 3D
2. Unreal Tournament 3
3. Bioshock Infinite

Real time strategy:
1. Starcraft II
2. Rise of Legends
3. Age of Mythology

Sci-fi RPG:
1. Deus Ex Human Revolution
2. Anachronox
3. Freelancer

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Basketball videos and 3DS vs Vita in retrospect

I’ve been on a basketball video roll recently, making some rants worthy of being an ESPN analyst.

In these videos, I give my commentary on the ESPN greatest players rank, which I felt ranked older players too low, and modern players too high. As well as my thoughts on the most underrated players of all time (50s players and ABA players), debate about Russell/Wilt, talk about the next 20 players that should be part of the NBA anniversary team, and the All-NBA players I would choose for each decade (1950s to 2010s).

Also, I did a popular video on New Nintendo 3DS vs PS Vita slim comparison

In this video I said that 3DS was favored because it had better games. Well, after owning both consoles for about a year now, I can say that both have fairly addictive games, but I’ve played my PS Vita more, due to its larger cache of Japanese RPGs and Visual Novels, which I prefer to Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/etc games. The Vita is really underrated, because it has a fair amount of good games, alot of them recent. Here’s my favorite games on each console:

New Nintendo 3DS: Codename STEAM, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (I love the whole Fire Emblem series, it has the best story of out any tactical RPG), Yokai Watch, Mario & Luigi Paper Jam

PS Vita: Steins;Gate (absolutely one of my favorite stories of all time), Persona 4 Dancing All Night (surprisingly good story), Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Xblaze: Code Embryo, Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, Akiba’s trip: Dead and undressed

There’s just way more variety in the Vita games than 3DS games, which tends to stick to the usual Nintendo suspects: Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Harvest Moon (now Story of Seasons), etc

so yeah.. I might do a retrospective video, but Vita actually wins it for me. If I was forced to choose between Fire Emblem (my favorite Nintendo series) and Steins;Gate or Persona 4, it would be difficult but I would still go with Persona/Steins Gate. And yes, I know Persona Q exists on the 3DS, its just not the same as Persona 4 Golden / Dancing all night on the Vita.