How Different the NBA Would Be If Blazers Drafted Jordan

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KingSpeed

KingSpeed

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The 1984 NBA Draft is still regarded by many as the best draft class the league has ever seen. Along with Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton, the ’84 talent crop featured a number of solid contributing players to supplement these eventual Hall of Famers.

The consensus #1 pick was Olajuwon so it’s difficult to really ponder an alternate universe with Jordan going to Houston (especially considering how great of a career Hakeem had with the Rockets), but Portland’s #2 pick easily could’ve been used on the GOAT. In their defense, the Blazers had just selected a future Hall of Famer shooting guard in Clyde Drexler and they needed a big man, but missing out on M.J. for Sam Bowie seems absolutely crazy.

So, what if Portland had drafted Jordan? Here are 10 ways the NBA would be different if the Blazers drafted Michael Jordan in 1984.
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http://hypun.com/how-different-the-nba-would-be-if-the-blazers-drafted-michael-jordan/
 
porter-drexler-jordan-duckworth-sabonis. with kersey, buck, drazen, and cliff robinson off the bench would scares the heck out of every single team in nba. the late 80's through the 90's would been forever known as the "Blazes Dynasty" the nba would be different, everyone would be worshiping us instead of the bulls, lakers, and boston.
 
Would Sabas had come over earlier? Regardless, Poter, Jordan, Clyde, Sabas, Duck

Sorry, but I actually see 82-0....not actually, but would that have been the greatest team of all time?
 
damianlillard said:
porter-drexler-jordan-duckworth-sabonis. with kersey, buck, drazen, and cliff robinson off the bench would scares the heck out of every single team in nba. the late 80's through the 90's would been forever known as the "Blazes Dynasty" the nba would be different, everyone would be worshiping us instead of the bulls, lakers, and boston.
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We traded Bowie for Buck, so......
 
Does jordan turn out to be not good not having a chip on his shoulder for not being picked 1? Do his knees hold out?

If jordan is drafted by blazers does the housing market still crash? Is there ever a swine flu? Butterfly effect is just too much
 
IMG_1567.JPG


Anyone ever read this? I just picked it up from my boss to read this AM. Ill give a review at the end in a couple weeks. He said its a great read.
 
damianlillard said:
porter-drexler-jordan-duckworth-sabonis. with kersey, buck, drazen, and cliff robinson off the bench would scares the heck out of every single team in nba. the late 80's through the 90's would been forever known as the "Blazes Dynasty" the nba would be different, everyone would be worshiping us instead of the bulls, lakers, and boston.
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Mediocre Man said:
We traded Bowie for Buck, so......
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KingSpeed said:
This. Can't get Buck with Bowie.
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I don't see where he listed Buck and Bowie on the same team?
 
Orion Bailey said:
I don't see where he listed Buck and Bowie on the same team?
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He listed Buck and Jordan on the same Blazers team. If we draft Jordan, we don't have Bowie, therefore can't trade him for Buck.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
He listed Buck and Jordan on the same Blazers team. If we draft Jordan, we don't have Bowie, therefore can't trade him for Buck.
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Well maybe we would've traded for him anyway, say with a first round pick or something
 
I like to imagine that drafting Jordan instead would have changed the NBA drastically, that it would have a far reaching ripple effect. Maybe draft orders would have been different in the following years, maybe LeBron would be a Bull. haha
 
Wizard Mentor said:
Jordan would have been injured his rookie year....
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Seems pessimistic, but you have to wonder. Or maybe he wouldn't have become the great player he has (yeah right) We probably would have kept him for few years then traded him to Nets for Buck Williams. It's nice to think he would have brought Portland many championships...perhaps Phil Jackson would have coached in Portland too
 
If we'd have drafted Jordan instead of Bowie in 1984........

Fun thing to ponder and oh, the possibilities!!

We'd have had a roster that looked like this:
PG Valentine - Colter
SG Jordan - Paxson - Drexler - BThompson
SG Vandeweghe - Kersey
PF Thompson - Carr - Norris
C Sheffler

But....if we'd not have been interested in Bowie....we'd have probably not made the trade for Vandeweghe and so we could have had a roster that looked like this:
PG Valentine - Lever
SG Jordan - Paxson - BThompson
SG Calvin Natt - Drexler - Kersey
PF Thompson - Carr
C Cooper

Now, can you imagine what we could have gotten in return for a trade package of Paxson (2-time All-Star guard) Natt, or Drexler?

What about a lineup of:
Lever - Jordan - Kersey - Buck - Sabonis?
Lever - Jordan - Kersey - Thompson - Laimbeer?
Lever - Jordan - Drexler - KCarr - Laimbeer?

Oh it makes my head hurt!
 
Orion Bailey said:
View attachment 5848


Anyone ever read this? I just picked it up from my boss to read this AM. Ill give a review at the end in a couple weeks. He said its a great read.
Click to expand...
When i saw this thread, i thought of this book. I read that book some time ago. There are some interesting insights, but I can't remember them as I sit here today.
 
If Portland would have drafted Jordan instead of Bowie, there would still be an NBA team in Seattle and quite possibly still one in Vancouver BC, too. With Jordan in Portland, the Pacific NW would have been THE hot bed of NBA basketball from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Imagine the rivalry between the Jordan/Drexler Blazers and the Payton/Kemp Sonics. Both teams would have been able to attract top free agents and players in sign-and-trades, that were easier back then than they are today. And, Seattle would have gotten the new stadium needed keep the Sonics in Seattle and the team would have never been sold to those lying hicks from Cow Town.

With two great teams in the NW division, and actually located in the PNW, there may have also been enough of a trickle down effect to keep the Grizzlies in Vancouver. Attendance in Vancouver was never an issue. As bad as the Grizzlies were back then, they drew bigger crowds in Vancouver than the did for their first several years in Memphis. The issue was finding a local ownership group that was committed to keeping them in Vancouver. With two other teams in the region making huge profits off their local NBA teams, it may have been enough to lure a group of local businessmen to buy the Grizzlies and keep them in Vancouver. Jordan in Portland with Nike in Beaverton would have been a huge marketing juggernaut for the city as well as the entire region.

Jordan in Portland would have been the messiah that saved NBA basketball in the Pacific Northwest.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
If Portland would have drafted Jordan instead of Bowie, there would still be an NBA team in Seattle and quite possibly still one in Vancouver BC, too. With Jordan in Portland, the Pacific NW would have been THE hot bed of NBA basketball from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Imagine the rivalry between the Jordan/Drexler Blazers and the Payton/Kemp Sonics. Both teams would have been able to attract top free agents and players in sign-and-trades, that were easier back then than they are today. And, Seattle would have gotten the new stadium needed keep the Sonics in Seattle and the team would have never been sold to those lying hicks from Cow Town.

With two great teams in the NW division, and actually located in the PNW, there may have also been enough of a trickle down effect to keep the Grizzlies in Vancouver. Attendance in Vancouver was never an issue. As bad as the Grizzlies were back then, they drew bigger crowds in Vancouver than the did for their first several years in Memphis. The issue was finding a local ownership group that was committed to keeping them in Vancouver. With two other teams in the region making huge profits off their local NBA teams, it may have been enough to lure a group of local businessmen to buy the Grizzlies and keep them in Vancouver. Jordan in Portland with Nike in Beaverton would have been a huge marketing juggernaut for the city as well as the entire region.

Jordan in Portland would have been the messiah that saved NBA basketball in the Pacific Northwest.

BNM
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Or Jordan would have demanded a trade to a bigger market
 
The answer to the actual questin is who knows?

Butterfly effect and all that
 
Jordan hated playing PG, but he did it for most of a year and averaged near a triple double.

If he'd have been convinced to play PG next to Clyde... Oh boy!

I'm thinking you'd end up trading Clyde, tho, or playing him at SF. Not sure how that would have worked out.

Maybe Jordan couldn't win without PJax and Pippen.

Maybe the Rockets would have dominated for a decade.
 
I always liked the Blazers.

Loved Walton in college and with the Blazers.

Twardzik shot 60% from the field, remarkable for a short PG.

Maurice Lucas and Walton were as good a PF/C combo as any. Lucas was elite.

I liked Jack Ramsey as coach, too.

The championship team had superstars and played great as a team.
 
Tunchi said:
Or Jordan would have demanded a trade to a bigger market
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I doubt it. Jordan got rich off his national endorsements: Gatorade, Coke, Hanes, Chevy, McDonalds and of course, the biggest of them all - Nike, located right here in little ole Beaverton, OR. It was Nike and the Air Jordan line of shoes and clothing that transformed Michael Jordan from an athlete into a brand. He STILL makes over $100 million per year off his Nike deal. Small market, large market, it would not have mattered, As long as he was winning scoring titles, MVPs, dunk contests and eventually championships, he was going to be the richest athlete in the history of the world. No matter where he played, his local endorsement deals would have always been small peanuts compared to his national deals.

It was much less common for star athletes to demand trades back then. Most remained loyal to the teams that drafted them. In Jordan's case, with all his national endorsements, there was no incentive to demand a trade to a larger market. And, in this case, there would have been a big incentive to stay in Portland - winning. Jordan was, perhaps, the most competitive athlete in the history of team sports. He always played to win and drove his teammates to do the same. Outside of Jordan himself, those early Bulls teams were pretty devoid of talent. The Bulls didn't draft Pippen until Jordan's 4th year in the league - which is also the first time Michael advanced past the first round of the playoffs. In Chicago, Jordan had to wait 4 years until he was paired with another Dream Teamer and one of the 50 Greatest Players of all time. In Portland, he had one ready and waiting for him to start his rookie year. With his length and athleticism, Clyde could have easily played small forward next to Jordan at the 2. The Bulls didn't make it to the finals until 1990-91 - Jordan's 7th year in the league. The Blazers made the finals a year sooner - without Jordan. With him they would have made it even sooner. Portland won 48 games and were the 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs the year before Jordan was drafted. The Bulls won 27 games and missed the playoffs. The Blazers minus Bowie simply had a lot more talent than the Bulls minus Jordan. Plug Jordan into that Blazers roster and he would have won more and would have won sooner. And, for Michael Jordan, winning was always what mattered most.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
I doubt it. Jordan got rich off his national endorsements: Gatorade, Coke, Hanes, Chevy, McDonalds and of course, the biggest of them all - Nike, located right here in little ole Beaverton, OR. It was Nike and the Air Jordan line of shoes and clothing that transformed Michael Jordan from an athlete into a brand. He STILL makes over $100 million per year off his Nike deal. Small market, large market, it would not have mattered, As long as he was winning scoring titles, MVPs, dunk contests and eventually championships, he was going to be the richest athlete in the history of the world. No matter where he played, his local endorsement deals would have always been small peanuts compared to his national deals.

It was much less common for star athletes to demand trades back then. Most remained loyal to the teams that drafted them. In Jordan's case, with all his national endorsements, there was no incentive to demand a trade to a larger market. And, in this case, there would have been a big incentive to stay in Portland - winning. Jordan was, perhaps, the most competitive athlete in the history of team sports. He always played to win and drove his teammates to do the same. Outside of Jordan himself, those early Bulls teams were pretty devoid of talent. The Bulls didn't draft Pippen until Jordan's 4th year in the league - which is also the first time Michael advanced past the first round of the playoffs. In Chicago, Jordan had to wait 4 years until he was paired with another Dream Teamer and one of the 50 Greatest Players of all time. In Portland, he had one ready and waiting for him to start his rookie year. With his length and athleticism, Clyde could have easily played small forward next to Jordan at the 2. The Bulls didn't make it to the finals until 1990-91 - Jordan's 7th year in the league. The Blazers made the finals a year sooner - without Jordan. With him they would have made it even sooner. Portland won 48 games and were the 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs the year before Jordan was drafted. The Bulls won 27 games and missed the playoffs. The Blazers minus Bowie simply had a lot more talent than the Bulls minus Jordan. Plug Jordan into that Blazers roster and he would have won more and would have won sooner. And, for Michael Jordan, winning was always what mattered most.

BNM
Click to expand...

Great analysis!
 
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