NBA “What If” Duos since 1990

Below is my “What If” Duos in the NBA list since 1990. The criteria to make the cut are that the team had to have two young dynamic players that never reached their potential together and cannot have played longer than three years together. The key word is young so teammates like Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley won’t make the cut, and since three years is the cap, neither will Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp since they had a six year run together.

I enjoy hearing everyone’s feedback, so criticize away!

5. Chris Webber/Latrell Sprewell, Golden State Warriors -

The Warriors future looked bright but unfortunately for the Bay Area, Chris Webber could not get along with his coach, Don Nelson. Webber basically forced his way out after just one year in Golden State. That year C-Webb was the Rookie of the Year and Sprewell, in his second season, put up an even 21 points per game. Pretty damn solid. The foundation was set, but Nelsons pride got in the way of developing his young team and traded away his star player for Tom Freakin’ Gugliotta. If you look at the image, you notice Chris Mullin (buzz cut and all) hanging outside the jump ball circle. That would’ve, could’ve, and should’ve been one of the top teams in the 1990′s in the west.

4. Kevin Garnett/Stephon Marbury, Minnesota Timberwolves -

When the rights to Stephon Marbury were acquired by the T-Wolves, no one was happier than KG. He finally had his point guard… Actually those were the exact words he reportedly screamed when he heard the news “I GOT MY POINT GUARD! I GOT MY MOTHER F*CKIN’ POINT GUARD!”. That happiness lasted for one season before drama led to Marbury being shipped out of Minnesota in year 3 in a three-way deal that returned Terrell Brandon (blah). Don’t get me wrong, Brandon was a solid NBA player, but he never had the superstar potential that Starbury did. Imagine an unstoppable offensive PG with great vision, paired with an ELITE low post threat that would become one of the greatest defenders in the history of the game. We’ll never know. It’s a shame that Marbury’s ego got the best of him. He was never meant to be the #1 option he thought he was… except on youtube. Maybe KG would’ve been better off to have “GOT HIS MOTHER EFFIN’ SHOOTING GUARD!” if the T-Wolves never traded Ray Allen for Marbury on draft night.

3. Yao Ming/Steve Francis, Houston Rockets -

These two guys genuinely liked and respected each other. They had a two year run but the Rockets gave up on the PG/C combo and traded Stevie Franchise for shooting guard Tracy McGrady. Yeah, T-Mac was the better player, but the better player isn’t always the better fit.  Yao was delegated to second banana on the team when in all reality they should have been force feeding the man the basketball down low! Francis understood what he had in Yao. McGrady never did. T-Mac was the second-coming of MJ in his own eyes… The man was a great offensive talent but clearly he was not the best team player the league has seen. The Rockets essentially traded a PG willing to defer to his big man for an injury prone SG who would not pass their star the ball! Of course Yao had his own issues staying healthy, but since this is a game of “what if”, what if Yao was healthy and he had a true PG next to him his whole career? We may be talking about a top 10 center of all time.

2. Tracy McGrady/Grant Hill, Orlando Magic -

When these guys signed with Orlando, I remember specifically thinking that this team would be unstoppable. Hill was the all around talent that would be happy being the second option on offense. McGrady was the pure scorer that could get buckets every which way you could think of. Unlike the rest of the list, these were two guys in the primes of their career. The media and fans crowned them the new Jordan and Pippen before they even stepped on the court together. They were young but were already dominate All-Stars in the league. McGrady lived up to the hype. He led the league in scoring one year with over 32 points per game and set his career high with 62 points in a single game. McGrady established himself as an elite wing player with the Magic. Unfortunately for Grant Hill numerous ankle and foot problems deterred him from greatness. Neither of these guys left or were traded, but this is definitely a “what if” scenario since Hill could never get healthy. This was Lebron and Wade before Lebron and Wade… And we all know how much hype we give the Heat now. Same goes for the Magic in the summer of 2000. (Ironic that Mike Miller was a part of both of these superstar duo teams).

1. Shaquille O’Neal/Penny Hardaway, Orlando Magic -

The second Orlando Magic team on this short list. Ouch. I feel your pain… One NBA Finals loss, many disputes about who was the leader, and Shaq’s desire to be a worldwide celebrity, led to this meltdown. They had the fast rising point guard in Penny Hardaway, with the next great big man in Shaquille O’Neal. The ideal 1-2 punch for any coach. This was young Shaq; not old, slow, can barely get up the court Shaq. This was when he earned the nickname “Diesel” because the man couldn’t be stopped on the low block. He would consistently power his way to dunks. Imagine Dwight Howard on steroids with a better offensive game. Scary huh? That was 1990′s Shaq-Fu. Penny Hardaway was always meant to be a second option, but he had the Starbury syndrome. He wanted to be “the man” and felt that he already was. With Shaq already looking to pursue movie and rapping careers, having disputes with his PG about who was the leader was the icing on the cake for O’Neal to head out the back door to Los Angeles. Shaq ended up winning three rings with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, but he would’ve done the same with the team that drafted him had he stayed.