As the young NBA season was just hitting its stride, I read through my old MVP Basketball 1996-97 NBA preview magazine and thought of how much that season shaped the NBA landscape for the next 12 years. Here's how 1996-97 was important:
1. Shaquille O'Neal signed with the LA Lakers and led the team to 3 titles from 2000 to 2002.
2. Spurs center David Robinson was injured and his team hobbled to 20 wins. The Spurs ended up with the first pick in the 1997 draft who turned out to be Tim Duncan. The San Antonio franchise, led by Duncan, would go on to win the 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007 NBA championships.
3. The 1996 draft yielded 3 future MVPs in Allen Iversion (1st pick, 2001 MVP), Kobe Bryant (13th pick, 2008 MVP, 3 time NBA champion with the Lakers) and Steve Nash (15th pick, 2005 & 2006 MVP). The 1984 draft compares to this with its MVPs Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.
4. The draft also boasted future All-Stars in Shareef Abdur-Rahim (3rd pick), Stephon Marbury (4th pick), Ray Allen (5th pick, 2008 NBA champion with Boston), Antoine Walker (6th pick, 2006 NBA champion with Miami), Peja Stojakovic (14th pick), Jermaine O'Neal (17th pick) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (20th pick).
5. Other notable players who entered that year were Marcus Camby (2nd pick, 2007 NBA Defensive Player of the Year), Derek Fisher (24th pick, 3 time NBA champion with the Lakers) and Ben Wallace (undrafted, 4 time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 2004 NBA champion with Detroit).
In all, the year sowed the seeds for 7 NBA championships, 4 MVP awards, multiple All-Star appearances and other individual awards.
A couple of what-if questions for that year:
1. What if the Boston Celtics, who wound up with a 15-67 record that year (2nd worst in the league), won the rights to the 1st pick in the 1997 draft? Would that have set the Lakers-Celtics Finals a few years earlier where we got a Shaq-Duncan rivalry every June?
2. But what if Kobe ended up with the team that originally drafted him - the Charlotte Hornets? Would the Lakers have won their 3 titles? (Shaq did prove he could win a title without Bryant in the 2006 Finals.)
3. What if Shaq remained in Orlando? Would that have kept Jordan and the Bulls from winning the 1997 and 1998 titles? Would that have kept the Eastern Conference competitive?
4. What if the Minnesota Timberwolves kept their pick, Ray Allen, instead of trading him to Milwaukee for Stephon Marbury? Former Timberwolf Kevin Garnett and Allen won an NBA title together in 2008 for Boston.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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