Alternate History Athletic Careers

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, C, Phoenix Suns(1969-82), New York Knicks(1982-86)

Drafted by Phoenix #1 overall after they won the Super Flip in 1969, Jabbar led Phoenix to the Finals in his first year, only to lose to the Lakers. In 1971, though, they picked up Oscar Robertson, and Kareem and Oscar led the Suns to three titles before Oscar retired at the end of the 75 season.

In the 75 draft, the Suns select PG Gus Williams and Kevin Grevey with their two first round selections, and the team took a few years to gel with younger players around Jabbar. By 78, though, the Suns were back in the Finals, and they would beat the Bullets in successive years.

In 1980, though, Kareem would be hurt in the Conference Finals, and the young Lakers, led by the rookie Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes, upset the Suns in the West Finals. In 81, the Suns were also upset by the Rockets, who would go on to upset a Laker team that was in disarray in Round 2. By 82, though, the Suns were back on track, and Kareem won his sixth ring with the Suns.

After the 82 season, he felt that he accomplished a lot in Phoenix, but longed to play the final years of his career back home. He was also headed into the final year of a 7-year deal. So, the Suns, sensing that they may not be able to re-sign him, granted his wishes. He went to the Knicks for C Bill Cartwright and a 1985 #1 pick.

In New York, he had some good years. He led the Knicks to the 1984 NBA Finals, where they defeated Magic and the Lakers, but they were held back his last two years due to his own injuries and the injuries to Bernard King.

After the 86 season, the Lakers came calling, and they wanted to trade for Kareem, but he said that he had enough.
 
· Ronald Wilson Reagan February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004
When he graduated from Eureka College in Illinois in the spring of 1932, Ronald Wilson - Dutch - Reagan wanted to be a radio sports announcer. He tried to get on with a number of Chicago area stations, but was rebuffed. He walked into the studios of WOC, Davenport one fall day in 1932. After stating he wanted to be a sports announcer, there was an audition, and then, the words from the station manager that started it all, "You get five dollars and bus fare to Iowa City. You're doing the Iowa-Minnesota game."
Born in Tampico, Illinois and raised in Dixon, Reagan was educated at Eureka College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. After his graduation, Reagan moved first to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster. After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan drove himself to Iowa, where he auditioned for a job at many small-town radio stations. The University of Iowa hired him to broadcast home football games for the Hawkeyes. Soon after, a staff announcer's job opened at radio station WOC in Davenport, and Reagan was hired. Aided by his persuasive voice, he moved to WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games. His specialty was creating play-by-play accounts of games that the station received by wire.While traveling with the Cubs in California, Reagan took a screen test in 1937 but Warner Brothers decided to pass on signing him.

In 1939 Dutch Reagan got his big break as Red Barber, the play by play man for the Cincinnati Reds left to work for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Reagan was hired to be the play by play man for the Reds and stayed for the close to 20 years until he left to work for the San Francisco Giants (1958-1973), and San Diego Padres (1974-1980)

During the Second World War he served as one of the voices of Armed Forces Radio broadcasting baseball games to the troops overseas.

In the 1980’s he landed a spot on television alongside fellow longtime broadcaster Mel Allen on This Week in Baseball. He worked there for 3 years until he began to experience the effects of Alzhiemers in 1985.

Over his career, he also broadcast a number of college football games including : 6 Rose Bowls, 2 Orange Bowls, and 2 Sugar Bowls. In the National Football League, Reagan served as play-by-play announcer for the Cleveland Browns from 1952-55 . and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1966-68.

Movie Career: Although Warner Brothers said no in 1937, they said yes in 1939 when he appeared as the announcer in the Warner musical short-subject, "On the Air", with Leith Stevens and the Saturday Night Swing Club. He appeared in several other films later in life including the Naked Gun in 1988 appearing as himself..

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association inducted Reagan into its Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1984, he was one of the winners of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting and inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1985, Reagan was was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame along with Mel Allen, Curt Gowdy and Chicago legend Jack Brickhouse. Reagan was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.

Reagan was well known for his catchphrase “There you go again..” when a pitcher started to walk too many batters and as a homerun call for the Sluggers on the Reds and later the Giants.
 
Olajuwon

Hakeem Olajuwon, C, Portland Trail Blazers(1984-2000)

Drafted by Portland after they won the Super Flip with Houston in 1984(the Rockets selected Michael Jordan #2).

Led Blazers to NBA Titles in 1987, 88, 91, 92, 95, and 2000.
 
Sticking to the race car drivers theme, the "American Heroes", the two American do-it-all drivers who took the world by storm in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s....

Anthony Joseph "A.J." Foyt Jr.
Hometown: College Station, Texas
Years Active: 1956-2000

Notable Victories:
- Formula One World Champion (1977)
- Four-Time Indianapolis 500 winner (1958, 1964, 1975 and 1977)
- Two-Time Indycar Series Champion (1966, 1972)
- Two-Time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner (1967, 1986)
- Daytona 500 Winner (1979)
- Three-Time International Race of Champions winner (1976, 1978, 1985)
- World Race of Champions Drivers' Winner (1998)

One of the most prolific of American race car drivers, Foyt's career began on the short tracks of Texas, dominating USAC's sprint car series in the late 1950s before moving to Indycars in 1958 and going full-time there in 1961. Foyt's second Indy 500 win in 1964, coming in a roadster against the dominant Lotus team, nonetheless started a relationship between Colin Chapman and Foyt that would last until Chapman's death in 1986, and would produce incredible results.

Foyt would ultimately split his time between Indycars and a growing status in Europe, as the big, loud-mouthed Texan and archrival Mario Andretti became two stalwarts of European road racing. The two became teammates at Lotus in 1975, leading to a string with the Fantastic Lotus cars of the 1970s, leading to AJ being the Formula One World Champion in 1977 and Mario beating him for the title in a vicious fight between them in 1978 that sealed their respect for one another. Foyt's third and fourth Indy 500 wins were also in Lotus cars, in 1975 and 1977. Foyt's connection to the company included being involved with Lotus' World Sports Car Championship efforts in the mid-1980s, which led to Lotus' fairy-tale win at Le Mans in 1986, just weeks after Chapman's death - and Foyt's second Le Mans win, having won paired with Dan Gurney in a factory Ford GT40 Mark IV in 1967.

Foyt's attention focused on Indycars as the series grew to spectacular popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, including one of the most famous duels in modern Indycar history between him and Bobby Rahal in the late 75 laps of the 1987 Indy 500, with Rahal's Ferrari 87I topping Foyt's Lotus 95-Ford by just over a second after swapping the lead fourteen times on the track and three times in the pits. Foyt officially retired from Indycars in 1994, but made one last race in 1996 - ironically, watching Mario win his second 500, 27 years after his first and after two decades of horrible luck which the Andrettis had suffered at Indianapolis.

Not liking retirement, 62-year-old Foyt ran again with Lotus, headlining the company's assault on the 1997 World Sportscar Championship, which started horribly but got very good over time, Foyt showing he still had his skill by him and Justin Bell winning two rounds of the 1998 WSC on their way to fourth in the championship.

After Lotus' financial problems in the 1990s, which led to their takeover by Gurney Austin Rover in 2001, Foyt switched his efforts to Panoz, as part of the 1999 "Dream Team", teamed with grandson AJ Foyt IV, Al Unser Jr. and Jimmy Vasser. The Foyt/Foyt/Unser/Vasser car finished second behind the Andretti family car, a fact that Foyt did not grudge. A win at Indianapolis by Tony Stewart in 2000 made him a winner as a driver and as an owner.

Officially retiring for good from racing with the Panoz IMSA team at the end of the 2000 season - at an incredible age 65 - Foyt simply couldn't stay completely retired, and many tests of his own cars at Texas World Speedway and his own driving a Coyote-Chevrolet during test days at Indianapolis in 2005 confirmed that if he wanted to, he could still do it, but it has not yet happened.

Mario Gabriele Andretti

Hometown: Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Years Active: 1959-2001

Notable Victories:
- Formula One World Champion (1978)
- Two-Time Indianapolis 500 Winner (1969, 1996)
- Five-Time Indycar Series Champion (1968, 1969, 1974, 1984, 1985)
- Le Mans 24-Hour Winner (1999)
- Daytona 500 Winner (1967)
- Five-Time International Race of Champions Winner (1975, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1992)

It's hard to imagine a bigger case of an immigrant come good than Andretti, who came to America from Italy as a teenager. Mario first was seen in a major way through winning on his local tracks in a big way in the late 1950s, making his way into Midget cars in 1961. Andretti was a terror in Indycars, winning three Indycar titles in the 1960s and claiming his first Indy 500 win in 1969. Called to Formula One by Chapman, contractual obligations forced Andretti to drive for Roger Penske's team in 1973 and 1974, but when Mario and Foyt joined forces at Lotus in 1975, the die was set - and two titles and over 30 race wins resulted before the team went their separate ways in 1982, with both Foyt and Mario staying firmly with the FOCA side of the acrimonious Formula One split of the early 1980s.

Returning to Indycars, Mario saw his sons Michael and Jeff also enter the series. Jeff's career ultimately saw more success in sportscar racing, but Michael came to have a legend all his own. Mario's friendship with actor Paul Newman led to him joining the then-new Newman-Haas Racing team in 1983, with the team claiming the Indycar titles for Andretti in 1984 and 1985, the latter seeing Mario barely edge out Rick Mears for the 1985 championship.

The Indycar series' popularity was such by the late 1980s that Mario was called upon again to return to Formula One, and he did race eight more Formula One races for Ferrari in 1988 and 1989, winning the 1988 Italian GP for Ferrari in a wildly-popular victory days after Enzo Ferrari's death and barely losing the 1989 USGP East after a wild battle with eventual 1989 World Champion Stefan Bellof. Mario would be a regular high competitor in Indycars as well, as well as regular Le Mans attempts with a best finish of second in 1988.

Retiring from Indycars in 1994, Mario's career was thought to be over - but a fiery crash in the last practice day between Michael and Butch Leitzinger saw Mario volunteer to drive his son's race car in the 1995 Indy 500. Twelve laps led and a sixth place finish was the result, and Paul Newman convinced Mario to drive Michael's car while Michael healed from his injuries. Ten races run landed him six top-tens and the bug back. Driving a third car in the 1996 Indy 500, Mario finally broke his family's curse at Indy, leading 64 laps on his way to his second Indy 500 win. The remainder of the 1996 season saw the suddenly-huge Newman-Haas team - Mario and Michael Andretti, as well as Nigel Mansell and Christian Fittipaldi - forcing the dominant Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Players Team Green squads to work for every result. Mario won one more race in 1996, a come-from-behind victory in the season finale in Las Vegas. It would be Mario's final win as an Indycar driver, though he competed in the five Indy 500s after his 1996 victory.

Le Mans, which Mario had raced at 22 times and never won, fell finally to his hand in 1999 - and driving with his sons Michael and Jeff, a huge win that made history. The 1999 Panoz squad had been embarassed with their GTR-1 GT cars at Le Mans in 1997 and 1998 - but the new Panoz Roadster, known for its incredibly-good handling and powerful Elan-Ford V8, outran the factory BMW, Audi, Nissan and Cadillac teams in the 1999 Le Mans race, and outlasted the faster Toyota entries. Mercedes' challenge at the race ended with Peter Dumbreck's heart-stopping backflip, which Jeff Andretti, who was right behind when it happened, called "the scariest crash I've ever seen." The Panoz' victory at Le Mans, along with the fast Chrysler Patriot and Cadillac entries, massively boosted the popularity of the IMSA American Le Mans Series, which Panoz as of 2012 is still racing in.

Mario had since 2003 been well involved in the Andretti Autosport team, which Michael owns and drove for until 2009. Mario, like Foyt, still has a major speed bug, and is known to regularly test drive his son's Indycars. Mario has also come to be well-known in Hollywood, playing retired businessman Giancarlo Maletti in the 2009 remake of The Cannonball Run and having numerous smaller roles in movies and television shows, as well as being a regular choice for stunt driving in the movies.
 
David Robinson

David Robinson, C, Phoenix Suns (1989-2004)

In 1987, the Suns sunk to their lowest depths. Their decline started the day they traded Kareem away for Bill Cartwright. During the 86-87 season, though, they traded Cartwright to the Bulls for Charles Oakley, and they were hoping that they would win the Draft Lottery and get The Admiral.

On lottery day, their prayers were answered. And, on draft day, they got Robinson.

David had a Naval commitment for two years, but he joined a Phoenix team that already had KJ, Torcher Chambers, Oak Tree, Eddie Johnson, and Jeff Hornacek.

In 89, the Suns lost to Portland in the West Finals, but they knocked them off the next year before losing to Detroit in the Finals. However, they wouldn't get back to the Finals until 1993, after trading Jeff Hornacek, Charles Oakley, and Tim Perry to the Sixers for Charles Barkley.

Barkley joined the Admiral, KJ, Chambers, and young talents like Cedric Ceballos, Oliver Miller, and Richard Dumas, and the Suns won 67 games and an NBA title in 1993, and repeated the trick in 1994.

In the coming years, though, drug suspensions and injuries would hurt the core people around Robinson and Barkley, and Ceballos was traded to the Rockets for Robert Horry.

The Suns would remain contenders the rest of the decade, but the Admiral wouldn't reach the finals again until 2003 and 2004, when he had a young Amare Stoudemire around him, along with PG Tony Parker and SG Joe Johnson. He retired as a champion in 2004.
 
the Regan and Stewart time lines are much more interesting

the injury / death / paralysis being avoided time lines are also interesting

WI : Brian Clough didn;t damage his knee irreparably and played a 'full career' on the Field in the English Football league before moving into management

WI : Marc Buoniconti didn't break his neck - would he have had a full career in the NFL , would the Miami project even exist ?
 
Ulrike Maier(1967 - present)
Have a nasty fall in 1994 just before the olympics in Lillehammer. She survives with bruises and competes in the olympics were she wins the gold in Gigant slalom

Ulrike continues to ski and be a top skiier, but her fall makes her shy the downhill and super-G only competing in gigant slalom. She wins five more world cup gigant slaloms, all in the 95/96 season and wins the gigant slalom world championship in Morioka. Then in 1996 she ends her career after winning the gold at Gigant slalom in the wold championships in Spain and the gigant slalom world cup.

In 1998 she returned to the alpine events as the head coach of the austrian womans team. In 2004 she became a member of the board of FIS
 
John Elway

This one is inspired by Dave Dameshek's N "if" L post on John Elway. I have a difference of opinion with Dave on what would have happened if the Colts would have called his bluff, though:

http://davedameshek.nfl.com/2012/08/16/n-if-l-what-if-elway-hadnt-skipped-out-on-the-colts/

John Elway, QB, Cincinnati Bengals(1984-92), L.A. Rams(1993-99)

In 1983, Elway was the #1 pick by Baltimore coming out of Stanford. However, he didn't want to play there. Ernie Accorsi, Colt GM, decided not to trade John because he didn't want to be remembered as the GM that traded away a legend.

Robert Irsay was contacted behind Ernie's back, but some trades fell through, and Elway played baseball as promised. He sat out the 83 season. Irsay kept trying to trade him until Ernie Accorsi had a meeting with him and told him that he could work something out. That failed, however, and Elway re-entered the 1984 draft. Cincy had the #1 pick because of a trade the previous summer(where they sent backup QB Jack Thompson to Tampa because of Doug Williams' holdout).

Cincy drafted Elway, and he decided to sign with them after a meeting with new coach Sam Wyche about offensive philosophy.

John mostly sat on the bench his first year playing behind Ken Anderson since he was out of football for two years. However, in 1985, he took over the reins and led the Bengals to their first playoff appearance in three years, winning the AFC Central with a 10-6 record.

After coming up short in Miami in the playoffs, the Bengals won the AFC Central in his second year, beating Cleveland in Week 15 at home for the division title.

The Bengals lost in the AFC Divisional Playoff to New England, and then had a tough year in the 87 strike year, finishing 5-10.

In 88, though, Elway led Cincy to their first of two straight SB appearances. They upset the Niners in the first one, and lost in the second one 38-20. He also led the Bengals to the 1990 playoffs, but they lost to the Raiders in the L.A. Coliseum.

In 91, Paul Brown, the patriarch of the franchise, passed away. That started a downward turn. Cincinnati had two straight losing seasons, and Elway decided that it was time to leave a sinking ship.

John decided to sign with the L.A. Rams as a FA to replace the struggling Jim Everett. In turn, the Rams traded Everett to Arizona for second round picks in 1993 and 94.

Elway, and the presence of rookie RB Jerome Bettis, immediately upgraded the Rams' fortunes. It is argued that Elway's signing saved the Rams in LA, and helped them to build a new stadium in the City of Industry in 2000.

By 1995, the Rams, with Bettis, Elway, Isaac Bruce, Troy Drayton, Keith Lyle, Toby Wright, Sean Gilbert, Roman Phifer, and D'Marco Farr, were ready to make a Super Bowl run. They won the NFC West, but lost to the Cowboys in the NFC Title Game. The next year, they went to New Orleans, and beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 31. Elway also led them to one more SB title in 99, and then retired at the top after 16 seasons.
 
Alistair Overeem (born May 17, 1980) is a former rugby union second row for Harlequins and The Netherlands. Born in Hounslow, London, England Overeem was spotted by Harlequins at a young age and during his early years also was a heavyweight amateur boxer during the early stages. Aged nineteen, Overeem shocked the rugby world by rejecting a call-up for the England U20 team to play for the little-fancied Netherlands (the country of his mother's birth) first team (a decision which meant he would never be eligible to play for England). What the media didn't quite latch on to was that he was also asked to represent The Netherlands at the 2000 Olympics in boxing.

A real career highlight for Overeem was captaining de Oranje in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. While they only managed one win out of three in the expanded 24 team tournament, against Namibia, Overeem's performance lead him to be nominated to the all tournament team.

At club level, he played out all of his twelve year first team career at Harlequins, on the Heineken Cup winning team in 2009-10 and the 2005-06 and 2007-08 Premierships (plus the Southern Conference title in 2006-07, where despite his efforts holding up a Castrogiovanni try in the dying seconds, a foul by another Harlequins player lead to a penalty try was awarded to Leicester, gifting them the victory), and the 2010 Club World Championship.

Sadly, following an ACL injury sustained during the 2011-12 season in a Premier League Overeem has retired from rugby union, but is tipped to join the coaching staff of the Dutch rugby team.
 
Barry Sanders: Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1989, he rushed for 28,427 yards and scored 176 touchdowns during his tenure with the Packers, along with breaking numerous rushing records.

He was the core, along with Brett Favre, Sterling Sharpe, and Reggie White, of the Packers dynasty of the 1990s that went to six consecutive NFC title games and won five of them (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 (the last one over the Minnesota Vikings)) and won Super Bowls XXVIII, XXX, XXXI, and XXXII.

Needless to say, when he retired in 2004, he was voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, with Mike Holmgren and Brett Favre giving induction speeches.
 
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Just thinking, I've been the only one to do some sport transplant ones (turning a hurdler and mixed martial artist in to a rugby union winger and second row respectively). I'll see what other ones I can think of ...
 
Kobe Bryant:

Charlotte Hornets, selected 13th 1996

The Hornets would select a kid out of high school named Kobe Bryant.

That 1996-97 season, Bryant would average 9.4 points per game in 19.5 minutes per game, backing up veteran shooting guard Dell Curry and providing doses of excitement for the Hornets fans, including a strong showing in the Rookie game opposite Allen Iverson. Glen Rice would lead the Hornets in scoring with 24.6 points per game, with Anthony Mason averaging 15 points and 10.6 points per game. The Hornets would finish 49-33 to earn a spot in the playoffs.

However, the lack of a center would come to hurt the Hornets dearly when they matched up with a tough, veteran New York Knick team, with only Matt Geiger to match up against superstar center Patrick Ewing. Predictably, the Knicks would win the first two games by sizable margins, with Bryant receiving only limited playing time and scoring 4 and 7 points in games 1 and 2 respectively. Returning to the Charlotte Coliseum, and with his team down 0-2, and with Ricky Pierce out and backup swingmen Tony Smith and Scott Burrell having proven ineffective, Coach Cowens decided to give Bryant some minutes. His move would prove warranted, as Bryant would come off the bench to score 13 points, with Glen Rice leading the way with 31 points and Dell Curry hitting 5 out of 7 3 pointers in a Hornets blowout victory.

However, most analysts expected the Knicks to adjust to this scheme and close out the series, and things grew especially grim when Curry would suffer an ankle injury attempting to fight over a screen against Charles Oakley early in the 2nd quarter, and Coach Dave Cowens would be forced to use Bryant for the rest of the game, coming up with 23 points and 5 rebounds and 4 assists including a memorable drive in which he blew past Charlie Ward and finished with a jam in the face of Larry Johnson with 1:59 seconds left in the 4th to put the surprising Hornets ahead 91-84 and would go on to win.

The ESPN highlights would go crazy in light of Bryant's stunning performance, and some pundits would wonder if Bryant should have been rookie of the year over IVerson. Meanwhile, panic was reigning in New York about the possibility of losing to this upstart team, and Larry Johnson would vow that 'if that arrogant kid tries doing that hotdog @#$! again he's tasting the garden floor'.

With Curry and Pierce both unable to play in Game 5, Bryant would be getting the start. The first half would be close with Rice's hot 3 point shooting and including a strong performance by 5-3 point guard Muggsy Bouges. Bryant did start decently, shooting 3-7 for 9 points in the 1st half, yet in the second half the Knicks started to pull away. Bryant would attempt 15 shots in the 2nd half, making only 4 of them, including 5 turnovers and also included a near fist fight with Chris Childs after Childs had grabbed him by the neck trying to drive to the hoop. Another drive would see Bryant be hammered by both Oakley and Johnson which did start a fight, with Matt Geiger being tossed for attempting to back up the Hornets teenage phenom attempting to knee Johnson. After the hoopla, the Knicks gained momentum, eventually winning Game 5 by the score of 98-83 thanks to a dominant performance by Patrick Ewing.

However, after the 1996-97 season, there would be a sense of optimism coming into the following years. Glen Rice was in his prime, while Bryant demonstrated that while he still had much to learn, he was a player who would not back down from the moment and whose potential was limitless. Eventually, Jordan and the Bulls would win their 5th NBA championship over the Houston Rockets
 
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Kobe Bryant, year 2, 1997-98 season

Charlotte Hornets- 1997-98 season.

The need for a center was the most pressing concern for the Charlotte Hornets coming into the 1997-98 season. Ewing had dominated during the first round loss to the Knicks the previous season.

The Hornets would find their center after trading away popular shooting guard Dell Curry, and tough but undersized Anthony Mason to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo. With Glen Rice and what the Hornets expected would be an improved Kobe Bryant, the Hornets believed that Mutombo's supreme defensive prowess (having averaged 3.6 blocks per game the previous season) would be able to turn back the likes of Ewing and Oakley and also keep the big centers honest on defense as well (Mutombo averaged about 14 points a game in his prime, which is actually quite good). The Hornets would select Maurice Taylor with the 18th pick (In OTL he went 12th I think to the CLippers) to make up for their loss of Mason. More importantly, but at the time all but ignored by sports reporters, the Hornets would also sign PF Kurt Thomas, whom Hornets scouts had observed that while having limited playing time in Miami had shown to be a tough, rebounding power forward who could go up against the likes of Oakley and the other rough power forwards of the Eastern conference. Other additions included David Wesley from the Celtics, who would form a platoon with Bogues at the PG spot, along with signing Bobby Phils at the 2 guard spot.

AFter the blockbuster summer, some sports analysts were predicting that the Hornets would reach the 2nd seed in the East behind the Bulls.

At first, coach Cowens intended to use Phils at the 2 Guard spot, yet Phils (conveniently) pulled his hamstring in the final preseason game forcing Cowens to start Bryant. The Hornets started the year according to expectations, going 37-14 by the time the All Star Break hit. Bryant, now the starting 2 guard for the Hornets would average 19.5 points per game in the first half of the season, earning him a spot on the All Star team backing up Michael Jordan, with many pundits anoiting Bryant the Air Apparent. He would also earn himself a nickname during the season, in which during an NBC Game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum, Bryant would explode for a career high 37 points in a thrilling 112-109 victory for the Hornets in which Laker Center Shaquille O'Neal (in truth, the Lakers probably still could have acquired Shaq assuming that the LAkers could have traded Divac for somebody else other than Bryant and with strong players like Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel among others they still would have been near the top of Western Conference for the rest of the late 90s) would dub Bryant the 'Black Tornado'. That came when Bryant drove to the hoop past backup point guard Derek Fisher (lol... sorry Fish:rolleyes:) and performed a one handed reverse dunk in the face of Elden Campbell which stunned the crowd and caused Hornets radio broadcaster Matt Pinto to jump out of his booth. An exasperated Del Harris would later comment that 'we threw 2-3 guys on him. I even thought of coming on to the court to draw a foul on him, but we couldn't stop him...'. LA Times reporter Bill Plaskhe would run an article the following day detailing that the Lakers were close to securing Bryant for Vlade Divac the previous summer, which did little to improve the mood of Laker fans.

Also joining the Bryant on the All Star team was small forward Glen Rice, who while not receiving the same attention as the young high school phenom was quietly putting up another solid season, leading the team in scoring with 23.4 points a game. Mutombo was proving to be the defensive anchor the team had lacked, while Kurt Thomas provided strength and rebounding at the PF spot. Of all the Hornets of those late 90 teams, Thomas proved to be the Hornet that Kobe appreciated most, and later on would rail at Hornets mangement for having traded him away. Muggsy Bougues, the 5-3 inch starting point guard, continued to provide intelligence and peskiness.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, Mutombo would suffer a knee injury in mid February, forcing him to miss the rest of the regular season. Without their anchor in the middle, the Hornets would have a rather pedestrian 2nd half of the season, and now defenses were keying in more and more on Bryant, which saw his scoring average dip to 15.2 points a game after the break. Still, that was good enough for a 3rd spot in the East behind the Bulls and the Heat, setting up a 1st round matchup with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks would take the 1st game of the series, behind a strong performance by former Hornet crowd favorite Dell Curry, who still felt slighted that he'd been shunted aside in favorite of the uber-talented but arrogant Bryant, torching the Hornets for 26 points including 5-8 beyond the arc. Bryant had a dissappointing game 1, going 6-19 for 15 points, including 3 key late turnovers and heaving up an airball 3 with time winding down and an irate Glen Rice wide open in the corner. Bryant had been increasingly been criticized for his overconfidence and abandoning the team game. During that first game, Bryant would find himself wanting to go straight at Curry to prove a point, and the veteran guard would often bait Bryant into bad shots and turnover. Rice, in particular, would also grow frustrated at his lack of touches.

Fortunately for the Hornets, Dikembe Mutombo would return for the 2nd game of the series, and his defense would prove to be a catalyst, plus his presence would help settle the differences between Bryant and the rest of the Team. Coach Cowens would also help to somewhat tame personal Bryant's vendetta against Curry. Bryant would have a better game in Game 2, scoring 19 points on a more efficient 7-15 but Glen Rice would be the story in that game going for 29 points in a Hornets rout. The following 2 games would also feature Hornet victories with Mutombo being the catalyst and Rice being the 1st option on the team, while Bryant would see his playing time reduced somewhat, scoring 13 and 9 points respectively in those final two games.

That would set up a highly anticipated 2nd round matchup with the New York Knicks. Before the series, Cowens would desperately preach to Bryant not to get caught up in playing at the Garden and trying to take every shot. Bryant, who throughout his career would always play the best at the Garden, would shine. In Game 1, Glen Rice would get into early foul trouble, shifting the focus of the offense on Bryant. Bryant would score 32 points on 12-19 shooting, and once again capturing raving headlines and the attention of talk show hosts and MJ comparisons, while backup forward Maurice Taylor also had a solid game along with a resurgent Glen Rice in the 2nd half. Mutombo's defense on Ewing would also prove a deciding factor, as Ewing was now 35 years old with knees that were increasingly deteriorating, and Mutombo having been named defensive player of the year.

Game 2 however would see a strong performance from Larry Johnson and John Starks, leading the Knicks to a 10 point victory. Bryant would also have a decent game, with 20 points, but Glen Rice was cold, shooting 5-17 for only 12 points.

Yet the Hornets were in an optimistic mood having gained a split at the Garden. Game 3 featured a total team effort in front of the ruckus crowd in Charlotte, winning by 18 points and Game 4 was a similar situation, with the Hornets winning by 10 with Bryant scoring 19 and 21 points in each of those games.

The Knicks were up against the wall, while the Hornets were living high. Yet the Knicks would prove to be unflappable at the Garden. Game 5 would be Bryants worst game of the series, scoring a meager 9 points on 2-9 shooting. His every miss would be received with increasingly hysterical cheers from the Knicks fans, chafing at all the attention the arrogant drama queen received during the All Star Game in MSG. Yet things would really get ugly with 6:24 left in the 4th and the Hornets down by 19, in which Mutombo sent Chris Childs to the floor and proceeded to give Childs his signiatrue finger wag, in which Childs took exception and attempted to throw a punch. Mutombo would respond by putting Childs in a headlock in which the Congo native would punch twice in the head Nolan Ryan style to Robin Ventura before Larry Johnson rushed in headfirst to literally headbut Mutombo in the back. 5-3 inch Point Guard Muggsy Bogues then came into the picture, and would also be suspended for the next game, after Bogues, like a rabid Chihuahua, ducked to the ground and clamped himself around the leg of Larry Johnson and was seemed to appear to be attemting to bite Johnson's thigh in the process. Kurt Thomas would also be thrown out along with Charles Oakley after the two grappled each other by the neck during the scrum. A brief shoving match also began to take place between Bryant and John Starks, with the latter having attempted to intimidate the teenager throughout the game and both were hit with technicals as the refs intervened. Spike Lee would also be tossed from the Garden after the fight had spread to the stands and was seen engaging in a shouting match with backup center Matt Geiger. NY Knick Broadcaster Mike Breen would later comment that 'it was like watching a train wreck, and you just can't keep your eyes away out of some masochistic fascination'.

Game 6 would see a highly charged atmosphere at Charlotte. In Charlotte, Larry Johnson would become particularly reviled, considering that Johnson was a former Hornet and would seemingly make a point to deliver his hardest fouls against the Hornets Golden child, Bryant. Various fans in the arena would be seen with anti-Johnson slogans throughout the series, in particular one of Bogues biting Johnson. and without Mutombo and Kurt Thomas the Hornets would lose the game rather handily, setting up a highly anticipated Game 7. Bryant had a very good game with 24 points, as would Rice, but with nobody in the Middle the front line of the Knicks dominated.

Bryant would have a decent Game 7, scoring 20 points on 7-17 shooting, but Glen Rice scored in a big way, going for 30. Another fight would nearly erupt in that game, in which Coach Van Gundy would send in little used backup John Wallace to attempt to get in a fight with Glen Rice, but the referees restored order before things could get ugly again. This time, the Hornets would gain a dramatic victory, in which Bryant would hit a key 3 pointer to put the Hornets up 5 with 1:21 in the fourth, followed by a key Mutombo block, sending the Hornets the other way in which Bryant led the break and passed it off to a streaking Kurt Thomas, who would jam it plus the foul, sending the Hornets into the ECF.

There was now talk about the Hornets being a legitimate NBA title contender, as fans throughout the Southeast began to flock to the bandwagon. Sports talk folks were now describing the Hornets as the team to eclipse the Bulls.

Yet Michael Jordan would have none of that. Jordan would score 34 and 36 points in each of the first two games, schooling Bryant time after time, while Pippen shut down Glen Rice, and each of the games would be a blowout. Bryant to his credit, would not back down, but unfortunately for the team would often be goaded into one and one matchups against his idol, in which he scored 24 in the opener but only 13 in Game 2.

The Hornets would come back to win Game 3, and Bryant, to his credit would respond with 22 points, as did Rice. Game 4 was another close game, with Bryant once again rising to the challenge, yet Jordan would break the hearts of the Hornets fans when he came off a Rodman screen drove to the basket and scored a twisting runner off the glass over the outstretched arms of Dikembe Mutombo to put the Bulls ahead by 2 with 2.4 seconds to go. The Hornets would have one more play, yet Glen Rice would bobble the ball on the inbounds pass and with Pippen pressuring would throw up a desperate 3 point shot which barely hit the side of the board as time expired.

Game 5 was only a formality, as the Bulls, powered by a 30 point effort by Toni Kukoc, along with the usual strong game of Jordan and Pippen would win by 25 points and send them back to the NBA finals. Bryant would play to the very end though, putting up 26 points but 14 of them after the game was far out of reach. The Bulls would go on to win the title over the Sonics, giving Jordan 6, yet once again it had been a step forward for the Hornets and for Bryant.

However, with the 1999 season came the lockout...

(anyhow, tell me what you think of what I have so far...)

(Note: Kobe is averaging about 3 more points a game in the 97-98 season than he did in OTL, because of lack of competition at shooting guard, no Shaq that would absorb 24 shots per game and relating to that Dave Cowens' patterns on emphasizing a perimeter oriented offense as Mutombo is a defensive oriented center. Plus, with the Hornets lack of a great market there would be a corresponding need for ownership to emphasize to Cowens to feature Bryant more as his starpower would create that much more of a difference.)

(Below, Kobe Bryant, AKA the 'Black Tornado' calm and collected after hitting a 3 pointer in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals against the Knicks to put the Hornets up by 5 with 1:21 left in the game)

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David Robinson, C, Phoenix Suns (1989-2004)

In 1987, the Suns sunk to their lowest depths. Their decline started the day they traded Kareem away for Bill Cartwright. During the 86-87 season, though, they traded Cartwright to the Bulls for Charles Oakley, and they were hoping that they would win the Draft Lottery and get The Admiral.

On lottery day, their prayers were answered. And, on draft day, they got Robinson.

David had a Naval commitment for two years, but he joined a Phoenix team that already had KJ, Torcher Chambers, Oak Tree, Eddie Johnson, and Jeff Hornacek.

In 89, the Suns lost to Portland in the West Finals, but they knocked them off the next year before losing to Detroit in the Finals. However, they wouldn't get back to the Finals until 1993, after trading Jeff Hornacek, Charles Oakley, and Tim Perry to the Sixers for Charles Barkley.

Barkley joined the Admiral, KJ, Chambers, and young talents like Cedric Ceballos, Oliver Miller, and Richard Dumas, and the Suns won 67 games and an NBA title in 1993, and repeated the trick in 1994.

In the coming years, though, drug suspensions and injuries would hurt the core people around Robinson and Barkley, and Ceballos was traded to the Rockets for Robert Horry.

The Suns would remain contenders the rest of the decade, but the Admiral wouldn't reach the finals again until 2003 and 2004, when he had a young Amare Stoudemire around him, along with PG Tony Parker and SG Joe Johnson. He retired as a champion in 2004.

If you have your original POD as 1969, then that completely butterflies away all those players born afterwards. You'd have something like if Lisa Leslie had been born a man instead and thus had this alternate player alongside Robinson in the 90s, or a player, like an OTL players older or younger brother that would have been a scrub IOTL be a better player. Once you get to the late 70s early 80s, OTL NBA players born wouldn't even exist, not even in variant forms because those parents likely wouldn't have even met. Even if you take away that butterfly its also unlikely that Amare or Joe Johnson would end up with the Suns as per OTL, considering that their circumstnaces would be much different. You'd probably end up with like Ron Artest, Marcus Camby or Jose Caldron on the Suns, lets say...because the manner in which they'd been selected would have been completely different.
 
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