Alternate Reality: '5' Never Happened

[Millennial_Messiah]

'6' still happened, but instead of '5', the Spurs regress a tad in 2013-14, lose another hard fought six-game series against OKC in 2014, the Heatles win one last championship before Lebron bolts to Cleveland out of pity, the Spurs never make it back to the WCF in the Duncan era, and Kawhi still leaves the same way. And we still get Wemby in 2023.

How would y'all reflect and look back on the Duncan Era...? In this situation, the long-awaited 'drive for five' would never be fulfilled, and the seemingly never ending 'four rings!' era would have never ended, and 'Kobe 5 Duncan 4' would have stood forever in history as final.

Would four rings be enough, or would there always be a huge sting of something having been left on the table in the latter half of Timmy's career with this fanbase?

Would the team likely have been relocated by now, and Wemby been, say, a SuperSonic?

I'm genuinely curious.

[exstatic]

I'm not sure LeBron leaves if we don't punk them in 2014.

[MultiTroll]

Would four rings be enough,
Absolutely not.
The pathetic mis management of 2013 needed to be avenged.

With 2 previous Chips given away in 2004 and 2006.

[John B]

I'm not sure LeBron leaves if we don't punk them in 2014.

Wow LeSoft with a 3-peat would be a self-proclaimed GOAT of all sports if not for the Beautiful Game

[Millennial_Messiah]

Absolutely not.
The pathetic mis management of 2013 needed to be avenged.

With 2 previous Chips given away in 2004 and 2006.

Detroit was better and deeper in '04 than in '05
We were better and deeper in '05 than in '04, and we barely trudged past them in Game 7 in '05

Do the math


'06 is a better case, but Miami would have been difficult, especially since Pop completely took Muhammad and Nesterovic out of the Dallas series (don't see them getting many minutes in the Phoenix series, either) and *WHOOPS* now all of a sudden you're facing a still-prime Shaq in the Finals and your big guys are down on their confidence.



I'm not sure LeBron leaves if we don't punk them in 2014.

I agree, but for the sake of argument, what Pandora's box does that open?
-GSW likely never becomes a dynasty, lucky to win one title
-Cleveland never wins jack shit. Irving likely joins Miami, replacing an aging Wade, who likely takes a paycut to be the sixth man there until retirement
-Bosh likely gets replaced with a different bigger superstar, perhaps a stretch-four that's better than Kevin Love
-OKC almost surely wins at least one championship (the Heat can't win EVERY time!!!) and Durant doesn't leave
-Lebron's legacy is almost certainly greater in that scenario, especially in terms of championships and Finals record. Lebron is likely undisputed GOAT of basketball by this point.
-The Zaza Pachulia incident never happens. Does that mean Leonard stays put in SA? Not necessarily, because Leonard always wanted to be in LA.
-Kobe retires with 5 Rings in 19 years, while Duncan retires with 4 Rings in the same 19 Years. Can Spurs fans realistically accept and embrace this bitter truth, and welcome it into their hearts?


Wow LeSoft with a 3-peat would be a self-proclaimed GOAT of all sports if not for the Beautiful Game
Yeah, and, provided that happens, Miami beats OKC again and it's a three-peat in '14, it's likely he becomes undisputed GOAT among all pundits, not just himself and his friends. The Splash Brothers Warriors teams would be lucky to win one championship over the mighty Heatles who would just keep reloading around Lebron. He would have something like 8 championship rings in Miami by now with about half of that in Finals losses.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

OP is constantly in need of alternate reality.

[Ef-man]

OP looking for opportunity to inject his travel log, talk about girlfriends that did not know they were his girlfriend, cry about being an underpaid work-from-home IT professional, and his fancy Camry.

[John B]

OP needs to realize it’s okay to live in the reality again. No more Forbes starting or Patty playing PG. Spurs got Wemby! It’s safe to come out.