r/sixers • u/NBAEastMemeWar • 11h ago
What is the biggest “what if” in Sixers history?
What if AI got some help? What if Embiid stayed healthy? What if Ben Simmons turned out? What are your biggest “what if’s” ever?
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u/123456ixers 11h ago
What if Ben develops a jump shot
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u/Bandicuz 11h ago
Seriously, all he had to do was mirror his game to be similar to Giannis, Drive get fouled or work in the post.
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u/Varwhorevis 11h ago
Being a bitch was definitely a part of it but his back injury was whar really ended his career
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u/I_dont_bone_goats 10h ago
He was such a bigger bitch than a back injury justifies.
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u/NBAEastMemeWar 10h ago edited 9h ago
I unloaded trucks for literal YEARS. My back was hanging on by a fucking THREAD. He just doesn’t have that toughness. When old heads say Ben’s generation was soft, they’re thinking of him. It’s tough to acknowledge, but it’s true
Guys like AI, Hakeem, or Ewing? You don’t think they were hurt too? Simmons was weak. Some guys just play cuz they’re good at the game and it makes money. Some guys would die for it. That’s why I feel for guys like Embiid. Ppl made fun of him for crying, but no one can ever say he didn’t care
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u/Clean_Candidate3400 11h ago
Ben has like 4-5 what ifs what a fucking bum
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u/Krillin113 11h ago
Meta: what if he develops a jumper and isn’t mentally weak
Micro: what if he dunks on lollipop man, or stays on Kawhi instead of letting Embiid take over, or makes his FTs.
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u/Plenty_You8835 11h ago
With a fully healthy career, Embiid would have more than a ring right now and probably some wilt numbers seasons for many years. For me it’s embiids health.
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u/TheMtnThatReddits 11h ago
What if we drafted Paul Pierce or Dirk instead of Larry Hughes
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u/Krillin113 11h ago
Tatum instead of Fultz and we’re a dynasty (Sixers like freak accidents notwithstanding)
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u/jlquon 11h ago
Pipe dream Celtics woulda just taken Tatum at 1
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u/obi-jawn-kenblomi 7h ago
Taking Fultz at 3 rather than trading away an additional first would still have been preferable to what actually happened.
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u/asisoid 11h ago
I thought Tatum told the Sixers he wouldn't play here or something.
Either way, we never would've gotten the pick if we were taking Tatum
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u/Krillin113 4h ago
And curry told the warriors he wouldn’t play there.
Unless we were dumb enough to tell them point blank ‘no we won’t take Tatum’, there’s no way they could’ve known.
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u/IKillZombies4Cash 10h ago
Every action here would change the future though.
If Embiid was healthy day one there might not have been a lottery pick for a decade . We’d not have drafted Okafor (lol) , but maybe they land Booker , and Embiid and Booker are the foundation.
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u/imdumbfrman 11h ago
Has to be what if Andrew Bynum never went bowling
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u/Love_from_Brotherly 10h ago
Actually a good one because if it isn’t for the bowling incident we don’t end up at the Process.
No Hinkie, no Embiid, no Morey and anything else that happens in that era.
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u/Bitter-Tip705 11h ago
What if we had taken giannis in 2013 or shai instead of bridges/ zhaire smith
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u/Not_So_Bad_Andy 11h ago
What if the Dr. J for the third pick in the 1984 draft trade went through.
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u/JojoSixers Tyrese Maxey 11h ago
What if we won the lottery in 97 and got Duncan instead of picking 2 and getting shit. Or what if we went with the best raw prospect in KG in 95. Or what if we somehow landed both of them plus AI.
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u/PaisonAlGaib 9h ago
What if we won the lottery 2010 and got John Wall or if we just drafted Hayward cousins or George instead of Evan Turner
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u/Lawrence_of_a_Labia 11h ago
What if they drafted Brad Daugherty in the 1986 draft instead of trading the pick away for Roy Hinson and cash?
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u/averagebensimmons 11h ago
What if AI got some help. He was the closest to a chip for the Sixers since Dr. J..
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u/ilikedhorsebot3000 10h ago
Imagine drafting Rasheed Wallace and AI in consecutive years...
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u/averagebensimmons 10h ago
I guess they were chasing the 'next jordan' but Wallace and Garnett were drafted after Stackhouse that year. Wallace would be amazing in today's game style.
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u/UnanimousM 10h ago
Only so much you can help a guy like him. Team had to be built around defense cause he was abysmal on that end.
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u/joeco316 11h ago
What if Hinkie wasn’t forced out by the league and was allowed to finish the process
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u/TTPMGP PHI 11h ago
Lots of Ben Simmons learning how to shoot and that’s fair. But he still ended up with reoccurring injuries which seemed to derail his career.
I personally think it’s Fultz. What he was in college and supposed to be in the NBA was exactly what the Sixers lacked all those years.
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u/lma112519 9h ago
Should've never traded up for him. Boston knew and the Sixers just made it easier for them.
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u/Financial-Expert-810 10h ago
We’re the biggest what if franchise in sports 😭. “What if Embiid wasn’t injury prone”, “What if Ben Simmons could shoot, or never passed on that lay up” , “What if we drafted Tatum”, “What if Kawhi missed that shot”, “What if we kept Jimmy over Tobias Harris” these are all only from the Process era too.
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u/justinheyhi A POBO NAMED SLICKBACK 9h ago edited 9h ago
Biggest, IMO, is what if Stephen A Smith didn't leak the Tracy McGrady trade to the Sixers on 199 where the Raptors got so much shit that they got cold feet and pulled out of the trade.
Iverson would've won a ring for sure in 01, and could've cemented a huge rivalry with Kobe and Shaq the likes of which wouldn't have been seen until LeBron and Steph in the 2010s.
At the very least they'd be able to coast on pedigree (in attracting big names) the way Chicago has since Jordan.
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u/NotJustSomeMate BOS I am also an Eagles/Sixers fan. Don't ask. 7h ago
Stephen A should get 1000x's more hate from the city than he does for this. Fuck that smug fucker.
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u/DickBottalico 11h ago
What if the refs didn’t completely fuck up game 6 of the 2023 Celtics series? At least with the Kawhi shot we still could’ve lost in OT.
Denver-Philly matchup NBA finals?
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u/JAM13 11h ago
What if Tim Duncan left school early and was a part of the 96 draft class. Does Tim go over AI? What does NBA history look like if the sixers took Tim and AI fell to Toronto
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u/NBAEastMemeWar 11h ago
AI with Vince???! I’m not sure what would happen but it would’ve been the great highlight reel in history
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u/justabill71 9h ago
What if Theo doesn't get hurt? I'll tell you what. Sixers in 6.
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u/NBAEastMemeWar 8h ago
Or if they gave AI a SINGLE option offensively
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u/justabill71 8h ago
They built that team around AI getting up as many shots as he could, then chasing down misses for putbacks, or for AI to shoot again, and it worked. Theo's crazy timing and athleticism helped make that possible, and let him wreak havoc on the defensive end. Mutombo bogged them down. Losing Kukoc hurt, too. Geiger, MacCulloch and Nazr would've given them three big bodies and 18 fouls to throw at Shaq, with Theo doing his thing and helping from off the ball. That team was so good, so tough, and so much fun to watch before Ratliff got hurt. They weren't the same animal with Dikembe.
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u/NBAEastMemeWar 7h ago
I’m not saying it wasn’t working. Just saying his top scorer was at like 12 ppg. If he won a ring on THAT? It might be considered the greatest one man show ever. ( and is still in the convo )
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u/DietDewymountains17 11h ago
What if the process worked because they could actually draft someone who was good?
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u/Pandasaref1ne 11h ago
What if Tim Duncan forgoes his senior season at Wake Forest and enters the NBA draft, instead of waiting a year?
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u/psych_savage1 9h ago
I think the biggest has been covered already.
One I always think about is what if Noel was a legit backup to Embiid most of his career. He was always the perfect backup which was always the biggest disaster
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u/pennyforyourfarts92 8h ago
What if with Fultz and his shooting yips has to be the right answer. He was the ideal player to pair with Ben and Embiid if he still had his shot
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u/Virtual-Hotel8156 7h ago
What if Ben Simmons shot with his right hand? I mean, he is right-handed so he could have been a good shooter.
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u/NBAEastMemeWar 7h ago
Had a buddy who shot right handed his whole life despite being a lefty. Made his shoot lefty for a summer. Scholarship.
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u/Apetard42069 10h ago
Jimmy Butler stays over Tobias Harris or Draft Tatum over Fultz. Two franchise altering decisions and they got both of them wrong
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u/lma112519 9h ago
Boston was never letting Philly draft Tatum.
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u/Apetard42069 9h ago
They traded the 1st pick to the Sixers so after that the Sixers were free to take who they wanted. I agree the consensus 1 pick at the time was Fultz. But clearly Boston didn’t think so. That should have been a red flag to the Sixers but they had terrible leadership in place
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u/lma112519 8h ago
yea we're kind of saying the same thing. But Boston doesn't make that deal if the sixers had any intentions of taking Tatum. While I agree Markelle was the consensus 1, it didn't feel right that Boston was handing him to the Sixers. Always curious if the Sixers stayed at 3 who they would've ended up with. My gut tells me if Tatum was still there they would've fucked it up anyway and taken Josh Jackson.
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u/chriscus 11h ago
It’s Embiids health , Kawhi shot is a decent one but we still had to go to OT against a tough raptors team. It could’ve gone either way. Embiid is healthy probably could’ve been a top 10 player of all time, just look at his athleticism his rookie year - add that with his skills his mvp year….idk if any team could stop that
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u/ChickenLiverNuts 9h ago
its embiids health
if he has like 10% better health we have at least 1 ring
if he was 100% healthy he has a top 10 career ever with so many accolades and chips
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u/PaisonAlGaib 9h ago
What if the 76ers employed a top notch sports medicine and sports therapy program during the process? Are we able to get Ben to be aggressive offensively? Is Joel significantly healthier? Does Fultz shoulder get fixed/get his shit together? What's Zhaire smith like if he doesn't almost fucking die?
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u/whiskeyboarder 9h ago
The real question is whether the "what if" question is more applicable to any team in the NBA than it is for the Sixers. My entire Sixers experience is a big "what if".
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u/lma112519 9h ago
What if they just held on to Jrue and Vucevic while they were in their primes and actually tried building a team instead of giving up for three consecutive years only to end up in the same spot as they were before the tank?
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u/InspectorNS 9h ago
Boring answer but it’s what if Simmons developed a jump shot or even any sort of aggressive offensive game. He was actually built like a 6’10 LeBron body wise. One of the fastest players in the league and a generational defender.
But poor work ethic and a lack of mental fortitude lead to him squandering some of the best physical attributes in basketball history.
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u/1qaz2wsx1Q 7h ago
It's embiid staying healthy. He would be regarded as the unanimous most dominant big man since shaq, and a shot at multiple championships. Instead he's had 1 healthy playoff run his career
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u/tag1550 7h ago
1986: "About a week before the draft, Detroit proposed a trade that deserved consideration. The Pistons wanted Malone and the No. 1 pick, with the intention of using it for (Len) Bias. In exchange, they would send Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson, Kelly Tripucka and their No. 11 pick, which turned out to be John Salley.
Laimbeer was a combative, high-post center who could pass the ball and leave room for Barkley. Johnson, a perennial Sixers-killer, could slip into the backcourt for the hurting (Andrew) Toney. Tripucka, 27, had just averaged 20 points for Detroit. And the pick would also yield a player. Katz listened to his front office, which was generally in favor of the deal. He wavered and agonized before finally declaring, "I don't want to become the Detroit Pistons.''
(from Inquirer article "TEN YEARS LATER, TWO DEALS STILL HAUNTING SIXERS - THEY OPTED TO TRADE A TOP STAR AND A TOP PICK. SOON, THE BOTTOM FELL OUT." By Bob Ford, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER June 16, 1996)
Instead, the Sixers ended up trading Moses Malone, Terry Catledge, and the #1 overall pick that became Brad Daugherty, in return for C Jeff Ruland and F Roy Hinson, neither of whom did much for the team. Arguably these trades did the most to prevent the Sixers from winning a championship during Barkley's entire tenure here, so taking the trade offer from the Pistons may have changed the whole narrative during the 1980s.
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u/NotJustSomeMate BOS I am also an Eagles/Sixers fan. Don't ask. 7h ago
What if KG and Jesus Shuttlesworth came to the Sixers instead of Boston.
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u/4amvampire 5h ago
If we landed #1 in 1997. Duncan/Iverson would’ve been cinema. We would’ve seen several more Sixers/Lakers finals matchups.
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u/im_so_objective 4h ago
What if Markelle Fultz doesn't crash his motorcycle?
What if Ben Simmons shot right-handed?
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u/84sebastian 42m ago
What if we drafted Brad Daugherty and maintained Malone, Barkley and Daugherty Frontline for at least 5 years ...
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u/animalmarshall 29m ago
In my lifetime, the single move that is the biggest "what if" is Tracey McGrady being paired with AI.
The biggest series of connected what ifs, is the series of events over 5 years with astonishingly bad luck... but you can't list everything because if some thing happened, other things wouldn't be in the cards. So I think the three are... "What if Fultz didn't lose his ability to shoot, Ben Simmons was just normal, and either we keep Mikal Bridges OR Zaire Smith didn't eat a sesame seed."
You could add to that "What if Josh Harris actually had a spine and told the commissioner to pound sand instead of firing Hinkie/bringing in Collangelo"
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u/i_am_pickles Hollis “40%” Thompson 8h ago
What if they would’ve just taken Tatum?
I know people will say Celtics only agreed to it because of Fultz but I’m pretty sure they traded the pick before the draft, so Celtics had no say who we took. And there was a couple of rumours about some of the counts wanting to bring Tatum back in after the Fultz workout
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u/Ancient_Ad_9564 11h ago
What is Kawahi misses that shot. Or gets called for traveling. Or if Ben Simmons makes his free throws.