No need to call out individual players, the answer is just Portland

MVP Bill Walton deserves mention.

Greg Oden immediately comes to mind for me. Dude was just robbed.

Ralph Sampson is absolutely at the top of this list for me. ROY, then All-NBA 2nd Team his 2nd year in the league, then injuries struck his 3rd year. He and Hakeem would have been the greatest front-court ever.

Fucking Brandon Roy man 😔

Penny

Tracy McGrady should be on this team

Len Bias

Does Arvydas Sabonis count? We already have a lot of Blazers on this list.

Gordon Hayward. He was a proven star at the NBA level, was still on an upwards trajectory (27 years old), and was joining forces with Kyrie to turn the Celtics into potentially the next super-team. And it all ended 5 minutes into the season opener.

Pretty crazy no Embiid mentions. I know his career wasn’t “derailed” per se but a fully healthy Embiid woulda been one of the fifteen or so best players ever

pg: penny hardaway, sidney moncrief, KJ, rose, mark price (pick 3)

sg: doug collins, andrew toney, roy

sf: grant hill, kind of want to say tmac but i think we saw the best he had to offer

pf: sampson, webber (but same as tmac just was never the same after 03 and the kings only had a 2 yr window)

c: walton, yao

good shout on daughtery tho didn’t know he retired so early

The most years missed of complete dominance must have been Bill Walton.

Look at Walton’s career with the Blazers:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/waltobi01.html

Joel

Derrick Rose - PG, Andrew Toney - SG, Grant Hill - SG, Larry Bird - PF, Brad Daugherty, C

Larry Bird could have played forever with his skill set if it wasn’t for his back. In another timeline, LeBron is chasing after his numbers

Bill Walton lost 4 games in 6 years of high school /college, then won a chip with portland, he was going to be the closest thing to bill russell we would have seen, he just won, all the fucking time, portland had a 75% win with him 76-78, 36% without him

Blazers so overrepresented here 😭

Ralph Sampson, Bill Walton, and Yao Ming should all be above Daugherty. He played 7 and a half seasons before his back injury.

I’d say all those guys had higher ceilings and more injury riddled careers.

Walton was injured before he even made the league and averaged 52 games over his first 4 years before playing 47 games total over the next 5 seasons.

Sampson had 3 healthy seasons before his injuries. After that, he averaged only 36 games per year.

Yao started missing significant time after his 3rd season, and other than his 5 game comeback in 2011, battled foot injuries from 2005-2009.

Gotta wonder how Jay Williams would have panned out. 

I always think Kawhi should be in these convos. I think if we got 10-15 years of a fully healthy Kawhi he’d be almost a top 15 player all time.

Ricky Rubio if he never had the knee injury. His trajectory was metioric until he had that knee on knee with Kobe during his rookie season

AK47 had a relatively long career, but really was at his peak for only a couple before his back started giving him problems and he became a shell of himself. He was amazing in 2004, but really was an afterthought during the Deron Williams, Boozer, Okur team only a few years later.

If he was still playing at that level, the Jazz could’ve been title contenders.

I’m pretty sure you could just make a team from Portland players.

Nenad Krstić before ACL injury for Nets </3

I’m biased, but Kemba. Mans finally got out of Charlotte to an actual competing team and had like one healthy season before everything went downhill. Idc that it was Boston, I really wanted to see Cardiac get a chip, man.

Jabari Parker

Rose, Roy, Tmac, Yao, and I’ll sneak in my boy Danilo Gallinari.

Gun nonsense aside u might could argue Gil.

People need to look up Clark Kellogg’s NBA career.

Tracy McGrady back and leg issues for sure.

Ralph Sampson — can’t forget him and Hakeem beat the showtime lakers

Does Len Bias and cocaine count?

I think Jabari Parker would’ve been special. Maybe backup or third string SF

Portland

Does Len Bias count?

Larry Johnson for sure. He was a beast before his back injury, so I can’t imagine how much better he would’ve gotten.

austin carr could have been great but knee injuries killed his chance.

I’m taking Penny over Rose at PG every time. People forget Penny had the handles and the athleticism to make him a transcendent type of player. He’s still my number one “what if” player due to injury.

Also, I am taking Walton at center. He gets overlooked, as well, because he found a second life as a bench player with Boston. But, man, his peak with Portland was scary. If he stayed healthy, he’d be in all these internet “best of” converstions, at least for centers.

McGrady and Dajuan Wagner.

Bill Walton is absolutely starting. He has an insanely high single season peak and his total career value objectively doesn’t crack the top 100 all time.

I’d throw Ralph Sampson and Markelle Fultz on that list for sure. Probably Andrew Bynum, David Thompson, Michael Redd, and Danny Granger.

No T-Mac is insane

Penny has got to be on any starting 5 in this scenario

Derrick Rose Brandon Roy Larry Bird Anthony Davis Joel Embiid

I’d say these are all players that had impressive careers as is but could’ve either played more, developed into even better players, or had better accolades with more court time.

Larry sanders

In the modern era: Zion Williamson hands down

• PG: Derrick Rose
• SG: Brandon Roy
• SF: Grant Hill
• PF:
• C: Bill Walton

Struggling to think of a PF at the moment.

If Pice and Daugherty stay healthy that Cavs team is getting a ring.

Roy Tarpley, self-inflicted injuries

Penny Hardaway for sure

Oh man this is easy for me. Give me Penny Hardaway, Brandon Roy, Grant Hill, Bill Walton and Yao Ming

Throwing Mcdyess some love

Greg Oden gotta be there. I just gotta say that.

My 🐐 Derrick Rose

blake griffin, but especially pistons blake.

The Boston Strangler - Andrew Toney

Does Arvydas Sabonis count? He had multiple surgeries before he came to the NBA. The NBA never truly saw his prime.

Branding Jennings got hurt at the very beginning of what probably should.have been his prime.

John Wall was probably on a Hall of Fame trajectory before his injury.

I’d put Penny in over Roy. Also, as others mentioned, Walton.

Pete Maravich was never the same after his knee injury.

But I think Len Bias and Hank Gathers were the ultimate derailments.

No Tracy McGrady??

Add Anfernee Hardawsy

Agent Zero

haliburton? too soon? he hasnt been healthy for 1 complete season yet tho…

[deleted]

Lonzo Ball Brandon Roy Danny Manny Antonio McDyess Bill Walton

BBL lover Zion getting fed (no pun intended) easy lobs by Penny Drose and Lonzo

Rose, Len Bias, Grant Hill, Tim Duncan, Arvydas Sabonis

People forget that Duncan had a knee injury pretty early in his career that really put a damper on his offense. As great as he was for as long as he played, he would probably have been a consensus top-5 all time if he kept his athleticism.

Sabonis was essentially a taller, faster Jokic. He was forced to do everything on his Soviet teams and stepped up. Shooting, playmaking, cutting, defense. Didn’t matter, he would get it done. By the time he made it to the NBA, his body was already breaking down, but he would still have flashes where he would absolutely dominate during the golden era of bigs.

Don’t laugh, but I wonder what Lavine’s career looks like if he’s drafted onto a winning team and/or doesn’t tear his ACL midway through KAT’s second season. Super athletic, natural scorer, and legitimately great shooter. Reputation as a losing player, yet he’s never had anything resembling a well-balanced roster.

There are much bigger what-ifs like Rose, Embiid, Fultz, and Oden. After the obvious names, Lavine is arguably someone who experienced the worst possible runout for his career besides being completely crocked.

Klay has to be part of the conversation. Despite how good he was and how much he accomplished, we never got to see his actual prime.

Not sure if Len bias counts….

Bobby Hurley 

Idk about rose. His player profile was always destined to have a short career but he would have done a lot more for sure. He also was able to win mvp and make many playoff runs so he achieved some of his potential

No laphonso Ellis mentions smh

Chris Bosh. He was past his prime but his 3ball was at an all time high. Also same draft class as lebron who is still active.

Brandon Roy by a mile for me.

Does straight up dying count as an injury? Cus Reggie and Len would like a word

Embiid, oladipo, dwight Howard was never the same after his back surgery in early 2010s

Demar Johnson

Victor Oladipo

My totally non-biased team:

PG: Fultz

SG: Oladipo

SF: Grant Hill

PF: Jonathan Isaac

C: Moritz Wagner

edit: line spacing

Greg Oden

Jay Williams

Can we put tingus pingus on the list? Before the ACL he was like proto-wemby

Cedric Ceballos with the suns. They would have beat the bulls

Lots of big guys but Joel would be an all-time great by now if he played like 70+ games a year

Amare, bosh and his blood clot issues, Anthony Davis…

Jabari Parker

Lebron James. He’s been a completely different player since Solomon hill destroyed him. Robbed of 6th prime LeBron

3 Blazers. It hurts.

Hard to beat Stokes. Played 3 years, 3 time all star, 3 time all NBA, rookie of the year, rebound leader

Len Bias or Reggie Lewis, no injury will derail a promising career than death.

Greg Oden > Brad Daugherty

Amar’e

Penny has to get the nod for the 6th man. Dude was ballin if it werent for his knee injuries

Ja/Oladipo/Granger/McDyess/Bynum

Roy, Hill, Sampson, Walton, and Jay Williams/Derrick Rose for each position.

PG: Rose, Fultz

SG: Hardaway, Roy

SF: McGrady, George

PF: Hill, Bynum

C: Yao, Oden

I think Greg Oden would have been better than Daugherty, but with only 9 games in his NBA career we’ll never be able to know.