 Welcome to the 1984 NBA Draft. Portland selects Michael Jordan at the University of North Carolina. What if Michael Jordan got drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers? During the 1984 NBA Draft, after the Houston Rockets selected Hakeem Elijahon with the first overall pick, the Blazers passed up on Michael Jordan to take center Sam Bowie's second overall. The consensus number one pick in the 1984 draft was clearly at the time Hakeem Elijahon. So it was difficult to really say why the Rockets would pass up on Hakeem to take Mike, especially considering how great of a career Hakeem had with the Rockets anyway. But Portland, they are the number two overall pick. That easily could have been news on Jordan. But in their defense, the Blazers just selected future Hall of Fame shooting guard Clyde Drexler the year before in the 1983 NBA Draft. So the Trail Blazers didn't really need another shooting guard on the team. And they did need a big man. But missing out on MJ for Sam Bowie seems absolutely insane looking back now. Jordan would be drafted third by the Bulls who lucked out and got the greatest play of the basketball world has ever seen. Apart from Steph Curry. Just kidding, just kidding. I promise. It's just a joke. I promise, okay. But what if Portland had drafted Jordan? That's probably a question that the Blazers fans everywhere have been asking for years. By the way, that draft, that was insane. Hakeem, Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, just to name a few. Anyway, in 1983, the year that Clyde Drexler got drafted, Michael Jordan was just a college player playing for North Carolina. And during the 1982 NCAA Championship, a game against Georgetown led by Patrick Ewing. Jordan made a game-winning jump shot to win North Carolina the championship. Jordan later described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career. During three seasons at North Carolina, he averaged around 17 points per game and added five rebounds. This would be good enough to land him a top three pick in the 1984 NBA draft. And he would be selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with their second overall pick. Early in Clyde Drexler's career in Portland, he spent a decent amount of time on the bench behind Starr Jim Paxson and Kiki Van Der Wey, who averaged 29 points per game. Jordan would have quickly asserted himself and gained a whole lot of minutes, but it would have taken a lot more effort than in Chicago. The Blazers had also managed to draft Ron Cursey because they had the 46th pick in the second round that year as well. In 1984 and 85 seasons, Drexler and Jordan would ride the bench, but the Trail Blazers soon realized that these two were far too talented to be riding the bench. So Paxson and Van Der Wey were dealt with for front-court players to help the scary Jordan Drexler duo. At the time, Van Der Wey had a lot of trade values, so he got traded along with Paxson to the New Jersey Nets for 28-year-old Darryl Dawkins and the first round pick for 1988. The pick was worth a lot since the Nets weren't doing too well. Without Jordan and with the scrub of Sam Bowie, the Bulls got the number one pick in the 1985 NBA draft. Originally, the number one pick went to the Nets and they selected Patrick Ewing. Well, Ewing still went to the Nets, but this time at number two, because the Bulls had Sam Bowie playing at Senna. At the time, the Bulls didn't know if he was going to be good or not, but they had faith in him, and so they selected a shooting guard named Chris Mullen. In 1985, the Blazers still managed to draft Terry Porter, as he was actually selected 24th overall in the 1985 draft class. In 1985, Larry Bird won the MVP award, but Magic and Kareem would steal the NBA championship away from him. The next year, Larry the legend would redeem himself, not only by winning his back-to-back MVP, but taking the championship home as well this time. The 1986-87 was an interesting season for the Blazers. They would work with a lineup of Terry Porter, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Kenny Carr and Darryl Dawkins. This season, Jordan would take over the league in only his third season, averaging an astonishing 37 points per game. Clyde would average around 21, but Magic would take the MVP award and the ring home that season. Kenny Carr would retire for the Blazers that season, which would leave a void of power forward. Originally, the Trial Blazers would select Sabonis with the 24th overall pick, but this time they would instead trade that pick away to the Detroit Pistons who had the 27th overall pick. It was the 24th for the 27th plus a second round pick. This actually made a huge difference. The Pistons would take Sabonis, whilst the Blazers would take a gamble on a shy kid named Dennis Romman. This changed the game. That means the bad boys never get Romman, and the next year the Bulls get Pippen. Somehow the Pistons make a few trades and select Horace Grant in the 1987 NBA draft to still have a team of bad boys, with Isaiah Thomas, Bill Lambia and Horace Grant. Whilst all this was going on, Jordan and Dominique would still have their amazing battles in the Slam Dunk competitions as well. Throughout the next few years of the NBA, the Bulls would be going steady with Pippen and Mullen, but they weren't a threat just yet. The Knicks had improved with Ewing, but they also weren't a play of contender either. The Bad Boy Pistons though, they had made it to the NBA finals three times in a row, winning two of three and winning back to back in 88 and 89. Most of it being skill, but some of it being a foul play. Just ask Jordan. Magic was playing the best basketball after Larry Bird, winning three MVPs over four years. MJ was still one to get him his first NBA MVP in 1988. The Blazers had improved a lot with MJ, quickly becoming the greatest player in the league whilst Clyde Drexler was maintaining his steady play in the NBA. Although, they were now waiting for Roman to fully develop. By 1990, the Tribal Blazers had won their first NBA championship, beating Detroit. With Jordan leading the way, the scary Jordan Drexler duo would be in full effect. By this time, a lot of change in the NBA. In terms of the Tribal Blazers team, they had kept Jordan, Drexler and Roman, but they had lost Terry Porter to Free Agency since they wanted to pay the big three. They had lost Darryl Dawkins to Retirement, but they still had Kevin Duckworth. It did take Roman a while to develop, but by 1991, Roman was the best rebounder in the league, averaging an astonishing 18.7, almost 19 rebounds that season. In 1991, the Blazers went back to back. In fact, in 1992, they were 3P. Be it in Cleveland in 1991 and New York in 1992. In other news, Pip and Amal were becoming a deadly force in the East. Patrick Ewing and his next had already challenged Jordan for a ring. The Pixons were starting to fall off their winning ways, and Larry Bird was starting to decline. Sadly, Magic Johnson was surprisingly discovering that he had tested positive for HIV. My life just changed. The news is so shocking and so unexpected, it is difficult to absorb it even as we report it. Because of the HIV virus that I have attained, I would have to retire from the Lakers. It would make a last return for the 1992 USA Olympic team. And what we know now as the Dream Team would be selected. The original team would be Jordan, Drexler, Bird, Pippin, Mullin, Stockton, Magic Johnson, Kristen Leightner, Carmelone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing. But this time, Shaq would make it over Leightner. Isaiah Thomas still wouldn't make it though, as Jordan had a negative grudge towards Isaiah and the Pixons. Magic claims that Jordan wasn't the only one who didn't want Isaiah on the team. He said Pippin, Bird and Mullin all stated that they wouldn't take part in the Olympic games if Thomas was a member of the team. The Dream Team easily brought back the gold from the Olympics. Michael and Drexler both would represent Portland. After the Olympics, it was straight back to the NBA. Larry and Magic had both retired, but new talent would be showcased throughout the 1993 season. Charles Barkley, who had played really well on the Olympics, would actually come out the next season and win the league MVP. But the Suns would lose in the conference finals to guess who. Of course, it was Mike's Portland, Charles Blazers, who else would it be? The Blazers would actually face up against the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. It went to game number seven, but Scotty Pippin and Chris Mullin couldn't beat out Drexler, Jordan and Rodman. And the Trial Blazers would win a crazy four NBA championships in a row. The last time someone had done such a fate was Bill Russell and his boss in Celtics. Oh yeah, and you're probably wondering what the lineup was for the Trial Blazers since they didn't have Terry Porter or Darrell Dawkins. So Robert Pack was playing at Point Guard, as the Trial Blazers selected him from free agency, but they never ended up trading him to the Denver Nuggets, as they did actually need a Point Guard when losing Porter. Jordan would play the two, Drexler would play the three, Rodman would play the four, and they'd still have Kevin Duckworth now starting at the five. But 1994, it wasn't looking great for the Blazers. Just before the start of the season, Michael Jordan shocked the NBA world by announcing his retirement from the NBA, following the death of his father. Tell me, is turning negative into a positive? And here I was dealing with him in that way. It was tough. Shaken by the death of his father, who had always been his closest advisor and supporter, his choice had now become clear. And soon, the world would know about it. When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense of to prove something as a basketball player, it's time for me to move away from the game of basketball. Jordan wouldn't be back on the court until March 1995, and the Blazers didn't do all that great without him. Now, remember how Porter had left the Blazers? Well, he would actually sign a deal with the New York Knicks, and they would go on to win the NBA championship in 1994. That meant Patrick Ewing was an NBA champion. Now we skip to the 95th season, and Jordan finally returns, quoting, I'm back. He would return to help a mid-playoff Trailblazers team with Clyde and Rodman, but they would actually end up losing to a SuperSonics team led by Sean Kemp and Gary Payton. The Rockets would end up winning the NBA championship that season, off an amazing performance by Hakim Alajuan, the top draft pick over Michael Jordan. The 1996 season was actually a season that changed the Blazers entirely. Originally in real life, Clyde Drexler would join the Houston Rockets and try to compete for an NBA championship, but now he was a fourth time NBA champion, so he would actually stay with the Portland Trailblazers as he knew that Jordan had returned for good, and Rodman was playing as hard as ever. So the Blazers would win the championship in 1996, 97 and 98, with the Blazers beating out the Chicago Bulls twice, and then the Indiana Pacers won. It seemed as if the Bulls were becoming the real-life Utah Jazz, as Pippin and Mullin could never beat out MJ and Clyde, just like the Jazz could never beat out Jordan and Pippin. During that time, Jordan would face Kobe multiple times, and they would have epic battles, as Kobe was a ruthless young and upcoming superstar. After the 1998 season, the Blazers would struggle as the entire team would split up. As soon as Clyde realized that Jordan was retiring for the second time, they both decided to retire on the highest point, and that was an NBA championship. Pac went to the Nets, and Rodman had been traded to the Lakers, who were now on the rise with Kobe and Shaq. After many questions about Jordan, and if he could still play the game at age 38, he would respond, and actually sign to the Washington Wizards in 2001. The only change was that Jordan never tore his knee cartilage, and actually played until 2004. This meant that Jordan and LeBron would face off for the first time, and it would be a match to witness, and a match that both LeBron and Jordan would remember forever. Ultimately, the Blazers would win seven NBA championships with Jordan, as well as MJ still gaining five NBA MVP's. Drexler would be an NBA champion, along with Patrick Ewing. The Bulls would become the Jazz, as they could never overthrow the Trail Blazers. Pippin and Mullen would become a deadly one-two punch, that would be just short of an NBA championship, just like Carmelo and John Stockton. And so the Bulls and the Trail Blazers would also have some epic battles. Patrick Ewing was an NBA champion, but unfortunately Barkley, Stockton, and Malone still weren't. So in 1984, the Trail Blazers missed out on the greatest player of all time, and I'm sure that they still feel the pain to this day.