 Before I start with the video, shoutout to RTNBA, I got most of my information off that site, so I'll drop a link in the description. In the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls selected Derrick Rhodes with their first overall pick. Pretty crazy, considering that that year the Bulls finished with a record of 33-49, only leaving them with a 1.7% chance at the number one pick. They got it, and that meant that the Bulls would be able to select their hometown kid, Derrick Rhodes. They would pass up on players like Russell Westbrook, who went fourth to the SuperSonics, or now known as The Thunder, and Kevin Love, who went fifth to the Timbles. One minute, he's the youngest MVP winner, and the next minute, he's injured for three straight years, playing in just 95 games over four seasons since winning his MVP. The kid with unlimited potential to the kid that never stops getting injured. Whenever a conversation involving Derrick Rhodes is brought up, it's almost impossible not to think about what could have been. He's a walking what if, and so this leads to the question, what if Derrick Rhodes never got injured? So we start on the 2008-2009 season. Derrick Rhodes' first season in the league, and the Bulls finished with a record of 41-41, where they would lose in the first round to a Boston Celtics team that had just come out for an NBA championship the season before. But the Bulls, they didn't let them win without a fight. Get it? Cause they're Bulls? No? Okay. But they did manage to force it to a Game 7 series. That season, Rhodes won Rookie of the Year, joining only Michael Jordan and Elton Brand as the only Bulls to do so. In the 2009-10 season, Rhodes would make it to his first NBA All-Star game, and the Bulls would once again make it to the NBA playoffs. But they would lose to a Cleveland Cavaliers team, led by the King himself, who had just won his second MVP award. By the 2010-2011 NBA season, Rhodes would make it clear to the entire league that he was a play to be reckoned with. With the coach of Tom Tiberto being introduced to the Bulls system, it was clear that they were looking to win fast. You can't forget about power forward Carlos Buzza, who was acquired from the Utah Jazz, and was averaging 19.5 points and 11 rebounds per game. He was a two-time NBA All-Star, and he would fit well in the Bulls rotation. In the 2011 NBA season, this was the breakout season of Derrick Rhodes. There was just no stopping this dude, as he dragged his team to a top seed in the Eastern Conference, finishing with a record of 62-20, being the youngest MVP winner of all time at only age 22. Unfortunately, his luck would run short, as a determined, newly assembled Miami Heat squad would beat the Bulls in just five games. And from here on out, this is where we get into the what if part of the video. Obviously, the Mavericks would still beat the Miami Heat in the NBA finals. By the 2011-2012 season, the Bulls had managed to draft a defensive beast, that it showed great size on the defensive end, but lacked a little bit on the offensive area. Little did they know, he would turn out to be a stud a few years later. The 2012 season was going fine for the Bulls, and they finished with a record of 50-16 in a lockout season. The Bulls had acquired the top seed, and were looking great going into the playoffs. They were the best team in the league, until yeah, you know what's coming. It was late in the game, 1 minute 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter, when Derrick Rhodes came to a jump stop against the Philadelphia semisixens, and Torres ACL for the first time. As he rolled around in pain, the season was left hanging in the balance. When the news broke that Chicago Superstar was ruled out for the rest of the season, it was over. Everything they had worked for for the entire season was now done. The Philadelphia 76ers went on to win the series four games to two, and then losing seven games to the Boston Celtics. It took the Miami Heat seven games in an all-time performance by LeBron James in game six to knock off the Celtics, and move on to destroy the young surprising Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA finals. But let's just say, what if Derrick Rhodes never got injured? What if he wasn't out for the rest of the season? And he just took a hop step in the lane, and got fouled instead. Derrick Rhodes doesn't tear his ACL, and the Bulls blow by the 76ers in five games. The next round, they would face up against the Boston Celtics. The Bulls vs Celtics. People forget that the Chicago Bulls were 32 and 7 that season when Derrick Rhodes played. They absolutely had a chance to beat the Boston Celtics, and in fact, the Miami Heat as well. They were much improved from the season before, and so the Bulls vs Celtics series went down to the wire. But with their healthy Derrick Rhodes, I would have backed the Bulls in to beat the aging Celtics team. Sorry Celtics fans. Remembering that Derrick Rhodes had just come off an MVP season the year before, the Bulls had led the league having the best record, and it seemed like the Bulls were looking good in terms of team chemistry as well. But then, they faced up against the Miami Heat for the second season in a row. This time though, Rhodes had learned from his mistakes from the season before, and the Bulls would actually beat the Miami Heat. So, Chicago was advancing to the 2011-2012 NBA Finals. Hey, it's a what if video, you never know what could have happened. Instead of going through surgery, Derrick Rhodes is dragging his Bulls to the NBA Finals to actually beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, instead of LeBron gracing his first NBA championship. That meant LeBron was all-in-three in NBA Finals appearances, and his legacy was on the line. But Derrick Rhodes, he had brought a championship back home to Chicago. So now, it's the 2011-2012 NBA off-season, and plenty of moves were made after the Bulls won the NBA championship. This is how the league changed. Since the 76ers losing the first round, they blow up their team a year early to enter the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. They would have received Golden State's pick for trading Andre Iguodala and some other pieces for the Warriors' seventh overall pick. This means no three-way trade to get to White Hale to the Los Angeles Lakers. The 2012 draft had some changes, but the first six picks were the same. This is what the first ten picks would look like. New Orleans still selects Davis, Charlotte gets Muckle Kid Gilchrist, Washington selects Bradley Bill, Deion Waders goes to Cleveland, Thomas Robinson goes to Sacramento, Damien Lillard still ends up in Portland, but the Philadelphia 76ers with the Warriors pick take Andre Drummond, not Harrison Barnes. That means Toronto takes Harrison Barnes, Detroit gets Austin Rivers, and New Orleans gets Jeremy Lam. Now, Lam was originally drafted by the Houston Rockets, and became a huge factor of why OKC was feeling alright with dealing away James Harden. However, considering Lam was a featured young talent in the trade, and is now a member of the New Orleans Hornets, the Houston Rockets can't trade for James Harden, and that meant the Thunder would actually re-sign him. Yeah, they didn't trade Harden away. The Thunder re-signed James Harden on a max contract, and I guess they have to pay the luxury tax on his deal. Since it's about to be year three in a Miami Big Three era, and they have yet to win a NBA championship, Pat Riley becomes impatient. Trading Chris Bosch away, who played a huge role down the stretch of their back-to-back championships, but he was often a scapegoat Considering Riley is insanely competitive, he would actually flip Chris Bosch to Houston, essentially the same deal Houston offered OKC for Harden. Without Jeremy Lam, and you'll find out why, Houston makes this deal because they are trying to acquire an all-star level player to play next to Chandler Parsons. And now, Chris Bosch. Pat Riley had a plan though. He wouldn't have given up Chris Bosch that easily. Pat Riley being the genius that he is, he spins the trade with Orlando. For, at the time, the best centre in the NBA, Dwight Howard. Yeah, that's right. LeBron James, Duane Wade and Dwight Howard, a new improved Big Three that is effective immediately. So now we head into an exciting 2013 NBA season. Would the Bulls win back to back? Would LeBron win his first NBA championship? Can the Thunder relax a little bit after re-signing James Harden? How will Bosch play in Houston? All these questions would be answered. And during the summer, Derek Rose had refined parts of his game, like his outside shooting, that he never got an opportunity to polish. He's become hands down the top point guard in the NBA, and he hopes to push his team back into the NBA finals for a chance to repeat as champions. Miami, OKC, San Antonio, the Clippers, Boston, etc. would cruise through the regular season. LeBron James with his legacy on the line easily wins the league MVP, as he actually did in real life. The Oklahoma City Thunder with the top seed in the West, as they're hungry to get back to the NBA finals and win their first championship, with an insane young core. Chicago finished with the second seed in the East. Once the 2013 playoff start, Chicago ultimately doesn't have enough on their roster to compete with Miami's insane talent. They fall in game six in the East in conference finals, and pretty quickly it was a LeBron James vs Kevin Durant finals battle, a year postponed from when we originally would have seen. Except this time, Miami is better. Yeah, they're better. They're better than they were before. Wait on LeBron's ability to defend Harden and Durant plays a huge part in this series. They show why they're two of the best to play their position, as Miami's outstanding defensive team shines, and Dwight Howard finally has something to smile about. So Dwight Howard was never traded to the Lakers in a desperation attempt to save Kobe Bryant's career. Duncan and the Spurs don't reach the NBA finals, and he thinks about retiring, but he doesn't. So as Chicago didn't have enough talent on their roster to compete with the big three of Miami, they looked like they were in a little bit of trouble, as they didn't have much cat space to sign any players in free agency, since they Derrick Rose, Carlos Buza, and Joe Kimnoa. And they didn't have a great draft until, yeah, no crazy trade happens, or draft, or free agency. But something in the roster happens and is true to real life. Jimmy Butler becomes not only a lockdown defender, but he polishes up some of his offensive game. He's a defensive guard next to a dynamic Derrick Rose, and they develop into a dynamic duo a couple of seasons early. In the 2014 season, it was pretty clear that the East was starting to slow down, only three teams were really finals contenders, and they were Miami, Chicago, and Indiana. However, Chicago beat the Indiana Pacers in the semifinals, and Miami swept Brooklyn to advance to the conference finals to play the Bulls. Miami would prove too much for Chicago, as they'd beat them in the East in conference finals for the third time in four years. Once again, Miami wouldn't be cursed until they reached the NBA finals. The Heat would originally face the Spurs, but in this scenario, the Spurs had Leonard, and he was the best perimeter defender since Scotty Pippen. But, well, if James Harden is on that roster, the Thunder break down the Spurs defense, since Leonard can only remove one of the two stars from that series, with Westbrook and Durant. They're nearly impossible to beat, especially if Harden developed into the Bs we watched today. So, it was once again, the Thunder vs Miami in the NBA finals. But it turns out, the Thunder would actually smack LeBron and his Heat, similar to how the Spurs did in 2014. Kevin Durant would outplay LeBron James in that series, and he would actually win the finals MVP. And so, after falling two straight years in the finals, OKC would finally prevail, as they'd end their streak of bad luck by winning the championship. So I guess we could say, yeah, James Harden was worth the money. And Durant had won the MVP that season as well, which he did win in real life. It had been two seasons since the Bulls had made it to the NBA finals, and so they looked to change up their roster in order to challenge Miami's Big Three. The 2014 offseason would look like this. Tim Duncan and the Spurs don't make it to the NBA finals in 2013 or 2014. Kobe Bryant's career is viewed more successful than Tim Duncan's, and Kawhi Leonard doesn't begin his young career on pace to become a superstar. Duncan and Genobley actually retire as they think it's over, sending San Antonio into a small rebuild centered around Danny Guerrero and Kawhi Leonard. That means no Lamarcus holdridge in the future. LeBron doesn't go home to Cleveland, since Cleveland never draft Andrew Wiggins, as Philadelphia get the first overall pick that season and select him. The cast fall to the third pick and select Joelle M. Bede, pretty much the reincarnation of Greg Oden. Or is he? With Andrew Wiggins going to the 76ers, Cleveland can't make the Kevin Love trade with Minnesota, as Minnesota doesn't want Joelle M. Bede. Why would LeBron James leave Duane Wade and Dwight Hale to play with Kyrie Irving and DL Waiters, and an injured Joelle M. Bede? Instead, LeBron hopes that Dwight Hale can stay healthy, and he wants to develop his new stunning point guard, Shabazz Napier, that he noted so many was his favourite player in March Madness. But the biggest move that happened in the 2014 free agency was with the Chicago Bulls. Yeah, Chicago. They had lost Carlos Buza, but managed to acquire Camelo Anthony. Yeah, that's right. Camelo Anthony sides with Chicago because they offered him not only max money, but a legitimate best chance of his career to win a championship. A healthy Derek Rose, developed Jimmy Butler, and Camelo Anthony spend the summer grinding it out together, hoping to win a championship in 2015. Yeah, Camelo Anthony. What a sign with the Chicago Bulls. I mean, there isn't a guy with more pressure on him to win a championship at this point, and the Bulls would offer a perfect opportunity for Camelo Anthony. Don't you remember the days in free agency where everyone was thinking that Melo would join Bulls, but then he'd stay with the Knicks? I mean, in real life it made sense why Melo didn't stay with the Bulls, as Rose was pretty much injured every season. But now there's no reason for him to stay in New York, since Rose would be healthy and a proven champion at this point. Camelo Anthony, healthy MVP-esque Derek Rose, Jimmy Butler, and the Bulls would easily be the most talented roster. Forget about Westbrook, Harden, Durant, and Ibaka. Forget about LeBron, James Duane Wade, and Dwight Howard. They'd have a great chance at defending anybody who stood in their path, especially while playing in the Eastern Conference. Miami remains close to the same, besides adding a few extra veterans to their roster. Chicago and Miami would grow to become the largest rival in the NBA, with their history over the past four seasons, and now with the addition of Camelo Anthony to the Bulls, who was actually really close friends with Wade and LeBron. Remember how Bosch was traded to the Rockets? Well, he would actually go back to where it all began. Toronto, yeah. The Toronto Raptors would welcome him home during free agency. They were another team that was looking good for the future. Larry, DeRozan, and Bosch. Oh yeah, Golden State wouldn't be able to make the jump that they did in 2015, because Harrison Barnes would be playing for the Toronto Raptors as well. Remember that 2012 NBA draft? Thanks to Philadelphia for trading Andre Goudala to Golden State to draft Andre Drummond. Starting Andre Igudala the whole season doesn't crush the idea of what Golden State Warriors have become, but now you're talking about switching the starting lineup, Six Man and finals MVP of a team. It might not seem like it, but it made a gigantic difference. They'd make a playoff run, but eventually fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Steph Curry is still a transcended point guard, but he's not a league MVP. Obviously the Cleveland Cavaliers would continue to be a medical franchise that's holding on to the idea of their hometown hero returning to the land someday. Kyrie Irving isn't an all-star caliber point guard, as Rose, Chris Paul, and Westbrook seem to be the clear top three, but in the future, it seems as if it could be Kyrie Lillard and Kyrie rising up. LeBron James is sitting somewhere in his Miami mansion with his good friend Duane Wade, pondering how they only combine three NBA championships. Meanwhile, they're watching Derek Rose fight Kevin Durant for another. And so with Kamala Anthony, Derek Rose, Jimmy Butler taking over the league, they would win three NBA championships out of the next five years. Golden State and Oklahoma took two of them, but Rose would win another NBA MVP in 2016. And Kamala Anthony had earned a higher reputation since he was a three-time NBA champion. So the whole league would have changed if Derek Rose stayed healthy, and unfortunately for some players and some teams, they would luck out. Sorry Spurs fans, sorry Rockets fans. Miami fans, I mean they're still happy with three NBA championships, but I guess for the Thunder fans, you should be disappointed that you traded James Harden in real life. I mean, who knows what could have happened. Luckily for the Spurs fans, this never happened, and you're safe. As for the Bulls fans, stay with Derek Rose, he'll be back to his former self soon. Maybe not his MVP days, but I'm sure he'll bounce back. Mock my woods.