Countless words have already been written about Andre Iguodala, the least likely MVP in NBA Finals history. Many of those words, including Lee Jenkins’ wonderful feature on Iggy before Game 6 for Sports Illustrated, reflect on his arrival at Golden State, both the signing itself and what it has meant for player and team over the last two years. It’s a unique journey, alright, made all the more so by the fact that it nearly didn’t happen.
What-ifs are endless in the NBA — the one on Cleveland’s mind, “What if we had stayed healthy?” being the loudest right now — but they can still be fun, if not instructive. Here’s one: What if Iguodala had been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers during LeBron James’ first tenure? It was a strong rumor as late as the trade deadline in 2010, the season before LeBron took his talents to you-know-where, back when Iguodala was an All-Star on a big contract for a rebuilding team (the post-Iverson 76ers) that wanted to grow around draft picks and cap room. So the trade rumors flew, and the Cavs, ever on the hunt for the complementary piece that would take them to the next level and/or convince LeBron to stay, were interested.
In the end, it didn’t work, possibly because the Cavs didn’t have a high enough draft pick to interest Philadelphia, who waited nearly two more years before dealing Iguodala in the unbelievably complex blockbuster trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers and Andrew Bynum to the Sixers in the summer of 2012. But what if they had gotten it done? Iguodala won the Finals MVP in large part because of his defense on LeBron, which he’s been honing since he entered the NBA a year after James (as Jenkins details in his piece). It would have been fascinating to see how them joining forces would have worked, and it would have changed the landscape of the NBA.
Iguodala, growing up in Illinois, modeled his game on Scottie Pippen’s, and it shows in how he combines his athleticism and intelligence to be elite in every facet of the game besides primary scoring. That was why his position as de facto alpha dog in Philly was such a cruel irony — Pippen without Jordan. At 6-foot-6, Iggy would have easily slotted in, size-wise, at shooting guard with LeBron, but LeBron wasn’t, and isn’t, Michael Jordan (which does not count as taking sides in the tiresome MJ-LeBron debate).
James’ dominance comes from mastering every non-scoring part of the game, just like Iguodala, but with far more scoring. If they were on the same team now, they wouldn’t be a perfect match in the half-court offense, considering both are at their most effective with the ball in their hands and neither of them are special at spot-up shooting. If the deal had gotten done in 2010, however, Iggy was probably young enough to change his skill set and improve off the ball.
Everything else about a LeBron-Iggy pairing would make basketball lovers salivate, especially now that the Warriors have cemented this as the era of versatility, speed and controlling space on offense and defense. A defense anchored by those two (especially five years ago) could have propped up Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and a mascot at center and still been challenging. Just think of all the passing lanes they’d swallow up together, creating fast breaks in which both are facilitating and finishing geniuses.
And if you read that Jenkins profile, you’ll see that Iguodala has a passion and intelligence for the game’s nuances that few can match — but one of those few is LeBron. Give them two seasons together, and they might have developed telepathy. Which raises (and possibly answers) the second What If: Would LeBron have stayed in Cleveland if Iggy was there with four years left on his contract? Who knows, but it would have been a hell of a lot more likely, that’s for sure.
The dominoes fall from there — besides who wins the rings, Irving and Andrew Wiggins would be on different teams, for instance — and my personal favorite to consider is that huge Howard deal. Without Iguodala for the Sixers to send to Denver, does that deal still get done?
Alright, this one’s too juicy to pass up. Someone get me a time machine, so I can help this deal get done. (Right after I kill Hitler, of course. That’s Time Travel 101.)
(Via Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Cleveland.com)
