If You Had The Power...

[trojanfan12]

to go back and remove injury or circumstance from 1 players career (any sport) to see what they could have done with a full career...who are "saving"?

Bo Jackson who was all star caliber in 2 professional sports?

Arvydas Sabonis who was arguably the greatest international player ever and who, due to where he was born, wasn't able to play in the NBA until he was 31 with bad knees. But still was a very good NBA player?

Andrew Bynum who had just reached a point where he was considered one of, if not the best center in the NBA and had his knees fall off.

Andrew Luck who was one of the best QB's in the NFL and suddenly retired in his prime?

How much more does Tiger Woods accomplish if not for injuries and other "circumstances"?

Who ya got?

 

[RobToxin]

Len Bias.

 

[MHSL82]

Totally biased and I don’t think anyone else would choose this, but I would choose saving Alex Smith from his first shoulder injury (career wise). (Obviously, his bigger injury, family or healthwise.)

While I know that he would have his limitations or weaknesses, I feel his career would’ve been much better had it not been for that. That started his issue with coach scapegoating and weakened his arm strength and made him become conservative. Not saying that he would be a gunslinger or the best quarterback, but I feel that some of his criticisms could’ve been avoided. He had just started to get better.

I know he’s not historical, like Bo Jackson, etc. Just my choice.

 

[Cyder]

Pistol Pete comes to mind. What could Mickey Mantle have done if he hadn't wrecked his knee early in his career. Probably would have helped if he didn't drink like a fish. Take a look at Sandy Koufax's numbers when he retired at 30 due to injury. Those last 5 years were insane.

 

[DJ Fieri]

to go back and remove injury or circumstance from 1 players career (any sport) to see what they could have done with a full career...who are "saving"?

Bo Jackson who was all star caliber in 2 professional sports?

Arvydas Sabonis who was arguably the greatest international player ever and who, due to where he was born, wasn't able to play in the NBA until he was 31 with bad knees. But still was a very good NBA player?

Andrew Bynum who had just reached a point where he was considered one of, if not the best center in the NBA and had his knees fall off.

Andrew Luck who was one of the best QB's in the NFL and suddenly retired in his prime?

How much more does Tiger Woods accomplish if not for injuries and other "circumstances"?

Who ya got?

No would have been sick....

 

[Cyder]

Pistol Pete comes to mind. What could Mickey Mantle have done if he hadn't wrecked his knee early in his career. Probably would have helped if he didn't drink like a fish. Take a look at Sandy Koufax's numbers when he retired at 30 due to injury. Those last 5 years were insane.

View attachment 357092

Forgot to add that the stats in bold means he led the league in that category

 

[msgkings322]

to go back and remove injury or circumstance from 1 players career (any sport) to see what they could have done with a full career...who are "saving"?

Bo Jackson who was all star caliber in 2 professional sports?

Arvydas Sabonis who was arguably the greatest international player ever and who, due to where he was born, wasn't able to play in the NBA until he was 31 with bad knees. But still was a very good NBA player?

Andrew Bynum who had just reached a point where he was considered one of, if not the best center in the NBA and had his knees fall off.

Andrew Luck who was one of the best QB's in the NFL and suddenly retired in his prime?

How much more does Tiger Woods accomplish if not for injuries and other "circumstances"?

Who ya got?

Bo Jackson is a good one. It’d have been nice for KD to not get hurt in the 2019 playoffs

 

[trojanfan12]

Totally biased and I don’t think anyone else would choose this, but I would choose saving Alex Smith from his first shoulder injury (career wise). (Obviously, his bigger injury, family or healthwise.)

While I know that he would have his limitations or weaknesses, I feel his career would’ve been much better had it not been for that. That started his issue with coach scapegoating and weakened his arm strength and made him become conservative. Not saying that he would be a gunslinger or the best quarterback, but I feel that some of his criticisms could’ve been avoided. He had just started to get better.

I know he’s not historical, like Bo Jackson, etc. Just my choice.

No wrong or biased answers. It's who you would like to have seen.

Personally, I would pick Bo, but that's an easy answer. As a Lakers fan, I'd have loved to have seen what Bynum could have done.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Bo would have been sick....

.

 

[PolarVortex]

to go back and remove injury or circumstance from 1 players career (any sport) to see what they could have done with a full career...who are "saving"?

Bo Jackson who was all star caliber in 2 professional sports?

Arvydas Sabonis who was arguably the greatest international player ever and who, due to where he was born, wasn't able to play in the NBA until he was 31 with bad knees. But still was a very good NBA player?

Andrew Bynum who had just reached a point where he was considered one of, if not the best center in the NBA and had his knees fall off.

Andrew Luck who was one of the best QB's in the NFL and suddenly retired in his prime?

How much more does Tiger Woods accomplish if not for injuries and other "circumstances"?

Who ya got?

Bo Jackson was a balls-to-the-wall type of player. If you took his injury away, he would just have had another one soon thereafter. It was inevitable, just as injuries to Mike Trout are inevitable, just as pitching arm injuries are inevitable to pitchers who throw 100 miles an hour.

If I could take an injury back from any athlete, Steve Prefontaine never would have wrecked his MGB convertible and ended his life at the age of 24.

 

[PolarVortex]

Pistol Pete comes to mind. What could Mickey Mantle have done if he hadn't wrecked his knee early in his career. Probably would have helped if he didn't drink like a fish. Take a look at Sandy Koufax's numbers when he retired at 30 due to injury. Those last 5 years were insane.

View attachment 357092

Would have been interesting to see what kind of stats Koufax might have rung up in 1968, the so-called 'year of the pitcher' when the pitcher's mound was raised and McClain won 31 games and Gibson had a 1.12 ERA.

 

[shopson67]

Len Bias.

I want to change the team that drafted him too.

 

[shopson67]

No wrong or biased answers. It's who you would like to have seen.

Personally, I would pick Bo, but that's an easy answer. As a Lakers fan, I'd have loved to have seen what Bynum could have done.

Off the top of my head, let's delete Kobe's Achilles injury. Might still be here today had he not retired.

 

[fightinfunbags]

 

[Cyder]

 

[Pure Steel]

Bo Jackson was a balls-to-the-wall type of player. If you took his injury away, he would just have had another one soon thereafter. It was inevitable, just as injuries to Mike Trout are inevitable, just as pitching arm injuries are inevitable to pitchers who throw 100 miles an hour.

If I could take an injury back from any athlete, Steve Prefontaine never would have wrecked his MGB convertible and ended his life at the age of 24.

Without Limits was pretty good flick with Billy Crudup.....

 

[Carnzo]

 

[shopson67]

 

[CitySushi]

For me it's a tie between Grant Hill and Brandon Roy. Two guys I really enjoyed watching play who could have been absolutely great.

Hill might have cracked top 15 all time if he stayed at his peak. In his first 6 seasons he was ROY, AS 6x, All NBA 5x. That's an accomplishment line on par with the all time greats.

Brandon Roy to me was just really fun to watch. He didn't blow you away with amazing athleticism, he just could ball. He didn't have any holes in his game. Could handle, pass, shoot from deep, had a middy, finished at the rim, rebounded, played defense, etc. Just a pure basketball player.

 

[redskinsfan1963]

sonny jurgenson from blowing out his Achilles in 72