What would league be like without items, runes or anything really.
You went into summoners rift with just your champion. The shop had nothing but potions and wards, no items, no starting items, nothing. There are no runes on any champion, noting that could give you stats of any kind. the only stats you get are the ones you get from levelling up.
How would a match like that be you think? Would it be balanced? slow as fuck? boring? fun?
Personally, i'd like to try it. Maybe even see it as a featured game mode. I'd laugh my ass off if it turned out to be far more balanced then the current state of the game.