Celtic Pride: A Len Bias TL

[RySenkari]

My first attempt at a sports timeline and my second attempt at a timeline overall. Hoping I can stick with this one, still researching some things as I go, I just hope it's entertaining and plausible.

-

"And as much as I loved watching Larry Bird, there was no one, and I mean NO ONE in Celtics history who could get me out of my seat faster than Len Bias. Seeing him run up the court for a breakaway dunk, seeing him battling with guys half a foot taller than him for rebounds, and seeing those epic battles with Michael Jordan, there was no one who could get those crowds roaring like Len Bias. I spent hours trying to figure out whether Bias or Russell was the greatest Celtic of all time. In the end, it had to be Bill Russell because he won more titles, but if I could go back in a time machine and relive the Len Bias-era Celtics or sit courtside for those 11 Russell-era championships, I'd go back to those Bias games in a heartbeat."

-Bill Simmons, The Book Of Basketball: A White Man's Thoughts On A Black Man's Game

"Was he competitive? Hell yes. Did he get pissed when we lost? Of course. But having a guy like that on your team, that's how we stayed competitive with the Bulls. We played so many great games with them, and I'll tell you right now, Lenny took those games over. I didn't pass the torch to him, he grabbed it and ran with it and never looked back. Magic always keeps telling me, 'it just ain't fair, no way you should've gotten a guy like that after having that kind of year', and he always reminds me that before we got Bias, we split three championships a piece. Ain't my fault him and Kareem couldn't keep up."

-Larry Bird, ESPN interview before Len Bias' induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, September 5, 2008

"Oh! What a SPECTACULAR move by Len Bias!"

-Marv Albert, commentating Game 2 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Bulls, May 21, 1991

"You know, it's been 25 years, man... but I still remember seeing him seizing up... all I could think about was what could I have done for my friend, he was my best friend... and I was just sitting there drunk off my ass, thinking... I don't know what the hell I was thinking. (starts tearing up) ...goddamn. I'm sorry. It still hurts. He never got to see me play in the NBA. My best friend."

-Len Bias, interview with Bob Costas on June 19, 2011, 25 years to the day of the death of his best friend Brian Tribble from a cocaine overdose

-

June 19, 1986 (3:17 AM)

"C'mon, man. You gotta party. This is some huge shit, you're gonna play for the Boston fucking Celtics! The world champions!"

Brian Tribble let out a hearty laugh, slapping his friend Len Bias on the back as the two of them sat together in Bias' dorm room. Sitting on a small handmirror nearby was a small pile of cocaine, which one of the people in the room had begun splitting up into long white lines. Len looked over at the coke, chuckling a bit. The room was crammed with people, friends, teammates, all reveling in Len's success.

"Damn right, I'm the man," said Bias with a laugh, standing up and walking over to the mirror. His friends parted to give him the first go at the coke. He'd done cocaine before while at the university, he wasn't exactly a coke fiend but he loved the high it gave him, he felt like he did when he was dunking over someone in a game, felt like he could conquer the world.

Now, of course, he was about to conquer the REAL world, the world of the NBA, which had never seen a player like him before. Sure, there was the high-flying scoring machine Michael Jordan, but he was stuck carrying a pathetic Bulls team, and he was still coming off a major injury. Despite a transcendent performance in the first round, the Celtics had still trounced Jordan. And now they were adding Len Bias.

"Fuck Michael Jordan!" Bias shouted exuberantly, drawing a huge cheer from the partygoers. Tribble let out a loud whoop, getting up and high-fiving his friend. "He ain't never seen the likes of me!"

"You're a horse!" shouted Tribble, clapping Bias on the back.

"I'm a horse!" shouted Bias, going in to snort the cocaine. But as he bent over, he stood back up, hollering again. "Shit! Yeah!"

Len Bias was in a state of euphoria. Surrounded by friends, with millions of dollars and certain NBA success about to come his way, there was nothing that could make him feel any better, not even that cocaine on that table. He bent over the cocaine again, but shook his head and got back up.

"What's wrong?" asked Tribble, gesturing toward the coke.

"Shit, I'm so high on life right now," said Bias, smiling and shaking his head. "Y'all can go at that, somebody hand me a beer."

"You sure, horse? Well, there's plenty more where that came from, so you just let me know when you want the hookup."

""Sho," Bias replied, sitting back down on the bed as someone handed him a tall, cold bottle of beer. He began drinking as some of his friends began to snort the coke. The night became a blur. At one point, Bias thought about getting back up to go at the coke, but all that remained was a few small flecks of powder, and Brian Tribble had passed out. Bias set down his beer bottle... at that point his fifth of the night, and drifted back off to sleep.

June 19, 1986 (6:35 AM)

"Sir, you're going to have to calm down."

"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down when my best friend is lyin' there dying?"

By now, only Bias and Tribble remained in the dorm room. Tribble wasn't moving... his eyes were glazed over and something frothy and white was coming out of his mouth. Tears began to stain Len's cheeks, his voice coming out in a frantic, slightly inebriated slur.

"Do you know who I am?" Bias shouted into the phone. "Get some paramedics out here, I'm gonna be playing for the Boston Celtics and my best friend is lying here dying!"

"It doesn't matter who you are, just tell me where you are so we can send an ambulance."

Bias stuttered for a moment, his mind briefly forgetting the words. He finally blurted out the number of the dorm room, looking back and forth between his friend and the phone.

"This can't be happening, this can't be happening...!!!"

It didn't take long for the paramedics to arrive. By the time Brian Tribble was pronounced dead at 6:56 AM, the story had already begun to disseminate. Len Bias' best friend had died of a cocaine overdose right in front of his eyes.

The Boston Celtics' #2 draft pick was in a lot of trouble.

-

So OBVIOUSLY Len Bias gets out of this pretty much unscathed (already spoiled some things with my opening quotes), but already the butterflies have begun to flutter their wings. Feel free to speculate, ask questions, whatever you'd like. I'll try to continue this sometime soon, either tomorrow or in the coming days.

Oh, and before anyone asks, I'm a Pacers fan, not a Celtics fan (I don't HATE the Celtics but they're not my team), I'm not hugely knowledgeable about the NBA, so if I mess anything up, feel free to let me know (but be gentle please!).

 

[doctorr]

One of the great what ifs of NBA history

If Bias is what he was cracked up to be I believe a few things certainly happen

-The Detroit Piston bad boys never win a title

-The 1987 NBA Finals is one of the greatest series of all time (you could argue it already was, but the series went only six games). The Celtics were without a healthy Walton and were very banged up but still gave the Lakers best 1980's team quite a series.

-I think its a myth that Bias would have prevented the Bird back and achilles issues...perhaps delay it.

-The real butterfly is Bias's presence prevents McHale from coming back too soon on his injured foot thus preventing the hairline fracture that ruined his career. Mchale played the entire 1987 playoffs on a broken foot.

Best case for the Celtics is a dynasty from 86-91. People forget that 1991 team has the best record in the league until Bird's back went out. After 1991 I am guessing Jordan wins a few and who knows with butterflies perhaps he never retires in 1993?

So sad we will never know.

 

[Bmao]

Bird's back first gave him trouble as early as 1985 when he pulled it while shoveling gravel in his yard at French lick, so it's likely that he'll continue to have back trouble that plagues him throughout his career.

However, I think that because of Bias' martyrdom we tend to exaggerate how good he would have been had he played. He was certainly a great scorer in college, but he was not a particularly good rebounder or defender while in college, so I project that he would have at least been an all-star, but not on the same level as Jordan. With a veteran laden team with Bird, Mchale, Parish, DJ and others, they would have been a good influence on Bias and probably would have weaned him off his drug addiction.

He'd probably start his career on the bench behind Bird and McHale, and be a very deadly 6th man who can create havoc with fast break scoring and energy plays like a late 80s Lebron, and as much as I hate to admit it, he may well have made the difference in 87 vs the Lakers, along with a few more matchups with the Lakers in which we can expect close, hard fought series. Hopefully, Bias living also means that Magic's HIV virus is also butterflied away and we get Magic throughout the early and mid 90s.

However, I do think Jordan's rise to the NBA pantehon was pretty much unstoppable, barring some career ending injury, and even if Bias does develop into a superstar I still think Jordan wins the lions share of the titles in the 90s (Chicago already had two lottery picks by 1987 and while they may not necessarily draft Pippen and Grant, they would likely find some sort of equivalent to pair with Jordan).

If Bias does develop into a franchise player, which is entirely possible, the key for the Celtics is finding a way to rebuild around Bias once the Bird/McHale/Parish trio retires. If the Celtics continue to be good throughout the late 80s and early 90s, they won't find a good no 2 man to put around Bias through the draft, unless they are able to trade one of their Big 3 (I could envision McHale being traded to make room for Bias in the starting lineup as trading Bird would be a PR disaster for the Celtics) for a lottery pick. If they can pair Bias with a solid Big Man (don't even start with a Bias/Shaq pairing or I'll faint, but more importantly they need to pair him with a big man who is willing to defer to Bias) then I like their chances to compete with Jordan throughout the 90s and perhaps steal one from him.

By the late 90s with Bias aging, the Celtics are going to have to think about replacing him again, and part of that would be to strike big in the 96 draft. Butterflies are such that the players born in this era would have still taken up basketball by 1986 and the good players selected here would also still be good. Again, if you even bring up the possibility of Kobe being drafted to the Celtics I'll jump off a cliff, but if they could get someone like KG early in the draft (He may not necessarily skip college to go straight to the NBA) then that will really set the Celtics up again for the long haul and be a nice compliment to an aging Bias.

After that, all bets are off and NBA history as we know it is entirely different...

As a Laker fan, I'm rather glad with how NBA history has turned out since 1980, not that I'm glad Bias is dead but the only what-ifs I ever think about is if Robert Horry's shot had gone in during Game 5 of the 2003 WCSF, or if Shaq and Kobe hadn't decided to blow up the universe with their feud (it has its own wikipedia page) or if Kobe had even decent players around him for the 2006 season (the year he scored 81 in a game if you don't remember) instead of having to play with scrubs like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown.

 

[RySenkari]

I think about "what if Reggie Miller's would-be game winner had gone in in game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals?", and "what if that cup had hit Mark Boyle instead of Ron Artest?"

 

[GAB-1955]

I dormed with the Maryland men's basketball team in the 1970s. They all lived on the eighth floor of Ellicott Hall, a high-rise dorm. Moses Malone would have been my roommate if he went to college.

 

[YLi]

Len Bias died in Washington Hall, which is in the southern part of the UMD campus. His ghost probably haunts Room 1103 to this day.

Oh, also, I lived on the 3rd floor of Ellicott Hall for 2 years while I was at UMD.

 

[AltSptHst]

I dormed with the Maryland men's basketball team in the 1970s. They all lived on the eighth floor of Ellicott Hall, a high-rise dorm. Moses Malone would have been my roommate if he went to college.

That would be a good alternate timeline as far as Moses and Maryland is concerned.

 

[Tank Cdr]

I hope you keep this timeline up. I asked the question on here a few months ago; what if Len Bias lives? Thank you for starting a timeline to answer that question. Keep up the good work!

 

[Unknown]

Maybe seeing his friend die is what causes Len to swear off drinking and drugs altogether.

Hopefully, that is the case (although, sadly, it might not be).

 

[RySenkari]

June 23, 1986

The last few days of Len Bias' life had been a whirlwind of grief, fear, and uncertainty. Police had questioned him extensively on the day of Brian Tribble's death, though they decided not to charge him with distribution or possession of cocaine, as it was apparent that Tribble was the distributor and that the coke had never touched Bias himself. Prosecutors instead focused on Bias' former teammates at Maryland, Terry Long and David Gregg. This had cleared the legal troubles out of Bias' life, though his NBA future was, for the time being, uncertain.

On June 23rd, the Monday following Tribble's death, Bias met personally with NBA commissioner David Stern to discuss the events of that night. The conversation was at times emotional, Bias was clearly still grieving his friend's death, and had some measure of survivor guilt, knowing he had turned down the cocaine that killed his friend.

"I swear to you, I will never touch drugs again," Bias said, his voice lined with grief. "If I could turn back the clock, I would never have let my friend do that stuff."

David Stern knew that Bias' apology was heartfelt. He could tell from the emotion and contrition in the young man's voice that he was clearly ready to make a change in his life, though he knew how so many young men and women who swore to give up drugs could easily relapse. One of his goals upon coming into the NBA had been to take a tough stance against drug use, the very year he'd become Executive Vice President of the league, the NBA had begun testing its athletes. Cocaine had become a scourge of the league, starting in the late 70s and ruining the careers of many talented athletes, most notably the brilliant but underachieving David Thompson.

Now he was the commissioner, and he had before him one of the most talented players to ever come into the league, a young man who had witnessed first-hand the terrible consequences of drugs. He could only hope that Len Bias had learned his lesson, and that once allowed to play in the league, he would stay away from the drugs that had killed his friend.

"I want to tell you something. You have the chance to change a lot of lives right now. Children are going to be looking up to you. You've got a chance to be the most effective anti-drug ambassador in the world right now, because you've experienced the consequences of drugs and you can tell people from your own experience that drug use can only lead to bad things."

"Yes sir, I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to keep what happened to my friend from happening to anyone else," said Bias, with a sincerity that let the commissioner know he was making the right decision.

"I want you to promise me that you'll never use drugs again."

"I promise, never again."

"You've got a bright future in this league," said the commissioner, reaching out to shake the young man's hand. "You're playing for one of the NBA's premier teams and you've got so much talent. I want you to succeed, and if you work hard and stay away from drugs, I know you will."

Len Bias shook David Stern's hand, though he was trembling just a bit, still emotional from everything that had happened. He leaned over and gave Stern a hug, unable to keep the emotion of the moment from overwhelming him.

"I know your friend would be proud of you too," said Stern as the two men parted.

"Yeah, man. I know too."

June 24, 1986

The same day that David Stern announced that Len Bias would face no suspensions for his drug use, he also announced that Bias had agreed to become the face of an aggressive new NBA anti-drug campaign, particularly targeted around cocaine and crack cocaine. Bias, along with several other NBA stars such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Alex English, and Charles Barkley, would appear in public service announcements that would be played on television and shown in schools throughout the country. The same day, Reebok announced that it would continue to sponsor Len Bias as he prepared to play for the Celtics that fall.

 

[Tank Cdr]

I think that perhaps Stern would have been just a little tougher with Bias. He would have probably been volun-told that he was going to be the face of an aggressive new NBA anti-drug campaign. His enthusiastic participation in exchange for no fine or suspension.

This is still a very good story!

 

[AltSptHst]

Bird's back first gave him trouble as early as 1985 when he pulled it while shoveling gravel in his yard at French lick, so it's likely that he'll continue to have back trouble that plagues him throughout his career.

However, I think that because of Bias' martyrdom we tend to exaggerate how good he would have been had he played. He was certainly a great scorer in college, but he was not a particularly good rebounder or defender while in college, so I project that he would have at least been an all-star, but not on the same level as Jordan. With a veteran laden team with Bird, Mchale, Parish, DJ and others, they would have been a good influence on Bias and probably would have weaned him off his drug addiction.

He'd probably start his career on the bench behind Bird and McHale, and be a very deadly 6th man who can create havoc with fast break scoring and energy plays like a late 80s Lebron, and as much as I hate to admit it, he may well have made the difference in 87 vs the Lakers, along with a few more matchups with the Lakers in which we can expect close, hard fought series. Hopefully, Bias living also means that Magic's HIV virus is also butterflied away and we get Magic throughout the early and mid 90s.

However, I do think Jordan's rise to the NBA pantehon was pretty much unstoppable, barring some career ending injury, and even if Bias does develop into a superstar I still think Jordan wins the lions share of the titles in the 90s (Chicago already had two lottery picks by 1987 and while they may not necessarily draft Pippen and Grant, they would likely find some sort of equivalent to pair with Jordan).

If Bias does develop into a franchise player, which is entirely possible, the key for the Celtics is finding a way to rebuild around Bias once the Bird/McHale/Parish trio retires. If the Celtics continue to be good throughout the late 80s and early 90s, they won't find a good no 2 man to put around Bias through the draft, unless they are able to trade one of their Big 3 (I could envision McHale being traded to make room for Bias in the starting lineup as trading Bird would be a PR disaster for the Celtics) for a lottery pick. If they can pair Bias with a solid Big Man (don't even start with a Bias/Shaq pairing or I'll faint, but more importantly they need to pair him with a big man who is willing to defer to Bias) then I like their chances to compete with Jordan throughout the 90s and perhaps steal one from him.

By the late 90s with Bias aging, the Celtics are going to have to think about replacing him again, and part of that would be to strike big in the 96 draft. Butterflies are such that the players born in this era would have still taken up basketball by 1986 and the good players selected here would also still be good. Again, if you even bring up the possibility of Kobe being drafted to the Celtics I'll jump off a cliff, but if they could get someone like KG early in the draft (He may not necessarily skip college to go straight to the NBA) then that will really set the Celtics up again for the long haul and be a nice compliment to an aging Bias.

After that, all bets are off and NBA history as we know it is entirely different...

As a Laker fan, I'm rather glad with how NBA history has turned out since 1980, not that I'm glad Bias is dead but the only what-ifs I ever think about is if Robert Horry's shot had gone in during Game 5 of the 2003 WCSF, or if Shaq and Kobe hadn't decided to blow up the universe with their feud (it has its own wikipedia page) or if Kobe had even decent players around him for the 2006 season (the year he scored 81 in a game if you don't remember) instead of having to play with scrubs like Smush Parker and Kwame Brown.

Yeah, you should be satisfied with all the breaks the Lakers got since then. Actually, the Laker luck started in 1969, when the Bucks won the coin flip for him, and when the ABA's Nets failed to lure him away. If Kareem goes to Phoenix, or the Nets, he may never have been a Laker. The Lakers should have never have gotten Magic, Worthy, or Shaq, either. They got those guys because of bad decisions and stupid management by other teams.

Back to Bias, though: If he lives, and stays healthy, I believe that Boston eats into Chicago's run in the early 90's. People forget that they started 29-5 in 1990-91 until Bird had to miss time because of his back. Bias in the fold may have prevented that happening because Bird's minutes would have decreased the last several years.

 

[Bmao]

Yeah, you should be satisfied with all the breaks the Lakers got since then. Actually, the Laker luck started in 1969, when the Bucks won the coin flip for him, and when the ABA's Nets failed to lure him away. If Kareem goes to Phoenix, or the Nets, he may never have been a Laker. The Lakers should have never have gotten Magic, Worthy, or Shaq, either. They got those guys because of bad decisions and stupid management by other teams.

Back to Bias, though: If he lives, and stays healthy, I believe that Boston eats into Chicago's run in the early 90's. People forget that they started 29-5 in 1990-91 until Bird had to miss time because of his back. Bias in the fold may have prevented that happening because Bird's minutes would have decreased the last several years.

Well, before that the Lakers had already had Elgin Baylor and Jerry West starring for them for most of the past decade, and had already established themselves as a place for high profile stars to go to (like Wilt arriving in LA in 1968).

In the world of sports, you create your own luck based on good personnel decisions and being a well-run franchise. Part of being a well-run franchise is taking advantage of franchises that are not as well run. Look at the Clippers, until this year they were perennial losers because they had bad ownership and management, while organizations like San Antonio are winners despite being only a mid-level market because they are well run and can identify talent. You might say they got lucky because they drafted Robinson and Duncan, but good scouting meant that they were able to surround Duncan with guys like Manu Ginobili (who was drafted 57th overall, 57th!!) and Tony Parker.

The Lakers got Magic because they traded away Gail Goodrich (who is a Hall of Famer BTW) in 1976 to the Jazz for a 1979 1st round pick, and then they won the coin toss. They got Worthy the same way. They traded Vlade Divac for Kobe at a time when NBA teams didn't have much faith in High School players going to the NBA.

 

[RySenkari]

Butterflies are going to keep Ralph Sampson from suffering that devastating injury he suffered in the 1986-87 season IOTL. His bad knees will still catch up to him, but with him around (and not being traded) on the Rockets for a few more years, that will also hurt the Lakers somewhat.

Next update might or might not be today, Bias' NBA debut will be a part of that.

 

[RySenkari]

*A couple of middle school-aged kids are trying on shoes at a shoe store.*
Kid #1: These new sneakers rule! I bet I could score all kinds of points with these!
*Len Bias walks over, the two kids drop what they're doing and run over to him, he smiles and greets the kids but he has an important message for them.*
Bias: It's fun to hang out with your friends, but remember to stay away from drugs. I remember when me and my best friend used to hang out at the shoe store, but he turned to drugs and lost his life. If you want to keep having fun with your friends for years to come, just say no to drugs. Don't foul out. *starts signing one of the kids' sneakers as the NBA logo appears, along with the words "DON'T FOUL OUT" and "Say NO to drugs."*

-NBA Public Service Announcement from the "Don't Foul Out" anti-drug campaign, circa fall 1986

October 12, 1986

Preseason basketball began for the Boston Celtics, who opened their preseason visiting the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach K.C. Jones decided to start Len Bias at power forward, and almost immediately he made an impact, scoring the Celtics' first four points of the contest. After the tumultuous offseason, however, Bias was still a bit rattled, missing on an alley-oop from Larry Bird at the end of the quarter. The second quarter went a bit better for Bias, who would end up with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and a block (of #1 draft pick Brad Daugherty) in the first half. The second half was into a romp for the Celtics, who won by a score of 130-105. Bias ended his first preseason NBA game with 26 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal. He seemed to be everything he was cracked up to be, but the preseason is one thing, Bias' real game performance is another.

October 13-30, 1986

The Celtics went completely undefeated on the preseason as Bias worked out his jitters, getting into the flow of games and meshing much better with the team. During a home game against the Atlanta Hawks, Bias scored 44 points, the Celtics' high total for the preseason and second overall in the league (behind a 47 point performance by Michael Jordan). The Celtics' preseason performance gave fans hope and hyped up Bias, but once the season began, would he be able to keep it up?

October 31, 1986

Halloween night saw the Boston Celtics hosting the Washington Bullets in the season opener. Coach Jones decided to bench Bias at the start of the game, going instead with a starting lineup of Dennis Johnson, Sam Vincent, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish. The Bullets played tough to start the game, and it was a 9-9 tie with 8:24 left in the first quarter when Jones decided to pull McHale and bring out Len Bias. The crowd roared as Bias came out, and on the very first play of Len Bias' career, he got a pass from Dennis Johnson down low, throwing down a serious dunk on Terry Catledge and bringing the crowd to their feet. On the very next play, a wide-open Bias got the ball from Larry Bird and shot a 16-footer that touched nothing but the bottom of the net. The Celtics went up 13-9 and the Bullets can't make it close for the rest of the night. Though Jones used Bias sparingly, giving him only 28 minutes of playing time, he made the most of the opportunity, ending up with 19 points on 7-9 shooting, with 5-6 from the line, nine rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal. The final score was 126-104.

The Celtics were 1-0. Len Bias had arrived. The next night, the Celtics would travel to Milwaukee for a much sterner test, but for now, Len Bias rested up, barely able to sleep from the excitement of his first NBA win. He wished that Brian could've seen him play, but his mother had been there at the game, sitting right in the front row, screaming jubilantly every time he touched the ball. There would be rough days ahead, but this wasn't one of them.

 

[redsoxrule124245]

However, I do think Jordan's rise to the NBA pantehon was pretty much unstoppable, barring some career ending injury, and even if Bias does develop into a superstar I still think Jordan wins the lions share of the titles in the 90s (Chicago already had two lottery picks by 1987 and while they may not necessarily draft Pippen and Grant, they would likely find some sort of equivalent to pair with Jordan).

If Bias does develop into a franchise player, which is entirely possible, the key for the Celtics is finding a way to rebuild around Bias once the Bird/McHale/Parish trio retires. If the Celtics continue to be good throughout the late 80s and early 90s, they won't find a good no 2 man to put around Bias through the draft, unless they are able to trade one of their Big 3 (I could envision McHale being traded to make room for Bias in the starting lineup as trading Bird would be a PR disaster for the Celtics) for a lottery pick. If they can pair Bias with a solid Big Man (don't even start with a Bias/Shaq pairing or I'll faint, but more importantly they need to pair him with a big man who is willing to defer to Bias) then I like their chances to compete with Jordan throughout the 90s and perhaps steal one from him.

You Forget that at the end of the first round the next year the Celtics got Reggie Lewis. Someone Jordan admits gave him fits and he didn't really like playing against. Lewis blocked 4 shots of Jordan's in a single game. Before his death in 1993 Lewis was carrying the Celtics and keeping them relevant. Lewis and Bias would be a great tandem and make the Celtics virtually unstoppable in 1988 and would likely lead to an earlier retirement from Bird. Bird has said in interviews that if Bias hadn't died he would have retired before the 80's were finished.

 

[Pellegrino]

Interesting TL, consider me subscribed!

 

[Expat]

I don't suppose UMD's fate will change much in the immediate aftermath. The coach was still a major scam artist and the investigation would still happen that would eventually see fines handed down that would cripple MD sports for a decade with knock-on effects of under-performance leading to the decision to axe programs as the financial crisis settled in.

The basketball program might do a bit better with a high-profile alum making headlines and edging kids towards the university. But those eight programs cut a couple years ago IOTL are basically already taking the long, 25-year walk up to the scaffold ITTL, too.

 

[Bmao]

You Forget that at the end of the first round the next year the Celtics got Reggie Lewis. Someone Jordan admits gave him fits and he didn't really like playing against. Lewis blocked 4 shots of Jordan's in a single game. Before his death in 1993 Lewis was carrying the Celtics and keeping them relevant. Lewis and Bias would be a great tandem and make the Celtics virtually unstoppable in 1988 and would likely lead to an earlier retirement from Bird. Bird has said in interviews that if Bias hadn't died he would have retired before the 80's were finished.

If the Celtics already have Bias at the small forward spot, why would they draft Lewis? The problem with that theory is that both Lewis and Bias play the same position, and since the Celtics still have Larry Bird there is not going to be enough minutes to play all three guys.

My theory is that the Celtics would probably try to trade that 1987 draft pick to get a new backup big man, since Walton is retiring, and they don't have to use the combination of Greg Kite and a decrepit Artis Gilmore in 87-88.

 

[redsoxrule124245]

While i agree there is a slight problem with the position overload but Red never really seemed to care about that. He drafted the best guy available. Also Lewis was a local guy(northeastern alum) who was viewed more as a project and bench type guy at least at the start. I could see Red still taking him and figuring that he could play one of Lewis or Bias at the 2 seeing as both had the body types that could guard multiple positions. Also with Bias surviving Walton and McHale don't screw up their bodies beyond repair in the 86-87 playoffs. McHale rushed himself back from a broken foot and Walton was required to play way more minutes then he should have due to that. With Bias it limits all their minutes and likely less injuries so they don't have big man issues as soon as they due in OTL. But then again I see some issues with minutes as its too many good players for a 8 man rotation. I could forsee an earlier trade of Danny Ainge for a bench bigman and a pick if Lewis and Bias both join the team