In 1986 the Boston Celtics had won their third NBA title of that decade. Days later they picked Len Bias number two in the draft. But after Bias died two days after the draft, the Celtics dominance slowly faded. They would not win another NBA title for more than two decades. Further, listen to how Len’s death prompted the NBA to change its approach in dealing with drug abuse among its players.
About the narrator: Don Markus is a retired, former sports reporter for the Baltimore Sun who covered Maryland athletics since 1985. He has also written about the NBA. Don is an adjunct Professor of Journalism at American University.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is based a large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of lend Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author Daven Grady from
interviews done for the book. Recruitings for those comments were
not available.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, they're going to have number two picks and on
top of being a champion, it was it was. It
was porgasmic, you know, I'm telling you if people were
so excited.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
He was clearly physically uh dominant.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
He was.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
He was mean. He had a mean, mean on court game,
and that was that was important. But he had to
have the skill set to go with it because he
was cool.
Speaker 5 (00:39):
The Boston Celtics select lend Bias at the University of Maryland.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
Well, they're a good team and they got a good
supporting players. I can go up to answer it on
the bench or whether go on a player or not.
And I learned a lot from the players there, or
learn a lot from playing myself.
Speaker 7 (00:58):
And defensively, you know, maybe you know Lens picking up
some of the tough defensive assignments as well.
Speaker 8 (01:06):
The Maryland Medical Examiner has now issued his report on
the death of the college basketball star Land Bias. It
confirms the worst suspicions he died of heart figure because
he used cocaine.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
We were really affected so so deeply by all of
this that we there was no real way to measure
the probabilities of what that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Was thought that that, you know they were they would
have been so well positioned to prosper in the ensuing years.
Speaker 9 (01:38):
We're always thinking, like, you know, how how might the
n b A have been different had had had he
been around.
Speaker 10 (01:49):
For them to have this.
Speaker 11 (01:52):
Monster of a of a player, it would have It
would have changed everything against the Celtics, against the.
Speaker 10 (02:02):
Lakers, it would have changed it all.
Speaker 12 (02:07):
When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely
had a drug.
Speaker 13 (02:10):
Problem twenty three, you know, within the league. I remember,
and it became a bunch more of a public discussion.
Speaker 10 (02:17):
But yeah, I think the same.
Speaker 11 (02:20):
I think the NBA changed this whole mentality about drug
It changed the NBA drug pouse.
Speaker 10 (02:30):
All of a sudden.
Speaker 14 (02:30):
It was like now there was.
Speaker 10 (02:31):
More people out looking for people who are getting.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Three.
Speaker 15 (02:36):
The captain of the team, I don't need drugs. I
kind of higher things. My sky makes a team look good.
But there's a hopefully got a ship from the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And the game he made them next on Lambias. The
mixed legacy from dynasty, the drug out the death of
Lembias affected the Celtics and the NBA.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Before selecting Lambias with the second pick of nineteen eighty
six NBA draft, the Boston Celtics seemed destined to make
a run at another dynasty. They had just won their
third title in the decade. Led by Bill Russell and
Bob Coosey, the Celtics raised green and white championship banners
from the rafters of the Garden eleven times in thirteen
(03:16):
years in the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In that
nineteen eighty six draft, the Celtics traded the number two
pick belonging to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for guard
Gerald Henderson. Drafting Bias was viewed as one of the
biggest steals in league history. The expectations and excitement of
(03:37):
another title were heightened by the impending arrival of the
two time ACC Player of the Year. Jan Volk took
over from the legendary Red Hourback, the architect of the
Celtics dynasty, as general manager in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
This bonus of the number two pick in the draft
thanks to this wonderful trade that jan Volk had worked.
No one on Itita said, assuming the Tonics were going
to stink that enough that you get a really prime pick,
they would be very happy with ten, eleven, twelve. Leave
me well, they're going to have number two pick. And
on top of being a champion was it was a
It was orgasmick. And I'm telling you if people were
(04:16):
so excited.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
That's Bob Ryan, the legendary sports writer of the Boston
Globe who chronicled many of those great Celtic teams. The
nineteen eighty five eighty six Celtics finished the regular season
sixty seven and fifteen. In the playoffs, they won fifteen
of eighteen games, including a sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks
in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here's Ryan again.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Then the eighty five eighty six Celtics, that's when they
were peaking. That's when they were totally kicking ass every night,
and it was the greatest show on basketball Earth at
the time.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
With when biased, the Celtics would become younger, more athletic,
more explosive. Bias would give them firepower off the bench
that would take some of the pressure off aging veteran
it's Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Bias would fill the
role that the Celtics had seemingly invented with Frank Ramsey,
John Halchek and Don Nelson the sixth man. Eventually, Bias
(05:13):
would carry the mantle left behind by Bird, McHale and
Robert Parrish Folk, said Auerback, who still held the role
of team president. Like instigators rather than retaliators, many of
the Celtics, in particular Bird, McHale and Danny Ainge, fit
that description. Bias would bring an even more imposing presence
(05:34):
to the team.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
He was clearly physically dominant. Was he was mean. He
had a mean, mean on court game, and that was
that was important. But he had to have the skill
set to go with it. Have you had such a
dominant skill sets as well as the dominant attitude, just
(05:57):
played Art Bosst.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
The Celtics select Lend Bias at the University of Berlin.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Yeah, I really was hoping that was Boston. Yeah, my
dream came two coach to our back, brother manager, our
back and he told me that.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
He told me that I.
Speaker 12 (06:15):
Wasn't gonna get much.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
I wasn't gonn stop, but I was gonna get a
lot of playing time.
Speaker 14 (06:18):
Brought to me the thick man.
Speaker 16 (06:19):
This is a great kid. As a matter of fact,
you know, Larry Bird said that if we draft Bias,
he's gonna come up to the rookie camp. That's right.
He is very, very high on Bias, as Casey was,
and Jimmy and the owners, you know, Alan Corn and
Don Gasson, they're all high on him.
Speaker 17 (06:40):
And he's the guy we wanted.
Speaker 18 (06:41):
We got him.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
A lot of people were asking the question, how do
you improve the best team in basketball? He's led Bias.
Speaker 14 (06:45):
The answer to that, well.
Speaker 16 (06:47):
He gives us a lot of support. He could play
some god, he could play some forward. He could play
a power forward, a quick forward. He is the best athlete,
in my opinion, in the whole draft, and he's gonna
really helped this ball club.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
You said, anybody's going to have trouble breaking into the
Boston Celtics lineup.
Speaker 16 (07:05):
He knows that. Is any Bias going to take the
place of Kevin McHale or Larry Brady knows that. But
he'll get his playing time. But you know, time goes,
you know, time goes guys get older, they get more
playing time. We've had guys sit around for a while,
except in this particular case, he's going to play.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
With the death of Bias, the Celtics never got that
boost in intensity and youth to the roster. Despite mourning
the death of Bias, the Celtics did well on the court.
They reached the NBA Finals again, but lost to their
West Coast doppelganger, the Los Angeles Lakers in the nineteen
(07:46):
eighty seven finals. The death of Bias exposed the physical
fragility of Boston's foundation. Injuries began to impact the team's
superstars and even some of the key bench players. That
left the Celtics receptible to the power and toughness of
the Detroit Pistons, and so the burgeoning majesty of the
league's newest superstar. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls Folks
(08:11):
said that Boston's trip to the finals in nineteen eighty
seven was something of a mirage given the mounting injuries
to Bird and others.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
We had players in their in their prime, all available, available,
and seemingly healthy. As it turns out, they weren't. That is,
they there were injuries that followed, and that accelerated the
impact of LED's loss. We were a player short. In
eighty seven. Kevin McHale had broken his the vicular bone.
(08:45):
Bill Walton had broken his theviculate bone. We Scott Wedman
had surgery six games into the season. People forget how
good he was, how good Scott Wedman was, and we lost.
We lost him for the season. Robert Parrish also had
a bad ankle problem, and so we were we were
(09:08):
struggling pretty when you when you say struggling. We were
in the finals. We lost in six games. We were
not at a at our at our at our best
because of the injuries that we had, and we were
one player short.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
As great an offensive player, Bias was a Maryland you
tend to forget how great a defensive player he also
was at key moments. Vans still talk about the reverse
dunk he made to seal the win over North Carolina
as a senior in nineteen eighty six, but let's not
forget that he stole the inbounced pass from Kenny Smith
(09:43):
to set up the dunk, then Blocksmith's last shot later
in overtime to help secure the win.
Speaker 19 (09:50):
Bias from outside and he got it Lynn Bias with
twenty nine, Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
On, I mean, stay on the jawn. What a play
by Bias.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Paul Lake Cow project that into the NBA and you
can see how Bias would have taken the pressure of
Bird and McHale on the defensive end as well. Here's
Steve BoPET, who covered the Celtics in those days for
the Boston Herald.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
A big part about what made the Celtics was Kevin
McHale's ability to guard the really good small forwards, Larry's
not getting overwork, perhaps Lens allowing them to play more
up tempo basketball, which is, you know, less abuse on
the body for everyone involved. And defensively, you know, maybe
(10:40):
you know, Lens picking up some of the tough defensive
assignments as well, just you know, having that kind of
of a talent, lengthening out your rotations.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
The Pistons lost in seven games to the Lakers in
the nineteen eighty eight NBA Finals. Still, the bad Boys
from the Motor City shot many by sweeping the Lakers
in the nineteen eighty nine finals and then winning the
title again in five games against the Trailblazers in nineteen ninety.
That's when Jordan, in his seventh NBA season, took over
(11:14):
the league. He led the Bulls to championships in the
next three finals, over the Lakers, Trailblazers, and Phoenix Suns.
It was the first of his two to three peats
in his career and a perfect six to zero record
in the finals. Many wonder how the NBA landscape might
have been different after nineteen eighty six had Bias not
only lived but lived up to his potential. Perhaps most
(11:38):
of those wondering were Celtics fans. Bob Ryan believes that
the death of Bias and the death of Reggie Lewis
seven years later decimated the NBA's most storied franchise for
a long time. It wouldn't be until two thousand and
eight when the Celtics called themselves champions again.
Speaker 10 (11:55):
I thought that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They would have been so well positioned to prosper during
the ensuing years they were manpower shy. If they had
had a player of the equivalent that we think that
Reggie lund Bias would have been, I think they would
have had a very good chance of beating the Lakers.
They ran out of manpower. Thought it was had a
negative effect up for whichever a decade.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Even some millennials understand the impact Bias would have had
on the NBA had he lived. Millennials have only heard
about or watched videos Bias. Justin Tinsley of ESPNS The
Undefeated learned early in his life about what he missed
not watching Bias, and what the Celtics and the NBA
missed as well.
Speaker 9 (12:39):
How might the NBA have been different had he been around,
you know, because from my generation, outside of the Celtics
championship in two thousand and eight, the Celtics have always
just been this relic of the past in a sense.
There were this great franchise who of course you guys
(13:00):
like Bill Russell and Casey Jones and you know, read Rbou,
John Halichik, But we were never around for in terms
of that that Celtic lord, that Celtic mystique. We never
really saw that.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
John Sally met Bias at the Five Star Basketball Camp
while at Georgia Tech, he played four years against Bias
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He feels the void left
bias good friend's death could be felt throughout the NBA.
Speaker 11 (13:26):
For them to have this monster of a of a player,
it would have it would have changed everything against the Lakers.
Speaker 10 (13:39):
It would have changed at all.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Sally knows it's difficult to envision a rivalry between Jordan
and anybody, let alone a guy who never played a
second in the NBA. But he also knows what he
witnessed while playing against Bias.
Speaker 11 (13:53):
You really can't compare anything to Michael led Bias would
have been in the same I guess image on the
same same conversation, and I think if they would have
had to split it and you allowed to let Lenny
do what he does, we see it.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Differently at Tapscott got to know Bias while coaching at
American University in Washington. He's worked in the NBA for
the past thirty years as a team executive for the
Charlotte Bobcats, the New York Necks, and the Washington Wizards.
He's now a consultant for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Had Bias
lived with the trajectory of Jordan's career look any different,
(14:36):
here's Tapscott.
Speaker 20 (14:37):
And the Burden magic rivalry is what really started to
drive the narratives and the storylines in the league. Well,
think about the next era, which would have been Jordan Bias.
Jordan never had the rival that Magic had in Bird
and Bird had in Magic. Had Bias been in the league,
(14:57):
Jordan may have had that rival that Joe Fraser to
Muhammad Ali, And how could that not have produced even
more interest in the NBA and.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Provided an even more competitive environment.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Both Jordan and Bias were relative unknowns until their breakout
performances at the Five Star Basketball Camp. When they were
in high school. There were brief flashes of a budding
rivalry when Jordan was a junior at North Carolina and
Bias was a sophomore in Maryland. What kind of rivalry
they might have had in the NBA is purely speculative.
(15:35):
Since Jordan was a shooting guard and Bias a power forward,
they likely would not have guarded each other, but that
didn't stop the media from promoting rivalries between Magic Johnson
and Jordan, or even Charles Barkley and Jordan. Jay Billis
played against both Jordan and Bias during his own college
career at Duke.
Speaker 19 (15:54):
I believe you would have been a legitimate challenger to
Jordan for best player in the league. That's a tall
order to say he would have been as good or better,
but I'm I believe that would have been the case.
But you know, it speaks to the level of the
tragedy that you have to explain to younger people how
(16:17):
good he was and direct them to you know, old
grainy video to confirm it. You know, it's it's profoundly
sad that that that legacy wasn't he wasn't able to
complete it because I think I think it would have
been epic and uh, and we wouldn't have to explain it.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
There's also the question of what could have been. That's
the one that has lingered for Justin Tinsley and his
friends for years. They said the same thing about other
greats in their greats who did reach some level of
stardom in the NBA but never got to the pinnacle
because of injuries. And then there's Biased never got to
the NBA period.
Speaker 9 (16:59):
If you ask people who were the biggest what ifs
in NBA history, naturally some of the first names are
gonna come to mind are people like Penny Hardaway, what
if he could have stayed healthy? Or Grant Hill or
in more recent times, Derek Rose. But once you start
to peel back the layers, Lin Bias's name is always
(17:20):
going to come up. We were robbed of seeing a
potentially all time great talent be that, especially when when
we talk about Michael Jordan, like who were Michael Jordan's
biggest rivals? Who were who gave Mike hell back in
the day, And it always comes to like we never
got a chance to see him play. But from what
(17:40):
I hear, Lin, Bias was that deal, Like he was
that dude.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Bob Ryan believes it's a bit of hyperbole talking about
Bias the way we still gush about Jordan's or even
Bird or Magic for that matter. Ryan doesn't think Bias
would have belonged in the same conversation of NBA greats
that awesome included Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, were Will Chamberlain,
Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul jah Bar.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
The point is that you have your own gradation right
and the Mount Olympus and the people that are you know,
on the waiting list for Mount Olympus, and then you
know the three centers naturally Russell, Wilton and Kareem, Oscar
and Jerry at that point were still you know, and
then the current guys at the current guys at that
time you know, were magic. Michael and well, actually Michael yet,
(18:27):
Michael hadn't.
Speaker 10 (18:28):
This is not Michael yet.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It's Magic and Larry and Michael's knocking on the door,
which he did on that April twentieth when he dropped
the sixty three points. I wasn't ready to put him
on the top of the list, but I certainly thought
he was going to be an you know, it was
a dream picked to be an All Star. Let me
just say before I forget that twice subsequently and over
these years, Coach k has told me that the two
(18:51):
greatest opponents he ever faced were Michael and Lynn Bias.
And that's pretty high praise.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Ryan things Biased would have been ended up a level
down and mentions former Lakers star James Worthy as the
kind of company Bias might have kept.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I think Worthy is as good a comparison as I've
ever come up with as to everything about him, and
you know, maybe Worth. He was a little bit quicker
up down the floor, but he was stronger, I think,
and inside that would have been that would have been
a treat off the air.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, who was the number one
pick of the Indiana Pacers in nineteen eighty two, mentions
another Parennial law star when talking about Bias.
Speaker 21 (19:30):
You know, in terms of his ability to get off
the floor, Dominique Wilkins comes to mind. He's a contemporary
of mind. He and I were part of the same
nineteen seventy nine high school class, and Nick had that
same type of explosiveness and strength in the air, and
that dynamic explosive ability to get off the floor and finish.
(19:52):
I think Limb's shot was a little more polished than Dominique's.
Coming out of colle Dominique refined his shot as a
pro that exuberance, that dynamic bounceability, if you will, that
yelium I like to call it, the ability to rise
(20:13):
and float. Linn had that.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
As with others who are hesitant to make the Jordan
Bias comparison, Kellogg points to a weakness about Bias's game
that prevents him from putting Bias in Jordan's class.
Speaker 21 (20:28):
I thought Lynn had great athleticism in addition to pretty
impressive refinement of his game, and was going to only
add to that. I think the one thing that I
recall never really saw him go coast to coasts and
maneuver with the ball. He was more of a couple
of dribble guy, but heck, that's something that you can
improve on.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Bias is mentioned as a headliner in only one group.
Players who succumbed to the temptation of drugs, in this
case cocaine in the NBA draft class own more for
that than the number of All Stars it produced. The
player drafted right after Bias was Chris Washburn of North
Carolina State, whose NBA career lasted a total of seventy
(21:11):
two games because of his addiction to drugs. He was
banned for life in nineteen eighty nine. His addiction to cocaine, heroin,
and alcohol led to fourteen different stints in rehab. Bias
and Washburn had plenty of company in that nineteen eighty
sixth class. William Bedford and Roy Tarpley, the sixth and
(21:31):
seventh overall picks, respectively, also fell victim to the treacherous
and tragic power cocaine and other drugs had on them,
but Bias was the only one to die. Washburn claimed
in episode three of this podcast series that Bias introduced
him to cocaine in April of nineteen eighty six. Here's Washburn, who,
(21:54):
after years got clean and speaks to youngsters these days
about the dangers of drugs.
Speaker 21 (21:59):
A lot of us was dabbling back being with it.
Speaker 10 (22:04):
It was a trial and arab here. You know, we
were all young trying something differently. Off thought we were
Superman back Danda.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Even before the nineteen eighty six draft, the NBA was
dealing with a serious image problem, stemming from some of
the league's biggest stars watching their careers derailed by drugs.
Tom McMillan, who was an All American at Maryland a
decade before Bias arrived, played for the Atlanta Hawks from
nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty three. He witnessed the
(22:32):
NBA's drug problem closed up. The Hawks were not an
outlier to this growing problem. Many players, including McMillan's former
Maryland teammate John Lucas, saw their own careers damaged significantly
by drugs. The Los Angeles Times reported in nineteen eighty
that between forty and seventy percent of the NBA's players
(22:52):
had at least tried cocaine.
Speaker 12 (22:54):
When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely
had a drug problem.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
I remember we were staying over here at the.
Speaker 18 (23:01):
Hotel over by you know landover Road when we played
the old Cap Center, and I remember walking by the
rooms one night or one night of my teammates.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I could smell there was a lot of time coming
out of the room.
Speaker 12 (23:14):
And so there was and you know, I remember one
player who was so drugged out one game he couldn't
even play and they just had had sent him home.
Speaker 10 (23:25):
So there were there were a lot of incidents.
Speaker 12 (23:26):
And when Stern became commissioner, he had really I mean
he kind of got to a zero tolerance position and
took him a couple of years to get there.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Here's John Sally.
Speaker 10 (23:36):
They knew everything about everybody. The NBA was changing.
Speaker 22 (23:40):
Nineteen eighty four, David Stern gets in and tells Michael
Jorge we're going to change his league.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
And he did.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
David Stern wrote the NBA's first drug testing policy in
his role as the league's chief counsel. That was in
nineteen eighty three, a year before he succeeded Larry O'Brien
as commissioner. Certainly wasn't enough of a deterrent for the
nineteen eighty six draft class.
Speaker 10 (24:04):
Here's j Billis you know that was the drug era.
I mean, the nineteen eighty six draft.
Speaker 19 (24:10):
You know, sadly, Len Bias wasn't the only one that
drugs ruined, you know, William Bedford, Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn.
I mean, there was a long laundry list of players
that didn't suffer the same kind of tragedy as Lenn,
but that had tragic outcomes or at least profoundly sad
(24:31):
outcomes to their careers because of drug use.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams was general manager of the
Philadelphia seventy six was when Bias was drafted by the Celtics.
He became president of the expansion in Orlando Magic the
day after the nineteen eighty six draft. Williams says that
most in his position were familiar with the effect marijuana
had on players and were more concerned with pot. If anything,
(24:58):
they were a bit clueless about cocaine, particularly crack cocaine.
Biases death changed that.
Speaker 13 (25:04):
We began to be a lot more open, you know,
within the league, I remember, and it became a much
more of a public discussion. We had not been educated,
and I think as a GM I began to read
up on the subject and learn all that I could,
so at least I could be conversion about it and
(25:29):
talk and it came up. But it was a very,
very tough time in the league. And then when those
sixty eighty six draft picks kept.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Falling, that's when NBA teams began looking more closely into
the backgrounds of players they were thinking about drafting. Horace
Balmar helped teams do just that. Balmart became head of
security for the NBA in nineteen eighty five. That time,
he says drugs were already a major concern in the league.
(26:04):
He rated it a ten on a scale of one
to ten. Balmer spent twenty years as a New York
City police officer. He bragged that he was death on
drug users. Here's podcast producer Dave Ungrady, who talked to
Balmer for his book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of
len Bias.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Bomber told me, if a guy was using drugs in
the NBA, you did not want to see me in
the locker room. When I was interviewed for the job,
I was told that we would try and eradicate drugs
in the NBA. The concern was very high. My job
was to protect the NBA, to visit and talk to
as many people in drugs as I could, dealers, treatment centers,
(26:43):
guys in jail, non athletes. I wanted to know, how
did you hook the athletes and what was the first
thing you did to him?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Balmer talked with incoming rookies at the league's orientation program
about the temptations and perils they faced drug abuse. He
told them selling points people would use the lord. Athletes
to cocaine.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Bomber told me. They said it was better than heroin
and you could not get addicted to it. They thought
it would not hurt the body and that it was recreational.
They were told it would get you nice and high,
and don't worry about it. It won't hurt you. Athletes
were told by people selling it that you can use
the drug during the off season, and you can walk
(27:28):
away from it any time you wanted to. You won't
become addicted to it. If you went to a fabulous party,
they'd put it out, just like they'd put out liquor.
Cocaine had become the Hollywood drug. A bowl of cocaine
was at every party you went to.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Balma claims women would try to attract high salary athletes
as regular drug customers. By getting them hooked on cocaine.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Bomber told me one athlete, a boxer was turned on
by a beautiful girl. She would put cocaine in his
mouth when they kissed to get them hooked, and the
boxer would become a customer.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Kellogg, whose own promising NBA career was cut short by
knee injuries after only five years, saw how Baumer and
his security staff became a more integral part of how
the NBA investigated the backgrounds of its future stars.
Speaker 10 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 21 (28:18):
I think there was an amplification of that, and it
was not just the Lenn bias component that clearly was
part of it.
Speaker 10 (28:25):
But yeah, it did change.
Speaker 21 (28:26):
And the climate was such the war on drugs and
the crack epidemic was starting to grow speed late mid
late eighties into the nineties, So I think that all
probably factored into how the NBA started to look at
maybe digging a little deeper into the background of potential
(28:49):
draft choices.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
John Sally saw that as well after his friend died.
Speaker 11 (28:54):
Yeah, I think I think the NBA changed this whole
mentality about a drug because of the way they led
by a start for one of the up and coming
stars to die from a cocaine overdose.
Speaker 10 (29:09):
It changed the NBA drug policies all of a sudden.
Speaker 22 (29:15):
It was like, now there was more people out looking
for people who were getting highs. They were more guys
going down and getting in trouble for it. Before, as
I understand that, the NBA was said to be too black,
too drug infestivals.
Speaker 11 (29:28):
Now they were cleaning it up. They started getting more
and more European players.
Speaker 22 (29:34):
And literally they were testing crazy places for drugs. So
the NBA started having meetings that were mandatory five thousand
dollars out of your check, ten thousand dollars out of
your check if you missed the drug meeting. I mean,
the NBA jumped on it that this is not going
to happen. We're not going to be known as a
drug league. Leave that to baseball. They were so serious
(29:59):
about getting rid of drug aide.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
One way the NBA tried to educate players about the
perils of drug abuse was through its Orientation program. The
program began in nineteen eighty six. Sat Sanders won eight
NBA titles with the Celtics in the nineteen sixties. The
league recruited Sanders to start the program.
Speaker 14 (30:19):
We wanted to get something going so the players would
get an insight into what guess was being a professional
is like when you're talking about coming into the NBA
when when you were running the rookie program, that was
we used to run a few days, almost a week,
(30:40):
and the name of the game was to deal with
the dunes and adults in the NBA agents out of
deal with them, finance the finishing school. When want players
go back to school as best they can, as quick
as they can. We also had an anternship program that
(31:03):
we're trying to get players to get some work experience.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
At that time, Sanders recalls that the main drug concern
for the NBA was marijuana use. The league hired therapists
in each NBA city to talk with players that needed.
The death of Bias in June nineteen eighty six prompted
the league toust the focus of the program.
Speaker 14 (31:25):
It's one thing to have a program. All of a
sudden you have your first draft choice, the first round
draft choice die from cocaine behovado. I mean that everybody
wanted all the press, all the media wants to know
what we were doing. That that's one of the things
(31:47):
that gave the program. The player program development, a lot
of a lot of press. They certainly wanted to spotlight
the drug program, which they were already aware of.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Sanders claims the death of Bias did impact the players,
but not enough to keep them from using cocaine.
Speaker 14 (32:07):
It certainly had an impact on players. You know, a
lot of folks were well aware of this young man's
talent that Lito came the contact with, Unlike the players
were talking about him, how this kid could be the
second coming of Michael Jordan type player. That's the kind
(32:27):
of skill level, physical, skill level folks thought he had.
Players were just shocked that this could happen. The first thing,
no one was aware that this young man had any
experience at all the drugs were concerned. That was not
his reputation. So you know, people were just just put
(32:49):
out by the fact that not only was he involved
in drugs but had an overdose. That was the talk
of the talk of the league and certainly the talk
of the town. To a couple of years since, the
players start coming forward saying I'm going to change up
because of len Bius. So no didn't get that. Players
(33:11):
didn't react. It is to say, hey, I'm going to
stop stop doing what I'm doing cocaine. Want is because
I could be another Len Bias that did not occur.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
But something else did happen and it involved Len's mother,
Lonis Bias.
Speaker 14 (33:28):
Lenise Bias my mother. We did bring her in to
talk to our rookie programs and she made a serious
impact on the young players coming in the league after
len Bias's death. I mean, she was a very impactful speaker.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
We will have more on that part of the story
in a later episode that focuses on Lenise Bias. And
one other thing happened, something that more directly related Len's
story to drug abuse.
Speaker 23 (33:58):
That was working at the creative Arts team at New
York University and our company had created a show loosely
based on the death of Len Bias, but focused primarily
to look.
Speaker 24 (34:14):
At a young basketball player and the influence of the
street versus the potential for a successful career, and then
how drugs took him down.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
M it's the athlete high on the promise of stardom
who trades in his dreams for drugs and drugs for
his life.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Just like they're doing more.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Oh, let to try to jump to Mali.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
You jump yo, right?
Speaker 14 (34:38):
And what I do is chilling?
Speaker 24 (34:39):
Is so I know that that show was actually based
on the issue on Lenby's death.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That's Zachary Meiner, a public speaker and executive coach. In
the nineteen eighties, he was the director of high school
Programs with Creative Arts Team at New York University. In
that role, he helped dou the show that catapulted the
len Bias story into the cultural mainstream. Soon after the
play began, the NBA came calling.
Speaker 24 (35:08):
We were again doing the show in the New York
City public schools when The Today Show with Brian Gumbel
and Katie Couric highlighted it on one of their morning shows.
And that's when the League called us to be a
(35:29):
part of their rookie transition program.
Speaker 25 (35:34):
At this school in Washington Heights, this troop of actor
teachers is staging a drama. It's called Home Court. It's
a play about an inner city family that's striving to
beat the odds, striving to make good in the time
when many homes are being.
Speaker 21 (35:47):
Pulled apart by drugs, which I.
Speaker 25 (35:48):
Should notice based not too loosely on the tragedy of
len Bias.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
That's Bryant Gumbel, a former host of NBC's Today Show,
from a segment in nineteen eighty eight, Eugene Key played
the part of Bias. You recall the impact the play
had on NBA players in a conversation with podcast producer
Dave on Grady.
Speaker 10 (36:07):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 14 (36:08):
I'll tell you this, Dave.
Speaker 26 (36:09):
When you get a standing ovation from guys that are
like six seven.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
It's really a standing ovation, you know.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
It's like all these trees.
Speaker 10 (36:22):
Its just took me by surprise, you know.
Speaker 26 (36:25):
And we also did the worship afterwards where they were
questioning my character, and I do remember one time where, uh,
it was really really great. It was just really good.
It was really intense, and they were really focused on
their questions and everything about what my.
Speaker 10 (36:45):
Character was doing.
Speaker 14 (36:46):
And I really felt really.
Speaker 10 (36:47):
Good afterwards, I really did.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
We will feature more about that play in a later
segment about the culture of Lambias were not the only
ones caught up in the anti drug message promoted by
the league in the late nineteen eighties. The team that
beat the Celtics in the nineteen eighty seven NBA Finals,
the Lakers, found a way to promote the message. They
(37:12):
recorded a rap video later that year, first up Hall
of fame center Kareem Abdula Jr.
Speaker 15 (37:18):
Bar I'm Kareem the captain of the team. I don't
need drugs. I got a high a thing. My skywock
makes a team look good. But there's a hope. We
got a shape from the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Next another Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson.
Speaker 27 (37:30):
I'd the minus too.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Got to play the right way, to keep a move
and up.
Speaker 27 (37:35):
This seemed a lot of boys day, but doesn't get.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Following.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
And finally, Adrian Branch, a teammate of led Bias at Maryland.
Speaker 27 (37:58):
I understand it's against the jerky. I didn't run a chance,
So that's the running. Tell him that.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
There were enough great players who made headlines with their
talents on the court to help overcome the drug label
that had plagued the NBA for nearly a decade. One
that comes to mind Michael Jordan. He was able to
stay as high above the NBA drug fray as he
did above the rim, and he became arguably the best
player in the history of the league. Could Bias had
(38:32):
he lived done the same?
Speaker 28 (38:34):
Yeah, he was a god on the court. Brother, he
was a god on the court. God Jesus and the
devil guy there. He was the Holy Trinity on your hand.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
As for the Celtics, they picked the local college star
as their first round selection in the nineteen eighty seven draft.
That was Reggie Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, the
twenty second overall pair. Lewis would develop into the team's
next star. As age and injuries and the void left
by Bias' death impact of the Celtics. He became team captain,
(39:11):
the face of what had become a fading franchise. Then
Lewis collapsed during the playoff game in nineteen ninety three.
He was diagnosed with a heart condition. After getting clear
to resume his career, Lewis died after playing in a
pickup game in June of that year. The Celtics dynasty
was over and the drought was in full force. It
(39:33):
would not end until the Celtics won the NBA title
in two thousand and eight. Here's Ryan again talking about
what happened to the team after Bias's death.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
He was viewed as the turnaround, good luck charm, you
know that they needed to get back on track. In
that regard, has turned out he started out to be
the beginning of the bad karma that lasted over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Next on them by the mixed legacy.
Speaker 17 (40:02):
Len had had had had done drugs or coka prior too.
Speaker 10 (40:08):
That's crazy. But I will tell you this, I would.
Speaker 17 (40:10):
Go on trial and deny that I was quick because
they were they were blaming them. They said it was
his fault in that control and left. It can't be
with us twenty hours a day, sure, and there's twelve
of us and it's ridiculous. And they made him escape
those you know this day, I don't understand when he
that and that's what That's what pissed me on the moros,
(40:34):
you know, before the details started coming out about what happened.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Lenny, because his posture changed.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
He was rounded shoulders and he never looked up anymore.
Speaker 14 (40:46):
His smile was gone.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
He was I think he was deeply saddened and deeply
affected by friend Staff and Boyla b.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
This segment was produced by Dave Ungrady in Don Marcus.
It was written and edited by Don Market. The narrator
was Don Marcus. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.
Production assistance was produced by Kevin McNulty, Tino Quagliata Lauren Ross,
Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix and Enzo
(41:19):
al Vareno. Matt Deherst is providing the social media assistance.
Some content provided by the Office of Senator Dick Durbin
and from the Drug Policy of Office. Special thanks to
the University of Maryland and American University for providing against
the decision. Education Foundation is a content and promotional partner
of this podcast series. More information go to go gradymedia
(41:41):
dot com. This has been a production of Go grading
Media and the Eighth Side networks like
This podcast is based a large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of lend Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author Daven Grady from
interviews done for the book. Recruitings for those comments were
not available.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, they're going to have number two picks and on
top of being a champion, it was it was. It
was porgasmic, you know, I'm telling you if people were
so excited.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
He was clearly physically uh dominant.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
He was.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
He was mean. He had a mean, mean on court game,
and that was that was important. But he had to
have the skill set to go with it because he
was cool.
Speaker 5 (00:39):
The Boston Celtics select lend Bias at the University of Maryland.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
Well, they're a good team and they got a good
supporting players. I can go up to answer it on
the bench or whether go on a player or not.
And I learned a lot from the players there, or
learn a lot from playing myself.
Speaker 7 (00:58):
And defensively, you know, maybe you know Lens picking up
some of the tough defensive assignments as well.
Speaker 8 (01:06):
The Maryland Medical Examiner has now issued his report on
the death of the college basketball star Land Bias. It
confirms the worst suspicions he died of heart figure because
he used cocaine.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
We were really affected so so deeply by all of
this that we there was no real way to measure
the probabilities of what that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Was thought that that, you know they were they would
have been so well positioned to prosper in the ensuing years.
Speaker 9 (01:38):
We're always thinking, like, you know, how how might the
n b A have been different had had had he
been around.
Speaker 10 (01:49):
For them to have this.
Speaker 11 (01:52):
Monster of a of a player, it would have It
would have changed everything against the Celtics, against the.
Speaker 10 (02:02):
Lakers, it would have changed it all.
Speaker 12 (02:07):
When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely
had a drug.
Speaker 13 (02:10):
Problem twenty three, you know, within the league. I remember,
and it became a bunch more of a public discussion.
Speaker 10 (02:17):
But yeah, I think the same.
Speaker 11 (02:20):
I think the NBA changed this whole mentality about drug
It changed the NBA drug pouse.
Speaker 10 (02:30):
All of a sudden.
Speaker 14 (02:30):
It was like now there was.
Speaker 10 (02:31):
More people out looking for people who are getting.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Three.
Speaker 15 (02:36):
The captain of the team, I don't need drugs. I
kind of higher things. My sky makes a team look good.
But there's a hopefully got a ship from the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And the game he made them next on Lambias. The
mixed legacy from dynasty, the drug out the death of
Lembias affected the Celtics and the NBA.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Before selecting Lambias with the second pick of nineteen eighty
six NBA draft, the Boston Celtics seemed destined to make
a run at another dynasty. They had just won their
third title in the decade. Led by Bill Russell and
Bob Coosey, the Celtics raised green and white championship banners
from the rafters of the Garden eleven times in thirteen
(03:16):
years in the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In that
nineteen eighty six draft, the Celtics traded the number two
pick belonging to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for guard
Gerald Henderson. Drafting Bias was viewed as one of the
biggest steals in league history. The expectations and excitement of
(03:37):
another title were heightened by the impending arrival of the
two time ACC Player of the Year. Jan Volk took
over from the legendary Red Hourback, the architect of the
Celtics dynasty, as general manager in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
This bonus of the number two pick in the draft
thanks to this wonderful trade that jan Volk had worked.
No one on Itita said, assuming the Tonics were going
to stink that enough that you get a really prime pick,
they would be very happy with ten, eleven, twelve. Leave
me well, they're going to have number two pick. And
on top of being a champion was it was a
It was orgasmick. And I'm telling you if people were
(04:16):
so excited.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
That's Bob Ryan, the legendary sports writer of the Boston
Globe who chronicled many of those great Celtic teams. The
nineteen eighty five eighty six Celtics finished the regular season
sixty seven and fifteen. In the playoffs, they won fifteen
of eighteen games, including a sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks
in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here's Ryan again.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Then the eighty five eighty six Celtics, that's when they
were peaking. That's when they were totally kicking ass every night,
and it was the greatest show on basketball Earth at
the time.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
With when biased, the Celtics would become younger, more athletic,
more explosive. Bias would give them firepower off the bench
that would take some of the pressure off aging veteran
it's Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Bias would fill the
role that the Celtics had seemingly invented with Frank Ramsey,
John Halchek and Don Nelson the sixth man. Eventually, Bias
(05:13):
would carry the mantle left behind by Bird, McHale and
Robert Parrish Folk, said Auerback, who still held the role
of team president. Like instigators rather than retaliators, many of
the Celtics, in particular Bird, McHale and Danny Ainge, fit
that description. Bias would bring an even more imposing presence
(05:34):
to the team.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
He was clearly physically dominant. Was he was mean. He
had a mean, mean on court game, and that was
that was important. But he had to have the skill
set to go with it. Have you had such a
dominant skill sets as well as the dominant attitude, just
(05:57):
played Art Bosst.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
The Celtics select Lend Bias at the University of Berlin.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Yeah, I really was hoping that was Boston. Yeah, my
dream came two coach to our back, brother manager, our
back and he told me that.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
He told me that I.
Speaker 12 (06:15):
Wasn't gonna get much.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
I wasn't gonn stop, but I was gonna get a
lot of playing time.
Speaker 14 (06:18):
Brought to me the thick man.
Speaker 16 (06:19):
This is a great kid. As a matter of fact,
you know, Larry Bird said that if we draft Bias,
he's gonna come up to the rookie camp. That's right.
He is very, very high on Bias, as Casey was,
and Jimmy and the owners, you know, Alan Corn and
Don Gasson, they're all high on him.
Speaker 17 (06:40):
And he's the guy we wanted.
Speaker 18 (06:41):
We got him.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
A lot of people were asking the question, how do
you improve the best team in basketball? He's led Bias.
Speaker 14 (06:45):
The answer to that, well.
Speaker 16 (06:47):
He gives us a lot of support. He could play
some god, he could play some forward. He could play
a power forward, a quick forward. He is the best athlete,
in my opinion, in the whole draft, and he's gonna
really helped this ball club.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
You said, anybody's going to have trouble breaking into the
Boston Celtics lineup.
Speaker 16 (07:05):
He knows that. Is any Bias going to take the
place of Kevin McHale or Larry Brady knows that. But
he'll get his playing time. But you know, time goes,
you know, time goes guys get older, they get more
playing time. We've had guys sit around for a while,
except in this particular case, he's going to play.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
With the death of Bias, the Celtics never got that
boost in intensity and youth to the roster. Despite mourning
the death of Bias, the Celtics did well on the court.
They reached the NBA Finals again, but lost to their
West Coast doppelganger, the Los Angeles Lakers in the nineteen
(07:46):
eighty seven finals. The death of Bias exposed the physical
fragility of Boston's foundation. Injuries began to impact the team's
superstars and even some of the key bench players. That
left the Celtics receptible to the power and toughness of
the Detroit Pistons, and so the burgeoning majesty of the
league's newest superstar. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls Folks
(08:11):
said that Boston's trip to the finals in nineteen eighty
seven was something of a mirage given the mounting injuries
to Bird and others.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
We had players in their in their prime, all available, available,
and seemingly healthy. As it turns out, they weren't. That is,
they there were injuries that followed, and that accelerated the
impact of LED's loss. We were a player short. In
eighty seven. Kevin McHale had broken his the vicular bone.
(08:45):
Bill Walton had broken his theviculate bone. We Scott Wedman
had surgery six games into the season. People forget how
good he was, how good Scott Wedman was, and we lost.
We lost him for the season. Robert Parrish also had
a bad ankle problem, and so we were we were
(09:08):
struggling pretty when you when you say struggling. We were
in the finals. We lost in six games. We were
not at a at our at our at our best
because of the injuries that we had, and we were
one player short.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
As great an offensive player, Bias was a Maryland you
tend to forget how great a defensive player he also
was at key moments. Vans still talk about the reverse
dunk he made to seal the win over North Carolina
as a senior in nineteen eighty six, but let's not
forget that he stole the inbounced pass from Kenny Smith
(09:43):
to set up the dunk, then Blocksmith's last shot later
in overtime to help secure the win.
Speaker 19 (09:50):
Bias from outside and he got it Lynn Bias with
twenty nine, Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
On, I mean, stay on the jawn. What a play
by Bias.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Paul Lake Cow project that into the NBA and you
can see how Bias would have taken the pressure of
Bird and McHale on the defensive end as well. Here's
Steve BoPET, who covered the Celtics in those days for
the Boston Herald.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
A big part about what made the Celtics was Kevin
McHale's ability to guard the really good small forwards, Larry's
not getting overwork, perhaps Lens allowing them to play more
up tempo basketball, which is, you know, less abuse on
the body for everyone involved. And defensively, you know, maybe
(10:40):
you know, Lens picking up some of the tough defensive
assignments as well, just you know, having that kind of
of a talent, lengthening out your rotations.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
The Pistons lost in seven games to the Lakers in
the nineteen eighty eight NBA Finals. Still, the bad Boys
from the Motor City shot many by sweeping the Lakers
in the nineteen eighty nine finals and then winning the
title again in five games against the Trailblazers in nineteen ninety.
That's when Jordan, in his seventh NBA season, took over
(11:14):
the league. He led the Bulls to championships in the
next three finals, over the Lakers, Trailblazers, and Phoenix Suns.
It was the first of his two to three peats
in his career and a perfect six to zero record
in the finals. Many wonder how the NBA landscape might
have been different after nineteen eighty six had Bias not
only lived but lived up to his potential. Perhaps most
(11:38):
of those wondering were Celtics fans. Bob Ryan believes that
the death of Bias and the death of Reggie Lewis
seven years later decimated the NBA's most storied franchise for
a long time. It wouldn't be until two thousand and
eight when the Celtics called themselves champions again.
Speaker 10 (11:55):
I thought that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They would have been so well positioned to prosper during
the ensuing years they were manpower shy. If they had
had a player of the equivalent that we think that
Reggie lund Bias would have been, I think they would
have had a very good chance of beating the Lakers.
They ran out of manpower. Thought it was had a
negative effect up for whichever a decade.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Even some millennials understand the impact Bias would have had
on the NBA had he lived. Millennials have only heard
about or watched videos Bias. Justin Tinsley of ESPNS The
Undefeated learned early in his life about what he missed
not watching Bias, and what the Celtics and the NBA
missed as well.
Speaker 9 (12:39):
How might the NBA have been different had he been around,
you know, because from my generation, outside of the Celtics
championship in two thousand and eight, the Celtics have always
just been this relic of the past in a sense.
There were this great franchise who of course you guys
(13:00):
like Bill Russell and Casey Jones and you know, read Rbou,
John Halichik, But we were never around for in terms
of that that Celtic lord, that Celtic mystique. We never
really saw that.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
John Sally met Bias at the Five Star Basketball Camp
while at Georgia Tech, he played four years against Bias
in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He feels the void left
bias good friend's death could be felt throughout the NBA.
Speaker 11 (13:26):
For them to have this monster of a of a player,
it would have it would have changed everything against the Lakers.
Speaker 10 (13:39):
It would have changed at all.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Sally knows it's difficult to envision a rivalry between Jordan
and anybody, let alone a guy who never played a
second in the NBA. But he also knows what he
witnessed while playing against Bias.
Speaker 11 (13:53):
You really can't compare anything to Michael led Bias would
have been in the same I guess image on the
same same conversation, and I think if they would have
had to split it and you allowed to let Lenny
do what he does, we see it.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Differently at Tapscott got to know Bias while coaching at
American University in Washington. He's worked in the NBA for
the past thirty years as a team executive for the
Charlotte Bobcats, the New York Necks, and the Washington Wizards.
He's now a consultant for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Had Bias
lived with the trajectory of Jordan's career look any different,
(14:36):
here's Tapscott.
Speaker 20 (14:37):
And the Burden magic rivalry is what really started to
drive the narratives and the storylines in the league. Well,
think about the next era, which would have been Jordan Bias.
Jordan never had the rival that Magic had in Bird
and Bird had in Magic. Had Bias been in the league,
(14:57):
Jordan may have had that rival that Joe Fraser to
Muhammad Ali, And how could that not have produced even
more interest in the NBA and.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Provided an even more competitive environment.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Both Jordan and Bias were relative unknowns until their breakout
performances at the Five Star Basketball Camp. When they were
in high school. There were brief flashes of a budding
rivalry when Jordan was a junior at North Carolina and
Bias was a sophomore in Maryland. What kind of rivalry
they might have had in the NBA is purely speculative.
(15:35):
Since Jordan was a shooting guard and Bias a power forward,
they likely would not have guarded each other, but that
didn't stop the media from promoting rivalries between Magic Johnson
and Jordan, or even Charles Barkley and Jordan. Jay Billis
played against both Jordan and Bias during his own college
career at Duke.
Speaker 19 (15:54):
I believe you would have been a legitimate challenger to
Jordan for best player in the league. That's a tall
order to say he would have been as good or better,
but I'm I believe that would have been the case.
But you know, it speaks to the level of the
tragedy that you have to explain to younger people how
(16:17):
good he was and direct them to you know, old
grainy video to confirm it. You know, it's it's profoundly
sad that that that legacy wasn't he wasn't able to
complete it because I think I think it would have
been epic and uh, and we wouldn't have to explain it.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
There's also the question of what could have been. That's
the one that has lingered for Justin Tinsley and his
friends for years. They said the same thing about other
greats in their greats who did reach some level of
stardom in the NBA but never got to the pinnacle
because of injuries. And then there's Biased never got to
the NBA period.
Speaker 9 (16:59):
If you ask people who were the biggest what ifs
in NBA history, naturally some of the first names are
gonna come to mind are people like Penny Hardaway, what
if he could have stayed healthy? Or Grant Hill or
in more recent times, Derek Rose. But once you start
to peel back the layers, Lin Bias's name is always
(17:20):
going to come up. We were robbed of seeing a
potentially all time great talent be that, especially when when
we talk about Michael Jordan, like who were Michael Jordan's
biggest rivals? Who were who gave Mike hell back in
the day, And it always comes to like we never
got a chance to see him play. But from what
(17:40):
I hear, Lin, Bias was that deal, Like he was
that dude.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Bob Ryan believes it's a bit of hyperbole talking about
Bias the way we still gush about Jordan's or even
Bird or Magic for that matter. Ryan doesn't think Bias
would have belonged in the same conversation of NBA greats
that awesome included Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, were Will Chamberlain,
Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul jah Bar.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
The point is that you have your own gradation right
and the Mount Olympus and the people that are you know,
on the waiting list for Mount Olympus, and then you
know the three centers naturally Russell, Wilton and Kareem, Oscar
and Jerry at that point were still you know, and
then the current guys at the current guys at that
time you know, were magic. Michael and well, actually Michael yet,
(18:27):
Michael hadn't.
Speaker 10 (18:28):
This is not Michael yet.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It's Magic and Larry and Michael's knocking on the door,
which he did on that April twentieth when he dropped
the sixty three points. I wasn't ready to put him
on the top of the list, but I certainly thought
he was going to be an you know, it was
a dream picked to be an All Star. Let me
just say before I forget that twice subsequently and over
these years, Coach k has told me that the two
(18:51):
greatest opponents he ever faced were Michael and Lynn Bias.
And that's pretty high praise.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Ryan things Biased would have been ended up a level
down and mentions former Lakers star James Worthy as the
kind of company Bias might have kept.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I think Worthy is as good a comparison as I've
ever come up with as to everything about him, and
you know, maybe Worth. He was a little bit quicker
up down the floor, but he was stronger, I think,
and inside that would have been that would have been
a treat off the air.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, who was the number one
pick of the Indiana Pacers in nineteen eighty two, mentions
another Parennial law star when talking about Bias.
Speaker 21 (19:30):
You know, in terms of his ability to get off
the floor, Dominique Wilkins comes to mind. He's a contemporary
of mind. He and I were part of the same
nineteen seventy nine high school class, and Nick had that
same type of explosiveness and strength in the air, and
that dynamic explosive ability to get off the floor and finish.
(19:52):
I think Limb's shot was a little more polished than Dominique's.
Coming out of colle Dominique refined his shot as a
pro that exuberance, that dynamic bounceability, if you will, that
yelium I like to call it, the ability to rise
(20:13):
and float. Linn had that.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
As with others who are hesitant to make the Jordan
Bias comparison, Kellogg points to a weakness about Bias's game
that prevents him from putting Bias in Jordan's class.
Speaker 21 (20:28):
I thought Lynn had great athleticism in addition to pretty
impressive refinement of his game, and was going to only
add to that. I think the one thing that I
recall never really saw him go coast to coasts and
maneuver with the ball. He was more of a couple
of dribble guy, but heck, that's something that you can
improve on.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Bias is mentioned as a headliner in only one group.
Players who succumbed to the temptation of drugs, in this
case cocaine in the NBA draft class own more for
that than the number of All Stars it produced. The
player drafted right after Bias was Chris Washburn of North
Carolina State, whose NBA career lasted a total of seventy
(21:11):
two games because of his addiction to drugs. He was
banned for life in nineteen eighty nine. His addiction to cocaine, heroin,
and alcohol led to fourteen different stints in rehab. Bias
and Washburn had plenty of company in that nineteen eighty
sixth class. William Bedford and Roy Tarpley, the sixth and
(21:31):
seventh overall picks, respectively, also fell victim to the treacherous
and tragic power cocaine and other drugs had on them,
but Bias was the only one to die. Washburn claimed
in episode three of this podcast series that Bias introduced
him to cocaine in April of nineteen eighty six. Here's Washburn, who,
(21:54):
after years got clean and speaks to youngsters these days
about the dangers of drugs.
Speaker 21 (21:59):
A lot of us was dabbling back being with it.
Speaker 10 (22:04):
It was a trial and arab here. You know, we
were all young trying something differently. Off thought we were
Superman back Danda.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Even before the nineteen eighty six draft, the NBA was
dealing with a serious image problem, stemming from some of
the league's biggest stars watching their careers derailed by drugs.
Tom McMillan, who was an All American at Maryland a
decade before Bias arrived, played for the Atlanta Hawks from
nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty three. He witnessed the
(22:32):
NBA's drug problem closed up. The Hawks were not an
outlier to this growing problem. Many players, including McMillan's former
Maryland teammate John Lucas, saw their own careers damaged significantly
by drugs. The Los Angeles Times reported in nineteen eighty
that between forty and seventy percent of the NBA's players
(22:52):
had at least tried cocaine.
Speaker 12 (22:54):
When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely
had a drug problem.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
I remember we were staying over here at the.
Speaker 18 (23:01):
Hotel over by you know landover Road when we played
the old Cap Center, and I remember walking by the
rooms one night or one night of my teammates.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I could smell there was a lot of time coming
out of the room.
Speaker 12 (23:14):
And so there was and you know, I remember one
player who was so drugged out one game he couldn't
even play and they just had had sent him home.
Speaker 10 (23:25):
So there were there were a lot of incidents.
Speaker 12 (23:26):
And when Stern became commissioner, he had really I mean
he kind of got to a zero tolerance position and
took him a couple of years to get there.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Here's John Sally.
Speaker 10 (23:36):
They knew everything about everybody. The NBA was changing.
Speaker 22 (23:40):
Nineteen eighty four, David Stern gets in and tells Michael
Jorge we're going to change his league.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
And he did.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
David Stern wrote the NBA's first drug testing policy in
his role as the league's chief counsel. That was in
nineteen eighty three, a year before he succeeded Larry O'Brien
as commissioner. Certainly wasn't enough of a deterrent for the
nineteen eighty six draft class.
Speaker 10 (24:04):
Here's j Billis you know that was the drug era.
I mean, the nineteen eighty six draft.
Speaker 19 (24:10):
You know, sadly, Len Bias wasn't the only one that
drugs ruined, you know, William Bedford, Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn.
I mean, there was a long laundry list of players
that didn't suffer the same kind of tragedy as Lenn,
but that had tragic outcomes or at least profoundly sad
(24:31):
outcomes to their careers because of drug use.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams was general manager of the
Philadelphia seventy six was when Bias was drafted by the Celtics.
He became president of the expansion in Orlando Magic the
day after the nineteen eighty six draft. Williams says that
most in his position were familiar with the effect marijuana
had on players and were more concerned with pot. If anything,
(24:58):
they were a bit clueless about cocaine, particularly crack cocaine.
Biases death changed that.
Speaker 13 (25:04):
We began to be a lot more open, you know,
within the league, I remember, and it became a much
more of a public discussion. We had not been educated,
and I think as a GM I began to read
up on the subject and learn all that I could,
so at least I could be conversion about it and
(25:29):
talk and it came up. But it was a very,
very tough time in the league. And then when those
sixty eighty six draft picks kept.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Falling, that's when NBA teams began looking more closely into
the backgrounds of players they were thinking about drafting. Horace
Balmar helped teams do just that. Balmart became head of
security for the NBA in nineteen eighty five. That time,
he says drugs were already a major concern in the league.
(26:04):
He rated it a ten on a scale of one
to ten. Balmer spent twenty years as a New York
City police officer. He bragged that he was death on
drug users. Here's podcast producer Dave Ungrady, who talked to
Balmer for his book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of
len Bias.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
Bomber told me, if a guy was using drugs in
the NBA, you did not want to see me in
the locker room. When I was interviewed for the job,
I was told that we would try and eradicate drugs
in the NBA. The concern was very high. My job
was to protect the NBA, to visit and talk to
as many people in drugs as I could, dealers, treatment centers,
(26:43):
guys in jail, non athletes. I wanted to know, how
did you hook the athletes and what was the first
thing you did to him?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Balmer talked with incoming rookies at the league's orientation program
about the temptations and perils they faced drug abuse. He
told them selling points people would use the lord. Athletes
to cocaine.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Bomber told me. They said it was better than heroin
and you could not get addicted to it. They thought
it would not hurt the body and that it was recreational.
They were told it would get you nice and high,
and don't worry about it. It won't hurt you. Athletes
were told by people selling it that you can use
the drug during the off season, and you can walk
(27:28):
away from it any time you wanted to. You won't
become addicted to it. If you went to a fabulous party,
they'd put it out, just like they'd put out liquor.
Cocaine had become the Hollywood drug. A bowl of cocaine
was at every party you went to.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Balma claims women would try to attract high salary athletes
as regular drug customers. By getting them hooked on cocaine.
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Bomber told me one athlete, a boxer was turned on
by a beautiful girl. She would put cocaine in his
mouth when they kissed to get them hooked, and the
boxer would become a customer.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Kellogg, whose own promising NBA career was cut short by
knee injuries after only five years, saw how Baumer and
his security staff became a more integral part of how
the NBA investigated the backgrounds of its future stars.
Speaker 10 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 21 (28:18):
I think there was an amplification of that, and it
was not just the Lenn bias component that clearly was
part of it.
Speaker 10 (28:25):
But yeah, it did change.
Speaker 21 (28:26):
And the climate was such the war on drugs and
the crack epidemic was starting to grow speed late mid
late eighties into the nineties, So I think that all
probably factored into how the NBA started to look at
maybe digging a little deeper into the background of potential
(28:49):
draft choices.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
John Sally saw that as well after his friend died.
Speaker 11 (28:54):
Yeah, I think I think the NBA changed this whole
mentality about a drug because of the way they led
by a start for one of the up and coming
stars to die from a cocaine overdose.
Speaker 10 (29:09):
It changed the NBA drug policies all of a sudden.
Speaker 22 (29:15):
It was like, now there was more people out looking
for people who were getting highs. They were more guys
going down and getting in trouble for it. Before, as
I understand that, the NBA was said to be too black,
too drug infestivals.
Speaker 11 (29:28):
Now they were cleaning it up. They started getting more
and more European players.
Speaker 22 (29:34):
And literally they were testing crazy places for drugs. So
the NBA started having meetings that were mandatory five thousand
dollars out of your check, ten thousand dollars out of
your check if you missed the drug meeting. I mean,
the NBA jumped on it that this is not going
to happen. We're not going to be known as a
drug league. Leave that to baseball. They were so serious
(29:59):
about getting rid of drug aide.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
One way the NBA tried to educate players about the
perils of drug abuse was through its Orientation program. The
program began in nineteen eighty six. Sat Sanders won eight
NBA titles with the Celtics in the nineteen sixties. The
league recruited Sanders to start the program.
Speaker 14 (30:19):
We wanted to get something going so the players would
get an insight into what guess was being a professional
is like when you're talking about coming into the NBA
when when you were running the rookie program, that was
we used to run a few days, almost a week,
(30:40):
and the name of the game was to deal with
the dunes and adults in the NBA agents out of
deal with them, finance the finishing school. When want players
go back to school as best they can, as quick
as they can. We also had an anternship program that
(31:03):
we're trying to get players to get some work experience.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
At that time, Sanders recalls that the main drug concern
for the NBA was marijuana use. The league hired therapists
in each NBA city to talk with players that needed.
The death of Bias in June nineteen eighty six prompted
the league toust the focus of the program.
Speaker 14 (31:25):
It's one thing to have a program. All of a
sudden you have your first draft choice, the first round
draft choice die from cocaine behovado. I mean that everybody
wanted all the press, all the media wants to know
what we were doing. That that's one of the things
(31:47):
that gave the program. The player program development, a lot
of a lot of press. They certainly wanted to spotlight
the drug program, which they were already aware of.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Sanders claims the death of Bias did impact the players,
but not enough to keep them from using cocaine.
Speaker 14 (32:07):
It certainly had an impact on players. You know, a
lot of folks were well aware of this young man's
talent that Lito came the contact with, Unlike the players
were talking about him, how this kid could be the
second coming of Michael Jordan type player. That's the kind
(32:27):
of skill level, physical, skill level folks thought he had.
Players were just shocked that this could happen. The first thing,
no one was aware that this young man had any
experience at all the drugs were concerned. That was not
his reputation. So you know, people were just just put
(32:49):
out by the fact that not only was he involved
in drugs but had an overdose. That was the talk
of the talk of the league and certainly the talk
of the town. To a couple of years since, the
players start coming forward saying I'm going to change up
because of len Bius. So no didn't get that. Players
(33:11):
didn't react. It is to say, hey, I'm going to
stop stop doing what I'm doing cocaine. Want is because
I could be another Len Bias that did not occur.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
But something else did happen and it involved Len's mother,
Lonis Bias.
Speaker 14 (33:28):
Lenise Bias my mother. We did bring her in to
talk to our rookie programs and she made a serious
impact on the young players coming in the league after
len Bias's death. I mean, she was a very impactful speaker.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
We will have more on that part of the story
in a later episode that focuses on Lenise Bias. And
one other thing happened, something that more directly related Len's
story to drug abuse.
Speaker 23 (33:58):
That was working at the creative Arts team at New
York University and our company had created a show loosely
based on the death of Len Bias, but focused primarily
to look.
Speaker 24 (34:14):
At a young basketball player and the influence of the
street versus the potential for a successful career, and then
how drugs took him down.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
M it's the athlete high on the promise of stardom
who trades in his dreams for drugs and drugs for
his life.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Just like they're doing more.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Oh, let to try to jump to Mali.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
You jump yo, right?
Speaker 14 (34:38):
And what I do is chilling?
Speaker 24 (34:39):
Is so I know that that show was actually based
on the issue on Lenby's death.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That's Zachary Meiner, a public speaker and executive coach. In
the nineteen eighties, he was the director of high school
Programs with Creative Arts Team at New York University. In
that role, he helped dou the show that catapulted the
len Bias story into the cultural mainstream. Soon after the
play began, the NBA came calling.
Speaker 24 (35:08):
We were again doing the show in the New York
City public schools when The Today Show with Brian Gumbel
and Katie Couric highlighted it on one of their morning shows.
And that's when the League called us to be a
(35:29):
part of their rookie transition program.
Speaker 25 (35:34):
At this school in Washington Heights, this troop of actor
teachers is staging a drama. It's called Home Court. It's
a play about an inner city family that's striving to
beat the odds, striving to make good in the time
when many homes are being.
Speaker 21 (35:47):
Pulled apart by drugs, which I.
Speaker 25 (35:48):
Should notice based not too loosely on the tragedy of
len Bias.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
That's Bryant Gumbel, a former host of NBC's Today Show,
from a segment in nineteen eighty eight, Eugene Key played
the part of Bias. You recall the impact the play
had on NBA players in a conversation with podcast producer
Dave on Grady.
Speaker 10 (36:07):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 14 (36:08):
I'll tell you this, Dave.
Speaker 26 (36:09):
When you get a standing ovation from guys that are
like six seven.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
It's really a standing ovation, you know.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
It's like all these trees.
Speaker 10 (36:22):
Its just took me by surprise, you know.
Speaker 26 (36:25):
And we also did the worship afterwards where they were
questioning my character, and I do remember one time where, uh,
it was really really great. It was just really good.
It was really intense, and they were really focused on
their questions and everything about what my.
Speaker 10 (36:45):
Character was doing.
Speaker 14 (36:46):
And I really felt really.
Speaker 10 (36:47):
Good afterwards, I really did.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
We will feature more about that play in a later
segment about the culture of Lambias were not the only
ones caught up in the anti drug message promoted by
the league in the late nineteen eighties. The team that
beat the Celtics in the nineteen eighty seven NBA Finals,
the Lakers, found a way to promote the message. They
(37:12):
recorded a rap video later that year, first up Hall
of fame center Kareem Abdula Jr.
Speaker 15 (37:18):
Bar I'm Kareem the captain of the team. I don't
need drugs. I got a high a thing. My skywock
makes a team look good. But there's a hope. We
got a shape from the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
Next another Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson.
Speaker 27 (37:30):
I'd the minus too.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Got to play the right way, to keep a move
and up.
Speaker 27 (37:35):
This seemed a lot of boys day, but doesn't get.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
Following.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
And finally, Adrian Branch, a teammate of led Bias at Maryland.
Speaker 27 (37:58):
I understand it's against the jerky. I didn't run a chance,
So that's the running. Tell him that.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
There were enough great players who made headlines with their
talents on the court to help overcome the drug label
that had plagued the NBA for nearly a decade. One
that comes to mind Michael Jordan. He was able to
stay as high above the NBA drug fray as he
did above the rim, and he became arguably the best
player in the history of the league. Could Bias had
(38:32):
he lived done the same?
Speaker 28 (38:34):
Yeah, he was a god on the court. Brother, he
was a god on the court. God Jesus and the
devil guy there. He was the Holy Trinity on your hand.
Speaker 4 (38:47):
As for the Celtics, they picked the local college star
as their first round selection in the nineteen eighty seven draft.
That was Reggie Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, the
twenty second overall pair. Lewis would develop into the team's
next star. As age and injuries and the void left
by Bias' death impact of the Celtics. He became team captain,
(39:11):
the face of what had become a fading franchise. Then
Lewis collapsed during the playoff game in nineteen ninety three.
He was diagnosed with a heart condition. After getting clear
to resume his career, Lewis died after playing in a
pickup game in June of that year. The Celtics dynasty
was over and the drought was in full force. It
(39:33):
would not end until the Celtics won the NBA title
in two thousand and eight. Here's Ryan again talking about
what happened to the team after Bias's death.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
He was viewed as the turnaround, good luck charm, you
know that they needed to get back on track. In
that regard, has turned out he started out to be
the beginning of the bad karma that lasted over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Next on them by the mixed legacy.
Speaker 17 (40:02):
Len had had had had done drugs or coka prior too.
Speaker 10 (40:08):
That's crazy. But I will tell you this, I would.
Speaker 17 (40:10):
Go on trial and deny that I was quick because
they were they were blaming them. They said it was
his fault in that control and left. It can't be
with us twenty hours a day, sure, and there's twelve
of us and it's ridiculous. And they made him escape
those you know this day, I don't understand when he
that and that's what That's what pissed me on the moros,
(40:34):
you know, before the details started coming out about what happened.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Lenny, because his posture changed.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
He was rounded shoulders and he never looked up anymore.
Speaker 14 (40:46):
His smile was gone.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
He was I think he was deeply saddened and deeply
affected by friend Staff and Boyla b.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
This segment was produced by Dave Ungrady in Don Marcus.
It was written and edited by Don Market. The narrator
was Don Marcus. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.
Production assistance was produced by Kevin McNulty, Tino Quagliata Lauren Ross,
Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix and Enzo
(41:19):
al Vareno. Matt Deherst is providing the social media assistance.
Some content provided by the Office of Senator Dick Durbin
and from the Drug Policy of Office. Special thanks to
the University of Maryland and American University for providing against
the decision. Education Foundation is a content and promotional partner
of this podcast series. More information go to go gradymedia
(41:41):
dot com. This has been a production of Go grading
Media and the Eighth Side networks like
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