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 in large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of Len Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author David and Grady
from interviews done for the book. Recordings for those comments
were not available. Well, they're gonna have a number two
pick and on top of being a champion, it was
it was it was orgasmic, you know, I'm telling you.
(00:22):
People were so excited. He was clearly physically uh dominant.
He 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 because he was The Boston Celtics select Len Bias
(00:42):
at the University of Well, they're a good team and
they got a good supporting players. I go up to
answered on the events or whether going to play or not.
And I learned a lot from uh the players there,
or learn a lot from playing myself. And defensively, you know,
um maybe you know Lens picking up some of the
(01:03):
tough defensive assignments as well. The Maryland Medical Examiner has
now issued his report on the death of the college
basketball star Land Bias. It confirmed the worst suspicions he
died of heart figure because he used cocaine. Place. We
were really affected so so deeply by all of this
that we there was no real way to measure the
(01:26):
probabilities of what that was. I thought that that you know,
they were, they would have been so well positioned to
prosper in the ensuing years. We're always thinking, like, you know,
how how might the NBA have been different had had
(01:46):
had he been around, for them to have this monster
of a of a player, it would have did It
would have changed everything against the Celtics, against the Lakers,
it would have changed at all. When I was in
(02:08):
the NBA. I mean, they definitely had a drug problem,
you know, within the league, I remember, and it became
a much more of a public discussion. Yeah, I think
I think the NBA changed his whole mentality about drugs.
It changed the NBA drug pouts all of a sudden.
(02:30):
It was like NAB. It was bought people out, looking
for people who were getting caught. Kareem and captain of
the team, I don't need drugs. I got a higher thing.
My sky wouldn't make a team look good, but there's
a hope. We gotten shot from the neighborhood he made
the next on lun Bias. The mixed legacy, now from
dynasty to dropt out. The death of len Bias effective
(02:51):
the Celtics and the NBA. Before selecting len Bias with
the second pick of the nineteen eighties 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 Couzy, the
Celtics raised green and white championship banners from the rafters
(03:13):
of the Garden eleven times in thirteen years in the
nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In that nineties 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 steels in league history.
(03:35):
The expectations and excitement of another title were heightened by
the impending arrival of the two times a CC Player
of the Year. Jan Vulk took over from the legendary
Red Araback, the architect of the Celtics dynasty, as general
manager in four This bonus of the number two pick
in the draft thanks to this wonderful trade that jan
(03:57):
Volcan had worked. No one on the aside assuming the
Tonics were going to stake bad enough that you get
a really prime pick. They were been very happy with
ten twelve. Leave me well, they're gonna have number two pick.
And on top of being a champion, it was it
was nerve, it was orgasmic. And I'm telling you that
people were so excited. That's Bob Ryan, the legendary sportswriter
(04:20):
of the Boston Globe Chronicle many of those great Celtic teams,
the eighties six Celtics finished the regular season sixties seven
and fifty. 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. Then Celtics, that's when they
(04:41):
were peaking. That's when they were totally kicking ass every night,
and it was the greatest show on basketball Earth at
the time. With when bias, the Celtics would become younger,
more athletic, more explosive. Bias would give them firepower off
the bench that would take some of the pressure of
aging better. And Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Bias would
(05:03):
fill the role that the Celtics had seemingly invented with
Frank Ramsey, John havil Check and Don Nelson the sixth man. Eventually,
Bias would carry the mantle left behind by Bird McHale
and Robert Parrish Folks, said Arabic, who still held the
role of team president. Like instigators rather than retaliators. Many
(05:26):
of the Celtics, in particular Bird McHale and Danny Ainge
fit that description. Bias would bring an even more imposing
presence to the team. He was clearly physically dominant. He
was he was mean. He had a mean, mean on
court game, and that was that was important. But he
(05:48):
had to have the skill set to go with it.
Have He had such a year um dominant skill sets
as as well as the dominant attitude just played art
Boston Celtics select Len Bias at the University of Yeah.
I remember with hoping that with Boston, my dream came
(06:08):
through coach our back, brother mana to our back, and
he told me that he told me that I want
to go get what I want to go to stop
I wouldn't get a lot of playing time. Brought to
me the thick marriage. 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
(06:29):
rookie camp. That's right. He is very, very high on Biased,
as Casey was, and Jimmy and and the owners, you know,
Alan Cohen and Don Gasson, they're all high on him.
And he's the guy we wanted and we got him.
A lot of people are asking the question, how do
you improve the best team in basketball? Is Len Bias?
The answer to that, well, he gives us a lot
of support. He could play some god, he could play
(06:52):
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.
You said, anybody's gonna have trouble breaking into the Boston
Celtics lineup. He knows that. Is let any Bias gonna
take the place of Kevin mkhao or Larry Brand. He
knows that. But he'll get his playing time. But you know,
(07:15):
time goes. You know, time goes, Guys get older, they
get more playing time. We've got guys sit around for
a while. Except in this particular case, he's going to play.
With the death of Bias, the Celtics never got that
boost in intensity and used to the roster. Despite morning
(07:36):
the death of Bias, the Celtics did well on the court.
They reached the NBA Finals again, but lost to their
West Coast doppel ganger, the Los Angeles Lakers in the
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
(07:59):
the Celtics acceptable to the power and toughness of the
Detroit Pistons and to the burgeoning majesty of the league's
newest superstar, Michael Jordan's of the Chicago Bulls. Bulks said
that Boston's trip to the Finals seven was something of
a mirage given the mounting injuries to Bird and others.
(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 Len's loss. We were a player short
night seven. We Kevin McHale had broken his um. The
(08:44):
vacular bone. Bill Walton had broken his the vacular bone.
Um 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. Um.
Robert Parish also had a bad ankle problem. And so
(09:07):
we were we were struggling. Um pretty when you when
you say struggling. We were in the finals, we lost
in the six games. We were not at a at
at our at our at our best because of the
injuries that we had. We were one player short. As
great an offensive player, Bias wasn't Maryland. You tend to
forget how great a defensive player he also was in
(09:30):
key moments. Vans still talk about the reverse dunk he
made to seal the win over North Carolina as a
senior in nine six. But let's not forget that he
stole the in bounced pass from Kenny Smith to set
up the dunk, then block Smith's last shot later in
overtime to help secure the win. Biass from outside and
(09:51):
he got it Land Bias with twenty nine old jail.
What a fi fi biass. Holl Lake Cow project that
into the NBA, and you can see how Bias would
have taken the pressure of Bird McHale on the defensive
end as well. Here's Steve Bullpet, who covered the Celtics
(10:12):
in those days for the Boston Herald. A big part
about what made the Celtics was, Um, Kevin McHale's ability
to guard the really good small forwards, Larry is not
getting overworked, perhaps uh, Lens allowing them to play more
up tempo basketball, which is, you know, less abuse on
(10:32):
the body for everyone involved. Um. And defensively, you know, um,
maybe you know, Lens picking up some of the tough
defensive assignments as well. Um, just you know, uh having
that kind of of a talent, um lengthening out your rotations.
The Pistons lost in seven games to the Lakers in
(10:55):
the NBA Finals, Still the bad boys when the Motors say,
shot many by sweeping the Lakers in the ninety nine
finals and then winning the title again in five games
against the Trailblazers in That's when Jordan's in his seventh
NBA season, took over the league. He led the Bulls
(11:16):
to championships in the next three finals over the Lakers, Trailblazers,
and Phoenix Suns. It was the first of his two
three peats in his career and a perfect six and
oh record in the finals. Many wonder how the NBA
landscape might have been different after six had Biased 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. I thought
that that you know they were. They would have been
(11:58):
so well positioned to to prosper in the ensuing years.
They were manpower shy. If they had had a player
of the equivalent that we think that Reggie the Lund
Bias would have been, I think they would have had
a very good chance of beating the Lakers. They ran
out of manpower. I thought it was had a negative
effect for up which of a decade. Even some millennials
(12:20):
understand the impact Bias would have had on the NBA
had he lived. Millennials have only heard about or watched
videos Biased. Justin Tensley of ESPN is The Undefeated learned
early in his life about what he missed not watching
Bias and what the Celtics and the NBA missed as well.
How how might the NBA have been different had had
(12:43):
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 a relic of
of the past and a since there were this great
franchise who of course, you know, guys like Bill Russell
and Casey Jones and you know it read are about
(13:04):
John Havelcheck. But we were never around for in terms
of that that Celtic lord, that Celtic mystique. We never
really saw that. 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 by his good friend's death could be
(13:24):
fell throughout the NBA. For them to have this monster
of a of a player, it would have It would
have changed everything against the Lakers. It would have changed
at all. Sally knows it's difficult to envision a rivalry
between Jordan and anybody, let alone a guy who never
(13:47):
played a second in the NBA, but he also knows
what he witnessed while playing against Bias. You really can't
compare anything to Michael led Bias would have been in
the same I guess image on the same um, same conversation,
and I think if they would have had to split
(14:08):
it and you were allowed to let Letny do what
he does, let me see it therefrom 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 Bobcasts, the New
York Knicks, and the Washington Wizards. He's now a consultant
(14:29):
for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Had Bias lived with the trajectory
of Jordan's career look any different, here's Tap Scott and
the burden magic rivalry was really started to drive the
narratives and the storylines in the league. Well, think about
the next era, which would have been Jordan's Bias. Jordan
(14:50):
never had the rival that Magic had in Bird and
Bird had in Magic. Had Bias been in the league,
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 provided an even more
(15:11):
competitive environment. 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
(15:33):
purely speculative. Since Jordan was as 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's or even Charles Barkley and Jordan's.
J Bill has played against both Jordan and Biased during
his own college career. Duke, I believe you would have
(15:55):
been a legitimate challenger to Jordan's for best player in
the league. Um, 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 um, you know,
it speaks to the level of the tragedy that you
have to explain to younger people. How good he was
(16:18):
and direct them to you know, old grainy video to
confirm it. Um. 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. There's also
(16:39):
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 grades in near
grades who did reach some levels start him in the
NBA but never got to the pinnacle because of injuries.
And then there's Buyas never got to the n B
a period. If you ask people who were the biggest
(17:01):
what ifs in NBA history, naturally, um, some of the
first names are gonna come to mind are people like
Penny Hardaway, what if he could have stayed healthy? Or
or Grant Hill or in more recent times Derrick Grows.
But once you start to peel back the layers, Lynn Bias,
his name is always going to come up. We were
(17:21):
robbed of seeing a potentially all time great talent be that,
especially when when we talk about Michael Jordan's 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 I hear, Lynn Bias was that deal,
(17:43):
Like he was that dude. Bob Bryan 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 grates that awesome included Jerry West and
Oscar Robertson were Will Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
(18:07):
The point is that you have your own grad dation
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 we're still you know,
and then the current guys at the current guys at
that time you know, we're magic Michael and actually Michael yet,
(18:27):
Michael had this is not Michael Yet, it's Magic and
Larry and Michael's knocking on the door, which he did
on that April when he dropped the sixty three points.
It wasn't ready to put him on the top of
the list, but I certainly thought he was going to be,
and it was a dream pict to be an All Star.
Let me just say before we forget that twice subsequently
and and over these years, Coach k has told me
(18:51):
that the two greatest opponents he ever faced it where
Michael and Lynn Bias, and that's pretty high praise. Ryan
thinks Bias would have ended up a level down and
mentions former Lakers star James Worthy as a kind of
company Bias might have kept. I think Worthy is as
good a comparison as I've ever come up with as
(19:11):
to uh everything about him. And you know, maybe where
he was a little bit quicker up down the floor,
but he was stronger, I think, and inside there would
have been the would have been a treat off there.
CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, who was the number one
pick of the Indiana Pacers, mentions another parential law start
when talking about Bias, you know, in terms of his
(19:31):
ability to get off the floor. Dominique Wilkins comes to mind,
he's a contemporary of mine. He and I were part
of the same nineteen seventy nine high school class, and
Nique had that same type of explosiveness and strength in
the air and that dynamic explosive ability to get off
the floor and finish. I think Lamb's shot was a
(19:55):
little more polished than Dominique coming out of college. Dominique
refined his shot as a pro that that exuberance, that
dynamic bounce ability, if you will, that ye lium I
like to call it the ability to rise and float.
Lynn had that. As with others who are hesitant to
(20:18):
make the Jordan's bias comparison, Kellogg points to a weakness
about biases game that prevents him from putting Bias in
Jordan's class. And I thought Lynn had great athleticism in
addition to um 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
(20:41):
coast to coast and maneuver with the ball. He was
more of a couple of dribble guy. But heck, that's
something that you can improve. One bias is mentioned as
a headliner, and only one group players who succumbed to
the temptation of drugs, in this case cocaine, and the
NBA draft class, known more for that than the number
(21:02):
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 two games because of
his addiction to drugs. He was banned for life in
ninety nine. His addiction to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol led
to fourteen different stints in rehab. Bias and Washburn had
(21:24):
plenty of company in that night six class. William Bedford
and Roy Tarpley, the sixth and 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 an episode three of
(21:45):
this podcast series that Bias introduced him to cocaine in
April of nineteen eighty six. Here's Washburn who after years
got clean and speaks to youngsters these days about the
dangers of drugs. A lot of us was dabbling back
being with it. Um. It was a trial and arab here,
(22:05):
you know, we we were all young, trying something different.
We all thought we were super me And even before
the nineteen eighties 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
was an All American in Maryland a decade before Bias arrived,
(22:26):
played for the Atlanta Hawks from nineteen seventy seven to
nineteen eighty three. He witnessed the 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, so
their own careers damaged significantly by drugs. The Los Angeles
(22:47):
Times reported in nineteen eighty that between forty and seventy
percent of the NBA's players had at least tried cocaine.
When I was in the NBA, I mean they definitely
had a drug problem. I remember we were saying over
here at the UH Hotel over by you know, Landover
Road when we played the Old Caps Center, and I
(23:08):
remember walking by the rooms one night one night of
my teammates I could smell there was a lot of
time coming out of the world, and so there was
and you know, I remember one player was so drugged
out one game he couldn't even play and then he
said had sent him home. So there were there were
a lot of incidents. And when Stern became commissioner, he
(23:28):
had really I mean, he kind of got to a
zero towerance position and took him a couple of years
to get there. Here's John Sally. They do everything about everybody.
The NBA was changed. David Stern gets in and tells
Michael Jordan, we're gonna change his league, and he did.
David Stern wrote the NBA's first drug testing policy in
(23:51):
his role as the league's Chief council. That was a
year before he succeeded Larry O'Brien as commissioner. It's certainly
wasn't enough of a deterrent for the nineteen eighty six
draft class. Here's j Billis. You know that was the
drug era. I mean the draft. You know, sadly, Lenn
(24:11):
Bias wasn't the only one that drugs ruined. Um, 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 outcomes to their careers
(24:32):
because of of drug use. Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams
was general manager of the Philadelphia seventy six is when
Bias was drafted by the Celtics. He became president of
the expansion Orlando Magic the day after the eighties six draft.
Williams says that most in his position were familiar with
(24:53):
the effect marijuana had on players, and we're more concerned
with pot. If anything, they were a big clueless about cocaine,
particularly crack cocaine. Biases. Death changed that. We began to
be a lot more open um, you know, within the league,
I remember, and it became a much more of a
public discussion. We had not been educated and uh and
(25:17):
I think as a g M, I began to read
up on the subject and learn all that I could
so at least I could be conversion about it, and
and and and talk. And it came up, but it
was it was a very very tough time in the league.
(25:40):
And then when those sixty six draft picks kept falling,
that's when NBA teams began looking more closely into the
backgrounds of players they were thinking about drafting. Horace Balmer
helped teams do just that. Balmer became head of security
for the NBA at that time. He says drugs were
(26:01):
already a major concern in the league. He rated it
a ten on a scale of one to ten. Balmber
spent twenty years as a New York City police officer.
He bragged that he was death on drug users. Here's
podcast producer Dave and Grady, who talked to Balmer for
his book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of len Bias.
(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, not athletes. I wanted to know, how
did you hook the athletes and what was the first
thing you did to him? Balmer talked with incoming rookies
at the league's orientation program about the temptations and perils
they faced dating a drug abuse he told them. Selling
points people would use the lure athletes to cocaine. Bomber
(27:06):
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 offseason, and you can walk away
(27:28):
from it any time you wanted to. You won't become
addicted to it. If you went to a fabulous party,
they put it out just like they put out liquor.
Cocaine had become the Hollywood drug. A bowl of cocaine
was at every party you went to. Bomber claims women
would try to attract high salary athletes as regular drug
(27:49):
customers by getting them hooked on cocaine. 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 him hooked, and the Boxer would become a customer. Kellogg,
whose own promising NBA career was cut short by knee
injuries after only five years, saw how Balmer and his
(28:11):
security staff became a more integral part of how the
NBA investigated the backgrounds of its future stars. Yeah, I
think there was an amplification of that, And it was
not just the Len biased component that clearly was part
of it. But yeah, it did change. And the climate
was such the war on drugs and the crack um
epidemic was starting to gross speed um late mid late
(28:37):
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 draft choices.
John Sally saw that as well after his friend died. Yeah,
I think I think the NBA changed his whole mentality
(28:59):
about because of the way Lan led by a stop
that for one of the up and coming stars to
die from a cocaine overdose. It changed the n b
a drug policy. Um, all of a sudden, it was
like now there was more people outlooking for people who
were getting high. They were more guys going going down
(29:22):
and getting in trouble for it before, as I understand
that the NBA was said to be too black to
drug infestives. Now they were cleaning it up. They started
getting more and more European players, and literally they were
testing crazy places for drugs. So the NBA started having
meetings that were mandatory five thousand dollars out of europe check,
(29:45):
ten thousand dollars out of your check if you missed
the drug meeting. I mean, the NBA jumped on it
that this is not gonna happen. We're not gonna be
known as a drug lead. Leave that to m to baseball.
They were so serious about getting rid of is drug game.
One way the NBA tried to educate players about the
perils of drug abuse was through its Orientation program. The
(30:08):
program began in Sack Sanders won eight NBA titles with
the Celtics in the nineteen sixties. The league recruited Sanders
to start the program. We wanted to get something go
on so the players would get an insight into what
being a professional like when you're talking about coming into
(30:30):
the NBA. When when we were running the rookie program
that was used to run a few days, almost a week,
and the name of the game was to deal with
the dunes and adults in the NBA agents how to
deal with the finance. Uh. I think it kind of
(30:52):
the finishing school when players and al go back to
school as best they can, as quick as they can.
Also had an internship program that we're trying to get
players too, to get some work experience. At that time,
Sanders recalls that the main drug concern for the NBA
was marijuana use. The league hired therapists in each NBA
(31:16):
city to talk with players that needed The death of
Bias in June prompted the league to adjust the focus
of the program. It's one thing to have a program.
All of a sudden you have your first draft choice
in the first round draft choice die from cocaine. Ahova thought,
(31:39):
I mean that everybody wanted all of the press, all
the media wants to know what we what we were doing.
That's that's one of the things that dave the program,
the player program development a lot of a lot of press.
They certainly wanted to spotlight the guard program, which they
(31:59):
were already a where. Sanders claims the death of Bias
did impact the players, but not enough to keep them
from using cocaine. That certainly had an impact on on
on players. You know, a lot of folks were well
aware of this young man's talent. Who can the contact
was unlike players were talking about them, how this kid
(32:21):
could be the second coming of Michael Jordan type player.
That's the kind of skill level, physical, skill level folks
thought he had. Players were just shocked that this could happen.
First thingly, no one was aware that this young man
had any experience at all but drugs are concerned. That
(32:41):
was not his reputation. So you know, people were just
just put out by the fact that not only was
he involved and drugs, but had an overdose. That was
the talk of the talk of the league and certainly
to the talk of the town. Two a couple of
(33:02):
years since, the players started coming forward saying I'm going
to change up because of Lenby No. No, I didn't
get that. Players didn't react. It is to say, hey,
I'm gonna stop stop doing what I'm doing. Cocaine was
because I could be another Lend Bias. That did not happen.
(33:22):
But something else did happen, and it involved Len's mother,
Lonize Bias, Lenie Bias, the mother. We did bring her
in to talk to our rookie programs, and she made
no serious impact on the young players coming in the
league after land Bias step. I mean, she was very
(33:46):
impactful speaker. 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. That was working at the
Creative Arts team at New York University, and our company
had created a show, uh loosely based on the death
(34:10):
of len Bias, but focused primarily to look at a
young basketball player and the influence of the of the
street versus the potential for a successful career, and then
how drugs took him down. And it's the athlete high
on the promise of stardom who trades in his dreams
for drugs and drugs for his life, just like they're
(34:33):
doing there. And tell it to my lead little brother,
all right, And so I know that that show was
actually based on the issue on Lenby's death. That's Zachary Miner,
public speaker and executive coach. In the nineteen eighties, he
was the director of high school programs with Creative Arts
(34:56):
team at New York University. In that role, he helped
to do the show that catapulted the Len Bias story
into the cultural mainstream. Soon after the play began, the
NBA came calling. We were again doing the show in
the New York City public schools when The Today Show
(35:16):
with Brian Gumble and Katie Curic highlighted it on one
of their morning shows. And that's when the league called
us to be a part of their rookie transition program.
At the school in Washington Heights. This troop of actor
(35:37):
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 pulled apart by drugs, which
I should notice face not too loosely on the tragedy
of of of Len Bias. That's Bryant Gumbel, a former
host of NBC's Today Show, from a segment in Eugene
(35:59):
Key played the part of Bias. He recalled the impact
the play had on NBA players. In a conversation with
podcast producer Dave and Grady, I'll tell you, I'll tell
you this Dave. When you get a standing ovation from
guys that are like six seven, it's really a standing innovation,
you know what I mean. Happened just seeing these guys.
It's like it's all these trees. It just don't me
(36:23):
by surprise, you know. And we also think 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
(36:44):
what my character was doing. And I really felt really
good afterwards. I really didn't. We will feature more about
that play in a later segment about the culture of
len Bias. Brook Is. We're 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
(37:06):
Celtics in the eight seven NBA Finals, the Lakers found
a way to promote the message. They recorded a rap
video later that year. First up Hall of Fame center
Kareem Abdul Jabar Karee, the captain of the team. I
don't need drinks. I got a higher thing. My sky
would makes a team look good. But there's a hope
we gotta shape from the neighborhood. Next another Hall of Famer,
(37:29):
Magic Johnson with the midas to go play the right
way to keep a moving up. This seems the boys day,
but I can't for the bag. And finally, Adrian Branch,
(37:54):
a teammate of led Bias at Maryland, the statics against
the turn did ever run a chance? So that's and
tell him. Then there were enough great players who made
headlines with their talents on the court to help overcome
(38:14):
the drug label that had plagued the NBA for nearly
a decade. One that comes to mind Michael Jordan's. 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 he lived done the same? Yeah? He
(38:35):
was a god on the court. Brother, He was a
god on the court, God Jesus and the devil God
there he was. He was the Holy Trinity on your end.
As for the Celtics, they picked the local college star
as their first round selection in seven draft. That was
(38:55):
Reggie Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, The twenty second
overall pay Lewis would developed into the team's next star.
As age and injuries and the void left by bias
is death impact of the Celtics. He became team captain,
the face of what had become a fading franchise. Then
Lewis collapsed during the playoff game. He was diagnosed with
(39:19):
a hard 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 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
(39:40):
after bias is death. He was viewed as the turnaround,
good luck charm, you know that they needed to get
back on track from in that regard has turned out.
He started out to be the beginning of the bad
karma that lasted over twenty years. Next on them by
the mixed legacy to knowable Len had had had at
(40:04):
that drugs cocaine, pride too. That's crazy, but I will
tell you this, I would go on trial and deny
that I'm not quit because they were. They would blamed
with Visa. It was his fault in that control one
lefty can't be with us twelve hours a day and
it's twelve hours and it's ridiculous and it made an
(40:26):
escape those you know this day, I understand why that
and that's what That's what piss me on the mothers.
You know. Before the details started coming out about what
happened Lenny, his posture changed. He was rounded shoulders and
he never looked up anymore. His smile was gone. He
(40:48):
was I think he was deeply saddened and deeply effective.
Um by staff. This segment was produced by Dave and
Grady in Doon Marcus. It was written and edited by
Don Marcus. The narrator was Don Marcus. Technical production was
provided by Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was produced by Kevin McNalty,
(41:11):
Tina Quagliata, Lauren Roth, Georgia Braun, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams,
Chelsea Mannix and Enzo Alvarin. Matt Deersus providing the social
media assistance. Some content provided by the Office of Senator
Dick Durbin and from the Drug Policy Allantice Special thanks
to the University of Maryland and American University for providing
(41:33):
against the decision. Education Foundation as a content and promotional
partner of this podcast series. More information go to go
graded media dot com. This has been a production of
go grading Media and the Eighth Side Network
This podcast is based in large part on the book
Born Ready Mixed Legacy of Len Bias. Some cults are
narrated by podcast producer and book author David and Grady
from interviews done for the book. Recordings for those comments
were not available. Well, they're gonna have a number two
pick and on top of being a champion, it was
it was it was orgasmic, you know, I'm telling you.
(00:22):
People were so excited. He was clearly physically uh dominant.
He 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 because he was The Boston Celtics select Len Bias
(00:42):
at the University of Well, they're a good team and
they got a good supporting players. I go up to
answered on the events or whether going to play or not.
And I learned a lot from uh the players there,
or learn a lot from playing myself. And defensively, you know,
um maybe you know Lens picking up some of the
(01:03):
tough defensive assignments as well. The Maryland Medical Examiner has
now issued his report on the death of the college
basketball star Land Bias. It confirmed the worst suspicions he
died of heart figure because he used cocaine. Place. We
were really affected so so deeply by all of this
that we there was no real way to measure the
(01:26):
probabilities of what that was. I thought that that you know,
they were, they would have been so well positioned to
prosper in the ensuing years. We're always thinking, like, you know,
how how might the NBA have been different had had
(01:46):
had he been around, for them to have this monster
of a of a player, it would have did It
would have changed everything against the Celtics, against the Lakers,
it would have changed at all. When I was in
(02:08):
the NBA. I mean, they definitely had a drug problem,
you know, within the league, I remember, and it became
a much more of a public discussion. Yeah, I think
I think the NBA changed his whole mentality about drugs.
It changed the NBA drug pouts all of a sudden.
(02:30):
It was like NAB. It was bought people out, looking
for people who were getting caught. Kareem and captain of
the team, I don't need drugs. I got a higher thing.
My sky wouldn't make a team look good, but there's
a hope. We gotten shot from the neighborhood he made
the next on lun Bias. The mixed legacy, now from
dynasty to dropt out. The death of len Bias effective
(02:51):
the Celtics and the NBA. Before selecting len Bias with
the second pick of the nineteen eighties 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 Couzy, the
Celtics raised green and white championship banners from the rafters
(03:13):
of the Garden eleven times in thirteen years in the
nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In that nineties 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 steels in league history.
(03:35):
The expectations and excitement of another title were heightened by
the impending arrival of the two times a CC Player
of the Year. Jan Vulk took over from the legendary
Red Araback, the architect of the Celtics dynasty, as general
manager in four This bonus of the number two pick
in the draft thanks to this wonderful trade that jan
(03:57):
Volcan had worked. No one on the aside assuming the
Tonics were going to stake bad enough that you get
a really prime pick. They were been very happy with
ten twelve. Leave me well, they're gonna have number two pick.
And on top of being a champion, it was it
was nerve, it was orgasmic. And I'm telling you that
people were so excited. That's Bob Ryan, the legendary sportswriter
(04:20):
of the Boston Globe Chronicle many of those great Celtic teams,
the eighties six Celtics finished the regular season sixties seven
and fifty. 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. Then Celtics, that's when they
(04:41):
were peaking. That's when they were totally kicking ass every night,
and it was the greatest show on basketball Earth at
the time. With when bias, the Celtics would become younger,
more athletic, more explosive. Bias would give them firepower off
the bench that would take some of the pressure of
aging better. And Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Bias would
(05:03):
fill the role that the Celtics had seemingly invented with
Frank Ramsey, John havil Check and Don Nelson the sixth man. Eventually,
Bias would carry the mantle left behind by Bird McHale
and Robert Parrish Folks, said Arabic, who still held the
role of team president. Like instigators rather than retaliators. Many
(05:26):
of the Celtics, in particular Bird McHale and Danny Ainge
fit that description. Bias would bring an even more imposing
presence to the team. He was clearly physically dominant. He
was he was mean. He had a mean, mean on
court game, and that was that was important. But he
(05:48):
had to have the skill set to go with it.
Have He had such a year um dominant skill sets
as as well as the dominant attitude just played art
Boston Celtics select Len Bias at the University of Yeah.
I remember with hoping that with Boston, my dream came
(06:08):
through coach our back, brother mana to our back, and
he told me that he told me that I want
to go get what I want to go to stop
I wouldn't get a lot of playing time. Brought to
me the thick marriage. 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
(06:29):
rookie camp. That's right. He is very, very high on Biased,
as Casey was, and Jimmy and and the owners, you know,
Alan Cohen and Don Gasson, they're all high on him.
And he's the guy we wanted and we got him.
A lot of people are asking the question, how do
you improve the best team in basketball? Is Len Bias?
The answer to that, well, he gives us a lot
of support. He could play some god, he could play
(06:52):
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.
You said, anybody's gonna have trouble breaking into the Boston
Celtics lineup. He knows that. Is let any Bias gonna
take the place of Kevin mkhao or Larry Brand. He
knows that. But he'll get his playing time. But you know,
(07:15):
time goes. You know, time goes, Guys get older, they
get more playing time. We've got guys sit around for
a while. Except in this particular case, he's going to play.
With the death of Bias, the Celtics never got that
boost in intensity and used to the roster. Despite morning
(07:36):
the death of Bias, the Celtics did well on the court.
They reached the NBA Finals again, but lost to their
West Coast doppel ganger, the Los Angeles Lakers in the
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
(07:59):
the Celtics acceptable to the power and toughness of the
Detroit Pistons and to the burgeoning majesty of the league's
newest superstar, Michael Jordan's of the Chicago Bulls. Bulks said
that Boston's trip to the Finals seven was something of
a mirage given the mounting injuries to Bird and others.
(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 Len's loss. We were a player short
night seven. We Kevin McHale had broken his um. The
(08:44):
vacular bone. Bill Walton had broken his the vacular bone.
Um 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. Um.
Robert Parish also had a bad ankle problem. And so
(09:07):
we were we were struggling. Um pretty when you when
you say struggling. We were in the finals, we lost
in the six games. We were not at a at
at our at our at our best because of the
injuries that we had. We were one player short. As
great an offensive player, Bias wasn't Maryland. You tend to
forget how great a defensive player he also was in
(09:30):
key moments. Vans still talk about the reverse dunk he
made to seal the win over North Carolina as a
senior in nine six. But let's not forget that he
stole the in bounced pass from Kenny Smith to set
up the dunk, then block Smith's last shot later in
overtime to help secure the win. Biass from outside and
(09:51):
he got it Land Bias with twenty nine old jail.
What a fi fi biass. Holl Lake Cow project that
into the NBA, and you can see how Bias would
have taken the pressure of Bird McHale on the defensive
end as well. Here's Steve Bullpet, who covered the Celtics
(10:12):
in those days for the Boston Herald. A big part
about what made the Celtics was, Um, Kevin McHale's ability
to guard the really good small forwards, Larry is not
getting overworked, perhaps uh, Lens allowing them to play more
up tempo basketball, which is, you know, less abuse on
(10:32):
the body for everyone involved. Um. And defensively, you know, um,
maybe you know, Lens picking up some of the tough
defensive assignments as well. Um, just you know, uh having
that kind of of a talent, um lengthening out your rotations.
The Pistons lost in seven games to the Lakers in
(10:55):
the NBA Finals, Still the bad boys when the Motors say,
shot many by sweeping the Lakers in the ninety nine
finals and then winning the title again in five games
against the Trailblazers in That's when Jordan's in his seventh
NBA season, took over the league. He led the Bulls
(11:16):
to championships in the next three finals over the Lakers, Trailblazers,
and Phoenix Suns. It was the first of his two
three peats in his career and a perfect six and
oh record in the finals. Many wonder how the NBA
landscape might have been different after six had Biased 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. I thought
that that you know they were. They would have been
(11:58):
so well positioned to to prosper in the ensuing years.
They were manpower shy. If they had had a player
of the equivalent that we think that Reggie the Lund
Bias would have been, I think they would have had
a very good chance of beating the Lakers. They ran
out of manpower. I thought it was had a negative
effect for up which of a decade. Even some millennials
(12:20):
understand the impact Bias would have had on the NBA
had he lived. Millennials have only heard about or watched
videos Biased. Justin Tensley of ESPN is The Undefeated learned
early in his life about what he missed not watching
Bias and what the Celtics and the NBA missed as well.
How how might the NBA have been different had had
(12:43):
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 a relic of
of the past and a since there were this great
franchise who of course, you know, guys like Bill Russell
and Casey Jones and you know it read are about
(13:04):
John Havelcheck. But we were never around for in terms
of that that Celtic lord, that Celtic mystique. We never
really saw that. 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 by his good friend's death could be
(13:24):
fell throughout the NBA. For them to have this monster
of a of a player, it would have It would
have changed everything against the Lakers. It would have changed
at all. Sally knows it's difficult to envision a rivalry
between Jordan and anybody, let alone a guy who never
(13:47):
played a second in the NBA, but he also knows
what he witnessed while playing against Bias. You really can't
compare anything to Michael led Bias would have been in
the same I guess image on the same um, same conversation,
and I think if they would have had to split
(14:08):
it and you were allowed to let Letny do what
he does, let me see it therefrom 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 Bobcasts, the New
York Knicks, and the Washington Wizards. He's now a consultant
(14:29):
for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Had Bias lived with the trajectory
of Jordan's career look any different, here's Tap Scott and
the burden magic rivalry was really started to drive the
narratives and the storylines in the league. Well, think about
the next era, which would have been Jordan's Bias. Jordan
(14:50):
never had the rival that Magic had in Bird and
Bird had in Magic. Had Bias been in the league,
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 provided an even more
(15:11):
competitive environment. 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
(15:33):
purely speculative. Since Jordan was as 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's or even Charles Barkley and Jordan's.
J Bill has played against both Jordan and Biased during
his own college career. Duke, I believe you would have
(15:55):
been a legitimate challenger to Jordan's for best player in
the league. Um, 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 um, you know,
it speaks to the level of the tragedy that you
have to explain to younger people. How good he was
(16:18):
and direct them to you know, old grainy video to
confirm it. Um. 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. There's also
(16:39):
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 grades in near
grades who did reach some levels start him in the
NBA but never got to the pinnacle because of injuries.
And then there's Buyas never got to the n B
a period. If you ask people who were the biggest
(17:01):
what ifs in NBA history, naturally, um, some of the
first names are gonna come to mind are people like
Penny Hardaway, what if he could have stayed healthy? Or
or Grant Hill or in more recent times Derrick Grows.
But once you start to peel back the layers, Lynn Bias,
his name is always going to come up. We were
(17:21):
robbed of seeing a potentially all time great talent be that,
especially when when we talk about Michael Jordan's 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 I hear, Lynn Bias was that deal,
(17:43):
Like he was that dude. Bob Bryan 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 grates that awesome included Jerry West and
Oscar Robertson were Will Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
(18:07):
The point is that you have your own grad dation
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 we're still you know,
and then the current guys at the current guys at
that time you know, we're magic Michael and actually Michael yet,
(18:27):
Michael had this is not Michael Yet, it's Magic and
Larry and Michael's knocking on the door, which he did
on that April when he dropped the sixty three points.
It wasn't ready to put him on the top of
the list, but I certainly thought he was going to be,
and it was a dream pict to be an All Star.
Let me just say before we forget that twice subsequently
and and over these years, Coach k has told me
(18:51):
that the two greatest opponents he ever faced it where
Michael and Lynn Bias, and that's pretty high praise. Ryan
thinks Bias would have ended up a level down and
mentions former Lakers star James Worthy as a kind of
company Bias might have kept. I think Worthy is as
good a comparison as I've ever come up with as
(19:11):
to uh everything about him. And you know, maybe where
he was a little bit quicker up down the floor,
but he was stronger, I think, and inside there would
have been the would have been a treat off there.
CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, who was the number one
pick of the Indiana Pacers, mentions another parential law start
when talking about Bias, you know, in terms of his
(19:31):
ability to get off the floor. Dominique Wilkins comes to mind,
he's a contemporary of mine. He and I were part
of the same nineteen seventy nine high school class, and
Nique had that same type of explosiveness and strength in
the air and that dynamic explosive ability to get off
the floor and finish. I think Lamb's shot was a
(19:55):
little more polished than Dominique coming out of college. Dominique
refined his shot as a pro that that exuberance, that
dynamic bounce ability, if you will, that ye lium I
like to call it the ability to rise and float.
Lynn had that. As with others who are hesitant to
(20:18):
make the Jordan's bias comparison, Kellogg points to a weakness
about biases game that prevents him from putting Bias in
Jordan's class. And I thought Lynn had great athleticism in
addition to um 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
(20:41):
coast to coast and maneuver with the ball. He was
more of a couple of dribble guy. But heck, that's
something that you can improve. One bias is mentioned as
a headliner, and only one group players who succumbed to
the temptation of drugs, in this case cocaine, and the
NBA draft class, known more for that than the number
(21:02):
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 two games because of
his addiction to drugs. He was banned for life in
ninety nine. His addiction to cocaine, heroin, and alcohol led
to fourteen different stints in rehab. Bias and Washburn had
(21:24):
plenty of company in that night six class. William Bedford
and Roy Tarpley, the sixth and 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 an episode three of
(21:45):
this podcast series that Bias introduced him to cocaine in
April of nineteen eighty six. Here's Washburn who after years
got clean and speaks to youngsters these days about the
dangers of drugs. A lot of us was dabbling back
being with it. Um. It was a trial and arab here,
(22:05):
you know, we we were all young, trying something different.
We all thought we were super me And even before
the nineteen eighties 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
was an All American in Maryland a decade before Bias arrived,
(22:26):
played for the Atlanta Hawks from nineteen seventy seven to
nineteen eighty three. He witnessed the 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, so
their own careers damaged significantly by drugs. The Los Angeles
(22:47):
Times reported in nineteen eighty that between forty and seventy
percent of the NBA's players had at least tried cocaine.
When I was in the NBA, I mean they definitely
had a drug problem. I remember we were saying over
here at the UH Hotel over by you know, Landover
Road when we played the Old Caps Center, and I
(23:08):
remember walking by the rooms one night one night of
my teammates I could smell there was a lot of
time coming out of the world, and so there was
and you know, I remember one player was so drugged
out one game he couldn't even play and then he
said had sent him home. So there were there were
a lot of incidents. And when Stern became commissioner, he
(23:28):
had really I mean, he kind of got to a
zero towerance position and took him a couple of years
to get there. Here's John Sally. They do everything about everybody.
The NBA was changed. David Stern gets in and tells
Michael Jordan, we're gonna change his league, and he did.
David Stern wrote the NBA's first drug testing policy in
(23:51):
his role as the league's Chief council. That was a
year before he succeeded Larry O'Brien as commissioner. It's certainly
wasn't enough of a deterrent for the nineteen eighty six
draft class. Here's j Billis. You know that was the
drug era. I mean the draft. You know, sadly, Lenn
(24:11):
Bias wasn't the only one that drugs ruined. Um, 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 outcomes to their careers
(24:32):
because of of drug use. Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams
was general manager of the Philadelphia seventy six is when
Bias was drafted by the Celtics. He became president of
the expansion Orlando Magic the day after the eighties six draft.
Williams says that most in his position were familiar with
(24:53):
the effect marijuana had on players, and we're more concerned
with pot. If anything, they were a big clueless about cocaine,
particularly crack cocaine. Biases. Death changed that. We began to
be a lot more open um, you know, within the league,
I remember, and it became a much more of a
public discussion. We had not been educated and uh and
(25:17):
I think as a g M, I began to read
up on the subject and learn all that I could
so at least I could be conversion about it, and
and and and talk. And it came up, but it
was it was a very very tough time in the league.
(25:40):
And then when those sixty six draft picks kept falling,
that's when NBA teams began looking more closely into the
backgrounds of players they were thinking about drafting. Horace Balmer
helped teams do just that. Balmer became head of security
for the NBA at that time. He says drugs were
(26:01):
already a major concern in the league. He rated it
a ten on a scale of one to ten. Balmber
spent twenty years as a New York City police officer.
He bragged that he was death on drug users. Here's
podcast producer Dave and Grady, who talked to Balmer for
his book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of len Bias.
(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, not athletes. I wanted to know, how
did you hook the athletes and what was the first
thing you did to him? Balmer talked with incoming rookies
at the league's orientation program about the temptations and perils
they faced dating a drug abuse he told them. Selling
points people would use the lure athletes to cocaine. Bomber
(27:06):
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 offseason, and you can walk away
(27:28):
from it any time you wanted to. You won't become
addicted to it. If you went to a fabulous party,
they put it out just like they put out liquor.
Cocaine had become the Hollywood drug. A bowl of cocaine
was at every party you went to. Bomber claims women
would try to attract high salary athletes as regular drug
(27:49):
customers by getting them hooked on cocaine. 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 him hooked, and the Boxer would become a customer. Kellogg,
whose own promising NBA career was cut short by knee
injuries after only five years, saw how Balmer and his
(28:11):
security staff became a more integral part of how the
NBA investigated the backgrounds of its future stars. Yeah, I
think there was an amplification of that, And it was
not just the Len biased component that clearly was part
of it. But yeah, it did change. And the climate
was such the war on drugs and the crack um
epidemic was starting to gross speed um late mid late
(28:37):
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 draft choices.
John Sally saw that as well after his friend died. Yeah,
I think I think the NBA changed his whole mentality
(28:59):
about because of the way Lan led by a stop
that for one of the up and coming stars to
die from a cocaine overdose. It changed the n b
a drug policy. Um, all of a sudden, it was
like now there was more people outlooking for people who
were getting high. They were more guys going going down
(29:22):
and getting in trouble for it before, as I understand
that the NBA was said to be too black to
drug infestives. Now they were cleaning it up. They started
getting more and more European players, and literally they were
testing crazy places for drugs. So the NBA started having
meetings that were mandatory five thousand dollars out of europe check,
(29:45):
ten thousand dollars out of your check if you missed
the drug meeting. I mean, the NBA jumped on it
that this is not gonna happen. We're not gonna be
known as a drug lead. Leave that to m to baseball.
They were so serious about getting rid of is drug game.
One way the NBA tried to educate players about the
perils of drug abuse was through its Orientation program. The
(30:08):
program began in Sack Sanders won eight NBA titles with
the Celtics in the nineteen sixties. The league recruited Sanders
to start the program. We wanted to get something go
on so the players would get an insight into what
being a professional like when you're talking about coming into
(30:30):
the NBA. When when we were running the rookie program
that was used to run a few days, almost a week,
and the name of the game was to deal with
the dunes and adults in the NBA agents how to
deal with the finance. Uh. I think it kind of
(30:52):
the finishing school when players and al go back to
school as best they can, as quick as they can.
Also had an internship program that we're trying to get
players too, to get some work experience. At that time,
Sanders recalls that the main drug concern for the NBA
was marijuana use. The league hired therapists in each NBA
(31:16):
city to talk with players that needed The death of
Bias in June prompted the league to adjust the focus
of the program. It's one thing to have a program.
All of a sudden you have your first draft choice
in the first round draft choice die from cocaine. Ahova thought,
(31:39):
I mean that everybody wanted all of the press, all
the media wants to know what we what we were doing.
That's that's one of the things that dave the program,
the player program development a lot of a lot of press.
They certainly wanted to spotlight the guard program, which they
(31:59):
were already a where. Sanders claims the death of Bias
did impact the players, but not enough to keep them
from using cocaine. That certainly had an impact on on
on players. You know, a lot of folks were well
aware of this young man's talent. Who can the contact
was unlike players were talking about them, how this kid
(32:21):
could be the second coming of Michael Jordan type player.
That's the kind of skill level, physical, skill level folks
thought he had. Players were just shocked that this could happen.
First thingly, no one was aware that this young man
had any experience at all but drugs are concerned. That
(32:41):
was not his reputation. So you know, people were just
just put out by the fact that not only was
he involved and drugs, but had an overdose. That was
the talk of the talk of the league and certainly
to the talk of the town. Two a couple of
(33:02):
years since, the players started coming forward saying I'm going
to change up because of Lenby No. No, I didn't
get that. Players didn't react. It is to say, hey,
I'm gonna stop stop doing what I'm doing. Cocaine was
because I could be another Lend Bias. That did not happen.
(33:22):
But something else did happen, and it involved Len's mother,
Lonize Bias, Lenie Bias, the mother. We did bring her
in to talk to our rookie programs, and she made
no serious impact on the young players coming in the
league after land Bias step. I mean, she was very
(33:46):
impactful speaker. 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. That was working at the
Creative Arts team at New York University, and our company
had created a show, uh loosely based on the death
(34:10):
of len Bias, but focused primarily to look at a
young basketball player and the influence of the of the
street versus the potential for a successful career, and then
how drugs took him down. And it's the athlete high
on the promise of stardom who trades in his dreams
for drugs and drugs for his life, just like they're
(34:33):
doing there. And tell it to my lead little brother,
all right, And so I know that that show was
actually based on the issue on Lenby's death. That's Zachary Miner,
public speaker and executive coach. In the nineteen eighties, he
was the director of high school programs with Creative Arts
(34:56):
team at New York University. In that role, he helped
to do the show that catapulted the Len Bias story
into the cultural mainstream. Soon after the play began, the
NBA came calling. We were again doing the show in
the New York City public schools when The Today Show
(35:16):
with Brian Gumble and Katie Curic highlighted it on one
of their morning shows. And that's when the league called
us to be a part of their rookie transition program.
At the school in Washington Heights. This troop of actor
(35:37):
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 pulled apart by drugs, which
I should notice face not too loosely on the tragedy
of of of Len Bias. That's Bryant Gumbel, a former
host of NBC's Today Show, from a segment in Eugene
(35:59):
Key played the part of Bias. He recalled the impact
the play had on NBA players. In a conversation with
podcast producer Dave and Grady, I'll tell you, I'll tell
you this Dave. When you get a standing ovation from
guys that are like six seven, it's really a standing innovation,
you know what I mean. Happened just seeing these guys.
It's like it's all these trees. It just don't me
(36:23):
by surprise, you know. And we also think 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
(36:44):
what my character was doing. And I really felt really
good afterwards. I really didn't. We will feature more about
that play in a later segment about the culture of
len Bias. Brook Is. We're 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
(37:06):
Celtics in the eight seven NBA Finals, the Lakers found
a way to promote the message. They recorded a rap
video later that year. First up Hall of Fame center
Kareem Abdul Jabar Karee, the captain of the team. I
don't need drinks. I got a higher thing. My sky
would makes a team look good. But there's a hope
we gotta shape from the neighborhood. Next another Hall of Famer,
(37:29):
Magic Johnson with the midas to go play the right
way to keep a moving up. This seems the boys day,
but I can't for the bag. And finally, Adrian Branch,
(37:54):
a teammate of led Bias at Maryland, the statics against
the turn did ever run a chance? So that's and
tell him. Then there were enough great players who made
headlines with their talents on the court to help overcome
(38:14):
the drug label that had plagued the NBA for nearly
a decade. One that comes to mind Michael Jordan's. 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 he lived done the same? Yeah? He
(38:35):
was a god on the court. Brother, He was a
god on the court, God Jesus and the devil God
there he was. He was the Holy Trinity on your end.
As for the Celtics, they picked the local college star
as their first round selection in seven draft. That was
(38:55):
Reggie Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, The twenty second
overall pay Lewis would developed into the team's next star.
As age and injuries and the void left by bias
is death impact of the Celtics. He became team captain,
the face of what had become a fading franchise. Then
Lewis collapsed during the playoff game. He was diagnosed with
(39:19):
a hard 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 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
(39:40):
after bias is death. He was viewed as the turnaround,
good luck charm, you know that they needed to get
back on track from in that regard has turned out.
He started out to be the beginning of the bad
karma that lasted over twenty years. Next on them by
the mixed legacy to knowable Len had had had at
(40:04):
that drugs cocaine, pride too. That's crazy, but I will
tell you this, I would go on trial and deny
that I'm not quit because they were. They would blamed
with Visa. It was his fault in that control one
lefty can't be with us twelve hours a day and
it's twelve hours and it's ridiculous and it made an
(40:26):
escape those you know this day, I understand why that
and that's what That's what piss me on the mothers.
You know. Before the details started coming out about what
happened Lenny, his posture changed. He was rounded shoulders and
he never looked up anymore. His smile was gone. He
(40:48):
was I think he was deeply saddened and deeply effective.
Um by staff. This segment was produced by Dave and
Grady in Doon Marcus. It was written and edited by
Don Marcus. The narrator was Don Marcus. Technical production was
provided by Octagon Entertainment. Production assistance was produced by Kevin McNalty,
(41:11):
Tina Quagliata, Lauren Roth, Georgia Braun, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams,
Chelsea Mannix and Enzo Alvarin. Matt Deersus providing the social
media assistance. Some content provided by the Office of Senator
Dick Durbin and from the Drug Policy Allantice Special thanks
to the University of Maryland and American University for providing
(41:33):
against the decision. Education Foundation as a content and promotional
partner of this podcast series. More information go to go
graded media dot com. This has been a production of
go grading Media and the Eighth Side Network
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