ESPN Article On Len Bias - Well worth a read

Cough all you want - but every now and then ESPN puts up some pretty damn good sports/human condition articles... this might be the best one yet...

For those of you who don't know the Len Bias story:

He was the 1986 NBA draft's no 2 pick by the Celts out of Maryland, scant hours after which he was pronounced dead after a cocaine overdose... The article tracks the events before, during, and after that day and the far-reaching consequences that it had on college sports and society in general...

Give it a read... well worth your time (even though it is long)... Sorry Isaac - linky aint co-operating...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bias

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Cat 15
Years ago

Read it the other day. It certainly is worth a read. Mind you, don't give ESPN credit for it, it comes from a third party!
Reading it certainly made me sit back and re-assess things. I think that there should be a lot of kids told this story.

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DICKO
Years ago

I went to the Youtube link and then clicked on another link of highlights from the NC v Maryland game from that year (Jordan v Bias).

First guy to foul Jordan in that game was Bias' teammate and none other than ex-NBLer Adrian Branch.

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Beantown
Years ago

Hey Dicko, thanks for putting me on to the NC v Maryland game, really interesting. Not only Jordan, Bias and Branch in there but Brad Daugherty, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and Sam "Big Smooth" Perkins

Jordan, Bias and Perkins all had great games by the looks. Jordan steals the ball from Bias near the end after a defensive rebound. Check out 10:30 in for the final shot of the match from... you guessed it MJ!

I do have to quibble with one thing though: can't have been the same year Bias was drafted because Jordan was drafted '84.

Bias would have been a pretty good player if he had lived. Its such a sad story for him and the Celtics. A guy like Bias was exactly what the ageing Celtics needed to keep them near the top and then to rebuild around in the early 90s.

If Bias and then Reggie Lewis hadn't died prematurely, I don't think the Celtics would have been so terrible throughout the 90s. As I recall, to add insult to injury, after Lewis died, the NBA wouldn't allow the Celtics special dispensation to sign a decent replacement player under the cap either (they were over at the time).

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curtleyambrose
Years ago

should there be some sort of compensation in terms of getting a decent player if a player dies? I say no becuase another team will miss out on a good player, maybe give them a good pick in the draft.

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ESPN Article On Len Bias - Well worth a read

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