Len Bias — 20 years later

Dude was indeed awesome. He'd have been all-pro, in the NBA All-Star game had he kept a clear head.
But maybe he'd have screwed up later, maybe two or three or five years into the league.
Seems as though he was quiet and sort of a follower of the crowd, based on this one bad decision anyway.
Had he gotten all that money, who knows what sort of poor decision he might have made later with drugs. Or maybe been involved in an accident like Petro was.
A one-parent household wasn't it. (Not that that is a universal determinant of failure)
You just never know.
But he certainly had, in my mind and from having seen him play numerous times on TV, had much more of an upside to succeed in the League than the others mentioned on this thread like Gathers or Pearl Washington or Washburn or Kenny Walker, etc..
And I loved those all-black unis that Maryland pulled out occasionally during his tenure.

 

How did the Celtics have such a high draft pick that year?

 

21 -- It was the result of a trade (with the then-pathetic SuperSonics, I believe.)

 

21 and FB: Had Seattle's pick after trading them Gerald Henderson. Red's last great swindle.

 

Yeah, sure, Michael. How's that workin; out for them now?
(I seem to be channelling sports-radio this morning. Must be the heat.)

 

ABSOLUTELY, he was a lying, stupid, fucking weasel bitch.

I graduated from Maryland just as Bias entered and got to watch him play alot. I saw alot of ACC basketball in the early to mid 80s'. Bias was better than Jordan as a college basketball player, no question. He probably wouldn't have been as dominating a pro since Jordan handled the ball better farther away from the basket than Bias ever would, but Bias was a beast.

 

Oh geez, there's an unbiased opinion, no pun intended. Bias was excellent in college and I think he would have been a very good pro, but some of the hyperbole on this thread is ridiculous. Comparing him to Jordan? (There's no "probably" in the statement that he wouldn't have been as dominating in the pros as Jordan. He wouldn't have been close.) Giving him league MVPs? Come on. He did have flaws. He wasn't a great ballhandler or an outside shooter, and he wasn't particularly big. His game in college was dunk, dunk, and dunk some more, which his amazing athleticism allowed him to do at that level. But as a pro prospect, he could almost be described as a power forward in a small forward's body.

I can see him being an all-star, but that's about it.

 

Bias was in the top 5 college players that I have seen.  All that we have is speculation, but I think that he was a lock to be a regular on the All-Star team.

I'll never forget that he died on my last day of high school.

 

Yeah, there's some hyperbole on this thread, Jack S, but the truth is that Bias was really, really good and had BOTH talent and potential up the wazoo. Plus, he would have been going to a much better organization than a No. 2 overall pick usually goes to, so that probably would have helped his development.

I still remember all the pix of him in the Celtics cap on draft day. Those were run ad nauseam after he died, until it became pretty much like the 'death hat.'

 

I wish we'd have seen more of Petrovic. I used to play with him on the "Bulls-Lakers" Genesis game, and dude could knock 'em down Chambers-style from outside. Damn.