1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,559
Speaker 1: This podcast is based a large part on the book

2
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:06,040
Speaker 1: Born Ready Mixed Legacy of lend Bias. Some cults are

3
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,559
Speaker 1: narrated by podcast producer and book author Daven Grady from

4
00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,640
Speaker 1: interviews done for the book. Recruitings for those comments were

5
00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:13,360
Speaker 1: not available.

6
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 2: Well, they're going to have number two picks and on

7
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 2: top of being a champion, it was it was. It

8
00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:22,480
Speaker 2: was porgasmic, you know, I'm telling you if people were

9
00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,040
Speaker 2: so excited.

10
00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,680
Speaker 3: He was clearly physically uh dominant.

11
00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:28,639
Speaker 4: He was.

12
00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 3: He was mean. He had a mean, mean on court game,

13
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:36,760
Speaker 3: and that was that was important. But he had to

14
00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:38,479
Speaker 3: have the skill set to go with it because he

15
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 3: was cool.

16
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,080
Speaker 5: The Boston Celtics select lend Bias at the University of Maryland.

17
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:48,559
Speaker 6: Well, they're a good team and they got a good

18
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,839
Speaker 6: supporting players. I can go up to answer it on

19
00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 6: the bench or whether go on a player or not.

20
00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,640
Speaker 6: And I learned a lot from the players there, or

21
00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:57,160
Speaker 6: learn a lot from playing myself.

22
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,160
Speaker 7: And defensively, you know, maybe you know Lens picking up

23
00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 7: some of the tough defensive assignments as well.

24
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,960
Speaker 8: The Maryland Medical Examiner has now issued his report on

25
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 8: the death of the college basketball star Land Bias. It

26
00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 8: confirms the worst suspicions he died of heart figure because

27
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 8: he used cocaine.

28
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,160
Speaker 3: We were really affected so so deeply by all of

29
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,920
Speaker 3: this that we there was no real way to measure

30
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,559
Speaker 3: the probabilities of what that.

31
00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,800
Speaker 2: Was thought that that, you know they were they would

32
00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,720
Speaker 2: have been so well positioned to prosper in the ensuing years.

33
00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:43,480
Speaker 9: We're always thinking, like, you know, how how might the

34
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,760
Speaker 9: n b A have been different had had had he

35
00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:47,800
Speaker 9: been around.

36
00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:50,920
Speaker 10: For them to have this.

37
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,560
Speaker 11: Monster of a of a player, it would have It

38
00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 11: would have changed everything against the Celtics, against the.

39
00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 10: Lakers, it would have changed it all.

40
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,040
Speaker 12: When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely

41
00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:10,840
Speaker 12: had a drug.

42
00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,440
Speaker 13: Problem twenty three, you know, within the league. I remember,

43
00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,239
Speaker 13: and it became a bunch more of a public discussion.

44
00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,960
Speaker 10: But yeah, I think the same.

45
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,640
Speaker 11: I think the NBA changed this whole mentality about drug

46
00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,359
Speaker 11: It changed the NBA drug pouse.

47
00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:30,799
Speaker 10: All of a sudden.

48
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:31,920
Speaker 14: It was like now there was.

49
00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 10: More people out looking for people who are getting.

50
00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:36,160
Speaker 4: Three.

51
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 15: The captain of the team, I don't need drugs. I

52
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,680
Speaker 15: kind of higher things. My sky makes a team look good.

53
00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,360
Speaker 15: But there's a hopefully got a ship from the neighborhood.

54
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,120
Speaker 1: And the game he made them next on Lambias. The

55
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 1: mixed legacy from dynasty, the drug out the death of

56
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,720
Speaker 1: Lembias affected the Celtics and the NBA.

57
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,000
Speaker 4: Before selecting Lambias with the second pick of nineteen eighty

58
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,000
Speaker 4: six NBA draft, the Boston Celtics seemed destined to make

59
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,320
Speaker 4: a run at another dynasty. They had just won their

60
00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,200
Speaker 4: third title in the decade. Led by Bill Russell and

61
00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,080
Speaker 4: Bob Coosey, the Celtics raised green and white championship banners

62
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,560
Speaker 4: from the rafters of the Garden eleven times in thirteen

63
00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,920
Speaker 4: years in the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In that

64
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty six draft, the Celtics traded the number two

65
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,560
Speaker 4: pick belonging to the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for guard

66
00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,880
Speaker 4: Gerald Henderson. Drafting Bias was viewed as one of the

67
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,840
Speaker 4: biggest steals in league history. The expectations and excitement of

68
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,400
Speaker 4: another title were heightened by the impending arrival of the

69
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,920
Speaker 4: two time ACC Player of the Year. Jan Volk took

70
00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,200
Speaker 4: over from the legendary Red Hourback, the architect of the

71
00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,119
Speaker 4: Celtics dynasty, as general manager in nineteen eighty four.

72
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 2: This bonus of the number two pick in the draft

73
00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,440
Speaker 2: thanks to this wonderful trade that jan Volk had worked.

74
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,320
Speaker 2: No one on Itita said, assuming the Tonics were going

75
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,200
Speaker 2: to stink that enough that you get a really prime pick,

76
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,920
Speaker 2: they would be very happy with ten, eleven, twelve. Leave

77
00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,840
Speaker 2: me well, they're going to have number two pick. And

78
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,920
Speaker 2: on top of being a champion was it was a

79
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 2: It was orgasmick. And I'm telling you if people were

80
00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:16,960
Speaker 2: so excited.

81
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,680
Speaker 4: That's Bob Ryan, the legendary sports writer of the Boston

82
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 4: Globe who chronicled many of those great Celtic teams. The

83
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,800
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty five eighty six Celtics finished the regular season

84
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,920
Speaker 4: sixty seven and fifteen. In the playoffs, they won fifteen

85
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,200
Speaker 4: of eighteen games, including a sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks

86
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,880
Speaker 4: in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here's Ryan again.

87
00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 2: Then the eighty five eighty six Celtics, that's when they

88
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,360
Speaker 2: were peaking. That's when they were totally kicking ass every night,

89
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,480
Speaker 2: and it was the greatest show on basketball Earth at

90
00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:48,840
Speaker 2: the time.

91
00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,039
Speaker 4: With when biased, the Celtics would become younger, more athletic,

92
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,440
Speaker 4: more explosive. Bias would give them firepower off the bench

93
00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,920
Speaker 4: that would take some of the pressure off aging veteran

94
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 4: it's Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. Bias would fill the

95
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,880
Speaker 4: role that the Celtics had seemingly invented with Frank Ramsey,

96
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,560
Speaker 4: John Halchek and Don Nelson the sixth man. Eventually, Bias

97
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,960
Speaker 4: would carry the mantle left behind by Bird, McHale and

98
00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 4: Robert Parrish Folk, said Auerback, who still held the role

99
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:26,480
Speaker 4: of team president. Like instigators rather than retaliators, many of

100
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,200
Speaker 4: the Celtics, in particular Bird, McHale and Danny Ainge, fit

101
00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,400
Speaker 4: that description. Bias would bring an even more imposing presence

102
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:34,960
Speaker 4: to the team.

103
00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:42,839
Speaker 3: He was clearly physically dominant. Was he was mean. He

104
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,400
Speaker 3: had a mean, mean on court game, and that was

105
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 3: that was important. But he had to have the skill

106
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,400
Speaker 3: set to go with it. Have you had such a

107
00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:57,719
Speaker 3: dominant skill sets as well as the dominant attitude, just

108
00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:58,800
Speaker 3: played Art Bosst.

109
00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,919
Speaker 4: The Celtics select Lend Bias at the University of Berlin.

110
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,360
Speaker 6: Yeah, I really was hoping that was Boston. Yeah, my

111
00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,520
Speaker 6: dream came two coach to our back, brother manager, our

112
00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:12,640
Speaker 6: back and he told me that.

113
00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:15,080
Speaker 4: He told me that I.

114
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:15,880
Speaker 12: Wasn't gonna get much.

115
00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:17,400
Speaker 6: I wasn't gonn stop, but I was gonna get a

116
00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:17,960
Speaker 6: lot of playing time.

117
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:19,000
Speaker 14: Brought to me the thick man.

118
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,000
Speaker 16: This is a great kid. As a matter of fact,

119
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 16: you know, Larry Bird said that if we draft Bias,

120
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,360
Speaker 16: he's gonna come up to the rookie camp. That's right.

121
00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,760
Speaker 16: He is very, very high on Bias, as Casey was,

122
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,120
Speaker 16: and Jimmy and the owners, you know, Alan Corn and

123
00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,160
Speaker 16: Don Gasson, they're all high on him.

124
00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:41,320
Speaker 17: And he's the guy we wanted.

125
00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:42,000
Speaker 18: We got him.

126
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:43,479
Speaker 5: A lot of people were asking the question, how do

127
00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:45,520
Speaker 5: you improve the best team in basketball? He's led Bias.

128
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:47,120
Speaker 14: The answer to that, well.

129
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,040
Speaker 16: He gives us a lot of support. He could play

130
00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,080
Speaker 16: some god, he could play some forward. He could play

131
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,799
Speaker 16: a power forward, a quick forward. He is the best athlete,

132
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 16: in my opinion, in the whole draft, and he's gonna

133
00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,159
Speaker 16: really helped this ball club.

134
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,160
Speaker 5: You said, anybody's going to have trouble breaking into the

135
00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:04,240
Speaker 5: Boston Celtics lineup.

136
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,320
Speaker 16: He knows that. Is any Bias going to take the

137
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,680
Speaker 16: place of Kevin McHale or Larry Brady knows that. But

138
00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,440
Speaker 16: he'll get his playing time. But you know, time goes,

139
00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,040
Speaker 16: you know, time goes guys get older, they get more

140
00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 16: playing time. We've had guys sit around for a while,

141
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,840
Speaker 16: except in this particular case, he's going to play.

142
00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,040
Speaker 4: With the death of Bias, the Celtics never got that

143
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:36,600
Speaker 4: boost in intensity and youth to the roster. Despite mourning

144
00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,160
Speaker 4: the death of Bias, the Celtics did well on the court.

145
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,400
Speaker 4: They reached the NBA Finals again, but lost to their

146
00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,000
Speaker 4: West Coast doppelganger, the Los Angeles Lakers in the nineteen

147
00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 4: eighty seven finals. The death of Bias exposed the physical

148
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,239
Speaker 4: fragility of Boston's foundation. Injuries began to impact the team's

149
00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 4: superstars and even some of the key bench players. That

150
00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,320
Speaker 4: left the Celtics receptible to the power and toughness of

151
00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,480
Speaker 4: the Detroit Pistons, and so the burgeoning majesty of the

152
00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,960
Speaker 4: league's newest superstar. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls Folks

153
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,960
Speaker 4: said that Boston's trip to the finals in nineteen eighty

154
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,680
Speaker 4: seven was something of a mirage given the mounting injuries

155
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:18,720
Speaker 4: to Bird and others.

156
00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:24,520
Speaker 3: We had players in their in their prime, all available, available,

157
00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,600
Speaker 3: and seemingly healthy. As it turns out, they weren't. That is,

158
00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 3: they there were injuries that followed, and that accelerated the

159
00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:38,199
Speaker 3: impact of LED's loss. We were a player short. In

160
00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:44,720
Speaker 3: eighty seven. Kevin McHale had broken his the vicular bone.

161
00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:50,199
Speaker 3: Bill Walton had broken his theviculate bone. We Scott Wedman

162
00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,880
Speaker 3: had surgery six games into the season. People forget how

163
00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,600
Speaker 3: good he was, how good Scott Wedman was, and we lost.

164
00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:04,040
Speaker 3: We lost him for the season. Robert Parrish also had

165
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,360
Speaker 3: a bad ankle problem, and so we were we were

166
00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 3: struggling pretty when you when you say struggling. We were

167
00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:16,240
Speaker 3: in the finals. We lost in six games. We were

168
00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,920
Speaker 3: not at a at our at our at our best

169
00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,520
Speaker 3: because of the injuries that we had, and we were

170
00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:22,200
Speaker 3: one player short.

171
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,600
Speaker 4: As great an offensive player, Bias was a Maryland you

172
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,760
Speaker 4: tend to forget how great a defensive player he also

173
00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,480
Speaker 4: was at key moments. Vans still talk about the reverse

174
00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,479
Speaker 4: dunk he made to seal the win over North Carolina

175
00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 4: as a senior in nineteen eighty six, but let's not

176
00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,080
Speaker 4: forget that he stole the inbounced pass from Kenny Smith

177
00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,559
Speaker 4: to set up the dunk, then Blocksmith's last shot later

178
00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:48,800
Speaker 4: in overtime to help secure the win.

179
00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,280
Speaker 19: Bias from outside and he got it Lynn Bias with

180
00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:54,680
Speaker 19: twenty nine, Oh.

181
00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,760
Speaker 3: On, I mean, stay on the jawn. What a play

182
00:09:57,880 --> 00:09:58,680
Speaker 3: by Bias.

183
00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,120
Speaker 4: Paul Lake Cow project that into the NBA and you

184
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,560
Speaker 4: can see how Bias would have taken the pressure of

185
00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,800
Speaker 4: Bird and McHale on the defensive end as well. Here's

186
00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,880
Speaker 4: Steve BoPET, who covered the Celtics in those days for

187
00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:13,840
Speaker 4: the Boston Herald.

188
00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 7: A big part about what made the Celtics was Kevin

189
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,680
Speaker 7: McHale's ability to guard the really good small forwards, Larry's

190
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:28,880
Speaker 7: not getting overwork, perhaps Lens allowing them to play more

191
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,840
Speaker 7: up tempo basketball, which is, you know, less abuse on

192
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:40,280
Speaker 7: the body for everyone involved. And defensively, you know, maybe

193
00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:42,440
Speaker 7: you know, Lens picking up some of the tough defensive

194
00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:48,120
Speaker 7: assignments as well, just you know, having that kind of

195
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,000
Speaker 7: of a talent, lengthening out your rotations.

196
00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,480
Speaker 4: The Pistons lost in seven games to the Lakers in

197
00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,200
Speaker 4: the nineteen eighty eight NBA Finals. Still, the bad Boys

198
00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,800
Speaker 4: from the Motor City shot many by sweeping the Lakers

199
00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,440
Speaker 4: in the nineteen eighty nine finals and then winning the

200
00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,840
Speaker 4: title again in five games against the Trailblazers in nineteen ninety.

201
00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,280
Speaker 4: That's when Jordan, in his seventh NBA season, took over

202
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,400
Speaker 4: the league. He led the Bulls to championships in the

203
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,680
Speaker 4: next three finals, over the Lakers, Trailblazers, and Phoenix Suns.

204
00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,200
Speaker 4: It was the first of his two to three peats

205
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,000
Speaker 4: in his career and a perfect six to zero record

206
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,880
Speaker 4: in the finals. Many wonder how the NBA landscape might

207
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,080
Speaker 4: have been different after nineteen eighty six had Bias not

208
00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:38,080
Speaker 4: only lived but lived up to his potential. Perhaps most

209
00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,160
Speaker 4: of those wondering were Celtics fans. Bob Ryan believes that

210
00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,760
Speaker 4: the death of Bias and the death of Reggie Lewis

211
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,240
Speaker 4: seven years later decimated the NBA's most storied franchise for

212
00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,400
Speaker 4: a long time. It wouldn't be until two thousand and

213
00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,439
Speaker 4: eight when the Celtics called themselves champions again.

214
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:57,360
Speaker 10: I thought that.

215
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,640
Speaker 2: They would have been so well positioned to prosper during

216
00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:06,120
Speaker 2: the ensuing years they were manpower shy. If they had

217
00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 2: had a player of the equivalent that we think that

218
00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,400
Speaker 2: Reggie lund Bias would have been, I think they would

219
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,280
Speaker 2: have had a very good chance of beating the Lakers.

220
00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 2: They ran out of manpower. Thought it was had a

221
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,480
Speaker 2: negative effect up for whichever a decade.

222
00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,640
Speaker 4: Even some millennials understand the impact Bias would have had

223
00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,360
Speaker 4: on the NBA had he lived. Millennials have only heard

224
00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:30,920
Speaker 4: about or watched videos Bias. Justin Tinsley of ESPNS The

225
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,320
Speaker 4: Undefeated learned early in his life about what he missed

226
00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,480
Speaker 4: not watching Bias, and what the Celtics and the NBA

227
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:38,559
Speaker 4: missed as well.

228
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:44,160
Speaker 9: How might the NBA have been different had he been around,

229
00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:49,120
Speaker 9: you know, because from my generation, outside of the Celtics

230
00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:53,360
Speaker 9: championship in two thousand and eight, the Celtics have always

231
00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,280
Speaker 9: just been this relic of the past in a sense.

232
00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,520
Speaker 9: There were this great franchise who of course you guys

233
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,200
Speaker 9: like Bill Russell and Casey Jones and you know, read Rbou,

234
00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,720
Speaker 9: John Halichik, But we were never around for in terms

235
00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,600
Speaker 9: of that that Celtic lord, that Celtic mystique. We never

236
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:11,480
Speaker 9: really saw that.

237
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,760
Speaker 4: John Sally met Bias at the Five Star Basketball Camp

238
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,120
Speaker 4: while at Georgia Tech, he played four years against Bias

239
00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,520
Speaker 4: in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He feels the void left

240
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,160
Speaker 4: bias good friend's death could be felt throughout the NBA.

241
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,600
Speaker 11: For them to have this monster of a of a player,

242
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,920
Speaker 11: it would have it would have changed everything against the Lakers.

243
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:40,400
Speaker 10: It would have changed at all.

244
00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,920
Speaker 4: Sally knows it's difficult to envision a rivalry between Jordan

245
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 4: and anybody, let alone a guy who never played a

246
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,760
Speaker 4: second in the NBA. But he also knows what he

247
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:52,959
Speaker 4: witnessed while playing against Bias.

248
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,840
Speaker 11: You really can't compare anything to Michael led Bias would

249
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 11: have been in the same I guess image on the

250
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:07,600
Speaker 11: same same conversation, and I think if they would have

251
00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:12,199
Speaker 11: had to split it and you allowed to let Lenny

252
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,600
Speaker 11: do what he does, we see it.

253
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,400
Speaker 4: Differently at Tapscott got to know Bias while coaching at

254
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,120
Speaker 4: American University in Washington. He's worked in the NBA for

255
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,800
Speaker 4: the past thirty years as a team executive for the

256
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,000
Speaker 4: Charlotte Bobcats, the New York Necks, and the Washington Wizards.

257
00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,200
Speaker 4: He's now a consultant for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Had Bias

258
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,000
Speaker 4: lived with the trajectory of Jordan's career look any different,

259
00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,040
Speaker 4: here's Tapscott.

260
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,840
Speaker 20: And the Burden magic rivalry is what really started to

261
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:45,120
Speaker 20: drive the narratives and the storylines in the league. Well,

262
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,800
Speaker 20: think about the next era, which would have been Jordan Bias.

263
00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,480
Speaker 20: Jordan never had the rival that Magic had in Bird

264
00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,880
Speaker 20: and Bird had in Magic. Had Bias been in the league,

265
00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,760
Speaker 20: Jordan may have had that rival that Joe Fraser to

266
00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:07,200
Speaker 20: Muhammad Ali, And how could that not have produced even

267
00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,440
Speaker 20: more interest in the NBA and.

268
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,120
Speaker 3: Provided an even more competitive environment.

269
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,840
Speaker 4: Both Jordan and Bias were relative unknowns until their breakout

270
00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,200
Speaker 4: performances at the Five Star Basketball Camp. When they were

271
00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,960
Speaker 4: in high school. There were brief flashes of a budding

272
00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,400
Speaker 4: rivalry when Jordan was a junior at North Carolina and

273
00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,000
Speaker 4: Bias was a sophomore in Maryland. What kind of rivalry

274
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,880
Speaker 4: they might have had in the NBA is purely speculative.

275
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,760
Speaker 4: Since Jordan was a shooting guard and Bias a power forward,

276
00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,880
Speaker 4: they likely would not have guarded each other, but that

277
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,040
Speaker 4: didn't stop the media from promoting rivalries between Magic Johnson

278
00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:50,120
Speaker 4: and Jordan, or even Charles Barkley and Jordan. Jay Billis

279
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,920
Speaker 4: played against both Jordan and Bias during his own college

280
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:53,640
Speaker 4: career at Duke.

281
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,400
Speaker 19: I believe you would have been a legitimate challenger to

282
00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,880
Speaker 19: Jordan for best player in the league. That's a tall

283
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,040
Speaker 19: order to say he would have been as good or better,

284
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 19: but I'm I believe that would have been the case.

285
00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:12,400
Speaker 19: But you know, it speaks to the level of the

286
00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:17,400
Speaker 19: tragedy that you have to explain to younger people how

287
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,120
Speaker 19: good he was and direct them to you know, old

288
00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:27,080
Speaker 19: grainy video to confirm it. You know, it's it's profoundly

289
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:31,440
Speaker 19: sad that that that legacy wasn't he wasn't able to

290
00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,360
Speaker 19: complete it because I think I think it would have

291
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,680
Speaker 19: been epic and uh, and we wouldn't have to explain it.

292
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,920
Speaker 4: There's also the question of what could have been. That's

293
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,480
Speaker 4: the one that has lingered for Justin Tinsley and his

294
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,800
Speaker 4: friends for years. They said the same thing about other

295
00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,400
Speaker 4: greats in their greats who did reach some level of

296
00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:53,240
Speaker 4: stardom in the NBA but never got to the pinnacle

297
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,120
Speaker 4: because of injuries. And then there's Biased never got to

298
00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:58,640
Speaker 4: the NBA period.

299
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,240
Speaker 9: If you ask people who were the biggest what ifs

300
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:07,080
Speaker 9: in NBA history, naturally some of the first names are

301
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:09,439
Speaker 9: gonna come to mind are people like Penny Hardaway, what

302
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,880
Speaker 9: if he could have stayed healthy? Or Grant Hill or

303
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,160
Speaker 9: in more recent times, Derek Rose. But once you start

304
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,240
Speaker 9: to peel back the layers, Lin Bias's name is always

305
00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,439
Speaker 9: going to come up. We were robbed of seeing a

306
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,480
Speaker 9: potentially all time great talent be that, especially when when

307
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,919
Speaker 9: we talk about Michael Jordan, like who were Michael Jordan's

308
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,720
Speaker 9: biggest rivals? Who were who gave Mike hell back in

309
00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,360
Speaker 9: the day, And it always comes to like we never

310
00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:40,359
Speaker 9: got a chance to see him play. But from what

311
00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,879
Speaker 9: I hear, Lin, Bias was that deal, Like he was

312
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:44,359
Speaker 9: that dude.

313
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,600
Speaker 4: Bob Ryan believes it's a bit of hyperbole talking about

314
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,000
Speaker 4: Bias the way we still gush about Jordan's or even

315
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,479
Speaker 4: Bird or Magic for that matter. Ryan doesn't think Bias

316
00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,480
Speaker 4: would have belonged in the same conversation of NBA greats

317
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,520
Speaker 4: that awesome included Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, were Will Chamberlain,

318
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,000
Speaker 4: Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul jah Bar.

319
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,520
Speaker 2: The point is that you have your own gradation right

320
00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,479
Speaker 2: and the Mount Olympus and the people that are you know,

321
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,480
Speaker 2: on the waiting list for Mount Olympus, and then you

322
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:20,240
Speaker 2: know the three centers naturally Russell, Wilton and Kareem, Oscar

323
00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,600
Speaker 2: and Jerry at that point were still you know, and

324
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,600
Speaker 2: then the current guys at the current guys at that

325
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,720
Speaker 2: time you know, were magic. Michael and well, actually Michael yet,

326
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:28,520
Speaker 2: Michael hadn't.

327
00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:29,560
Speaker 10: This is not Michael yet.

328
00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,480
Speaker 2: It's Magic and Larry and Michael's knocking on the door,

329
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,600
Speaker 2: which he did on that April twentieth when he dropped

330
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,000
Speaker 2: the sixty three points. I wasn't ready to put him

331
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,280
Speaker 2: on the top of the list, but I certainly thought

332
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:40,720
Speaker 2: he was going to be an you know, it was

333
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:42,879
Speaker 2: a dream picked to be an All Star. Let me

334
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,560
Speaker 2: just say before I forget that twice subsequently and over

335
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,479
Speaker 2: these years, Coach k has told me that the two

336
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:56,280
Speaker 2: greatest opponents he ever faced were Michael and Lynn Bias.

337
00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:57,760
Speaker 2: And that's pretty high praise.

338
00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,080
Speaker 4: Ryan things Biased would have been ended up a level

339
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:05,119
Speaker 4: down and mentions former Lakers star James Worthy as the

340
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,240
Speaker 4: kind of company Bias might have kept.

341
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,640
Speaker 2: I think Worthy is as good a comparison as I've

342
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,919
Speaker 2: ever come up with as to everything about him, and

343
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:15,760
Speaker 2: you know, maybe Worth. He was a little bit quicker

344
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:17,600
Speaker 2: up down the floor, but he was stronger, I think,

345
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:19,359
Speaker 2: and inside that would have been that would have been

346
00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:20,280
Speaker 2: a treat off the air.

347
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,600
Speaker 4: CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, who was the number one

348
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,800
Speaker 4: pick of the Indiana Pacers in nineteen eighty two, mentions

349
00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 4: another Parennial law star when talking about Bias.

350
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 21: You know, in terms of his ability to get off

351
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 21: the floor, Dominique Wilkins comes to mind. He's a contemporary

352
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,240
Speaker 21: of mind. He and I were part of the same

353
00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,800
Speaker 21: nineteen seventy nine high school class, and Nick had that

354
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:47,959
Speaker 21: same type of explosiveness and strength in the air, and

355
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,159
Speaker 21: that dynamic explosive ability to get off the floor and finish.

356
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:57,919
Speaker 21: I think Limb's shot was a little more polished than Dominique's.

357
00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,959
Speaker 21: Coming out of colle Dominique refined his shot as a

358
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:09,440
Speaker 21: pro that exuberance, that dynamic bounceability, if you will, that

359
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 21: yelium I like to call it, the ability to rise

360
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,840
Speaker 21: and float. Linn had that.

361
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 4: As with others who are hesitant to make the Jordan

362
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:24,360
Speaker 4: Bias comparison, Kellogg points to a weakness about Bias's game

363
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 4: that prevents him from putting Bias in Jordan's class.

364
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:33,080
Speaker 21: I thought Lynn had great athleticism in addition to pretty

365
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 21: impressive refinement of his game, and was going to only

366
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:38,800
Speaker 21: add to that. I think the one thing that I

367
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,240
Speaker 21: recall never really saw him go coast to coasts and

368
00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,960
Speaker 21: maneuver with the ball. He was more of a couple

369
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,880
Speaker 21: of dribble guy, but heck, that's something that you can

370
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:48,359
Speaker 21: improve on.

371
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 4: Bias is mentioned as a headliner in only one group.

372
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 4: Players who succumbed to the temptation of drugs, in this

373
00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 4: case cocaine in the NBA draft class own more for

374
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,040
Speaker 4: that than the number of All Stars it produced. The

375
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,400
Speaker 4: player drafted right after Bias was Chris Washburn of North

376
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 4: Carolina State, whose NBA career lasted a total of seventy

377
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,919
Speaker 4: two games because of his addiction to drugs. He was

378
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,640
Speaker 4: banned for life in nineteen eighty nine. His addiction to cocaine, heroin,

379
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,800
Speaker 4: and alcohol led to fourteen different stints in rehab. Bias

380
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:27,040
Speaker 4: and Washburn had plenty of company in that nineteen eighty

381
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,199
Speaker 4: sixth class. William Bedford and Roy Tarpley, the sixth and

382
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 4: seventh overall picks, respectively, also fell victim to the treacherous

383
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 4: and tragic power cocaine and other drugs had on them,

384
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:44,280
Speaker 4: but Bias was the only one to die. Washburn claimed

385
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,760
Speaker 4: in episode three of this podcast series that Bias introduced

386
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:53,960
Speaker 4: him to cocaine in April of nineteen eighty six. Here's Washburn, who,

387
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 4: after years got clean and speaks to youngsters these days

388
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:58,959
Speaker 4: about the dangers of drugs.

389
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 21: A lot of us was dabbling back being with it.

390
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:06,680
Speaker 10: It was a trial and arab here. You know, we

391
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,160
Speaker 10: were all young trying something differently. Off thought we were

392
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:10,200
Speaker 10: Superman back Danda.

393
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 4: Even before the nineteen eighty six draft, the NBA was

394
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 4: dealing with a serious image problem, stemming from some of

395
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,120
Speaker 4: the league's biggest stars watching their careers derailed by drugs.

396
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,359
Speaker 4: Tom McMillan, who was an All American at Maryland a

397
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 4: decade before Bias arrived, played for the Atlanta Hawks from

398
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,080
Speaker 4: nineteen seventy seven to nineteen eighty three. He witnessed the

399
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,400
Speaker 4: NBA's drug problem closed up. The Hawks were not an

400
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 4: outlier to this growing problem. Many players, including McMillan's former

401
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,800
Speaker 4: Maryland teammate John Lucas, saw their own careers damaged significantly

402
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 4: by drugs. The Los Angeles Times reported in nineteen eighty

403
00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,840
Speaker 4: that between forty and seventy percent of the NBA's players

404
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 4: had at least tried cocaine.

405
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,160
Speaker 12: When I was in the NBA, I mean, they definitely

406
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 12: had a drug problem.

407
00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:59,919
Speaker 10: I remember we were staying over here at the.

408
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 18: Hotel over by you know landover Road when we played

409
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 18: the old Cap Center, and I remember walking by the

410
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 18: rooms one night or one night of my teammates.

411
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 3: I could smell there was a lot of time coming

412
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 3: out of the room.

413
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 12: And so there was and you know, I remember one

414
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 12: player who was so drugged out one game he couldn't

415
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 12: even play and they just had had sent him home.

416
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:26,920
Speaker 10: So there were there were a lot of incidents.

417
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 12: And when Stern became commissioner, he had really I mean

418
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 12: he kind of got to a zero tolerance position and

419
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 12: took him a couple of years to get there.

420
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 4: Here's John Sally.

421
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 10: They knew everything about everybody. The NBA was changing.

422
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:45,119
Speaker 22: Nineteen eighty four, David Stern gets in and tells Michael

423
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:46,679
Speaker 22: Jorge we're going to change his league.

424
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 10: And he did.

425
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 4: David Stern wrote the NBA's first drug testing policy in

426
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 4: his role as the league's chief counsel. That was in

427
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,480
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty three, a year before he succeeded Larry O'Brien

428
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 4: as commissioner. Certainly wasn't enough of a deterrent for the

429
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 4: nineteen eighty six draft class.

430
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,280
Speaker 10: Here's j Billis you know that was the drug era.

431
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 10: I mean, the nineteen eighty six draft.

432
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 19: You know, sadly, Len Bias wasn't the only one that

433
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 19: drugs ruined, you know, William Bedford, Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn.

434
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 19: I mean, there was a long laundry list of players

435
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 19: that didn't suffer the same kind of tragedy as Lenn,

436
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:31,160
Speaker 19: but that had tragic outcomes or at least profoundly sad

437
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 19: outcomes to their careers because of drug use.

438
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 4: Longtime NBA executive Pat Williams was general manager of the

439
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,920
Speaker 4: Philadelphia seventy six was when Bias was drafted by the Celtics.

440
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 4: He became president of the expansion in Orlando Magic the

441
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:51,239
Speaker 4: day after the nineteen eighty six draft. Williams says that

442
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,639
Speaker 4: most in his position were familiar with the effect marijuana

443
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 4: had on players and were more concerned with pot. If anything,

444
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 4: they were a bit clueless about cocaine, particularly crack cocaine.

445
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 4: Biases death changed that.

446
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 13: We began to be a lot more open, you know,

447
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,120
Speaker 13: within the league, I remember, and it became a much

448
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,679
Speaker 13: more of a public discussion. We had not been educated,

449
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 13: and I think as a GM I began to read

450
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 13: up on the subject and learn all that I could,

451
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 13: so at least I could be conversion about it and

452
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 13: talk and it came up. But it was a very,

453
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 13: very tough time in the league. And then when those

454
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 13: sixty eighty six draft picks kept.

455
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 4: Falling, that's when NBA teams began looking more closely into

456
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 4: the backgrounds of players they were thinking about drafting. Horace

457
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 4: Balmar helped teams do just that. Balmart became head of

458
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 4: security for the NBA in nineteen eighty five. That time,

459
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 4: he says drugs were already a major concern in the league.

460
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 4: He rated it a ten on a scale of one

461
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 4: to ten. Balmer spent twenty years as a New York

462
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 4: City police officer. He bragged that he was death on

463
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,280
Speaker 4: drug users. Here's podcast producer Dave Ungrady, who talked to

464
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 4: Balmer for his book Born Ready, The Mixed Legacy of

465
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:22,400
Speaker 4: len Bias.

466
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 5: Bomber told me, if a guy was using drugs in

467
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 5: the NBA, you did not want to see me in

468
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 5: the locker room. When I was interviewed for the job,

469
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 5: I was told that we would try and eradicate drugs

470
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 5: in the NBA. The concern was very high. My job

471
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 5: was to protect the NBA, to visit and talk to

472
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 5: as many people in drugs as I could, dealers, treatment centers,

473
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 5: guys in jail, non athletes. I wanted to know, how

474
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 5: did you hook the athletes and what was the first

475
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 5: thing you did to him?

476
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 4: Balmer talked with incoming rookies at the league's orientation program

477
00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 4: about the temptations and perils they faced drug abuse. He

478
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,240
Speaker 4: told them selling points people would use the lord. Athletes

479
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:06,200
Speaker 4: to cocaine.

480
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,680
Speaker 5: Bomber told me. They said it was better than heroin

481
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 5: and you could not get addicted to it. They thought

482
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,919
Speaker 5: it would not hurt the body and that it was recreational.

483
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 5: They were told it would get you nice and high,

484
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 5: and don't worry about it. It won't hurt you. Athletes

485
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:25,919
Speaker 5: were told by people selling it that you can use

486
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 5: the drug during the off season, and you can walk

487
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 5: away from it any time you wanted to. You won't

488
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,200
Speaker 5: become addicted to it. If you went to a fabulous party,

489
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,120
Speaker 5: they'd put it out, just like they'd put out liquor.

490
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 5: Cocaine had become the Hollywood drug. A bowl of cocaine

491
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 5: was at every party you went to.

492
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,120
Speaker 4: Balma claims women would try to attract high salary athletes

493
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 4: as regular drug customers. By getting them hooked on cocaine.

494
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,679
Speaker 5: Bomber told me one athlete, a boxer was turned on

495
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,199
Speaker 5: by a beautiful girl. She would put cocaine in his

496
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,639
Speaker 5: mouth when they kissed to get them hooked, and the

497
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,200
Speaker 5: boxer would become a customer.

498
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 4: Kellogg, whose own promising NBA career was cut short by

499
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 4: knee injuries after only five years, saw how Baumer and

500
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 4: his security staff became a more integral part of how

501
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,880
Speaker 4: the NBA investigated the backgrounds of its future stars.

502
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 10: Yeah.

503
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 21: I think there was an amplification of that, and it

504
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 21: was not just the Lenn bias component that clearly was

505
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:24,639
Speaker 21: part of it.

506
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:26,439
Speaker 10: But yeah, it did change.

507
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 21: And the climate was such the war on drugs and

508
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 21: the crack epidemic was starting to grow speed late mid

509
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 21: late eighties into the nineties, So I think that all

510
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 21: probably factored into how the NBA started to look at

511
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 21: maybe digging a little deeper into the background of potential

512
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 21: draft choices.

513
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 4: John Sally saw that as well after his friend died.

514
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,959
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think I think the NBA changed this whole

515
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 11: mentality about a drug because of the way they led

516
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 11: by a start for one of the up and coming

517
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 11: stars to die from a cocaine overdose.

518
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:15,680
Speaker 10: It changed the NBA drug policies all of a sudden.

519
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 22: It was like, now there was more people out looking

520
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 22: for people who were getting highs. They were more guys

521
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 22: going down and getting in trouble for it. Before, as

522
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 22: I understand that, the NBA was said to be too black,

523
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 22: too drug infestivals.

524
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 11: Now they were cleaning it up. They started getting more

525
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 11: and more European players.

526
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 22: And literally they were testing crazy places for drugs. So

527
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 22: the NBA started having meetings that were mandatory five thousand

528
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 22: dollars out of your check, ten thousand dollars out of

529
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 22: your check if you missed the drug meeting. I mean,

530
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 22: the NBA jumped on it that this is not going

531
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 22: to happen. We're not going to be known as a

532
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 22: drug league. Leave that to baseball. They were so serious

533
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 22: about getting rid of drug aide.

534
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 4: One way the NBA tried to educate players about the

535
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 4: perils of drug abuse was through its Orientation program. The

536
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 4: program began in nineteen eighty six. Sat Sanders won eight

537
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 4: NBA titles with the Celtics in the nineteen sixties. The

538
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 4: league recruited Sanders to start the program.

539
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 14: We wanted to get something going so the players would

540
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 14: get an insight into what guess was being a professional

541
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 14: is like when you're talking about coming into the NBA

542
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,479
Speaker 14: when when you were running the rookie program, that was

543
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 14: we used to run a few days, almost a week,

544
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 14: and the name of the game was to deal with

545
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 14: the dunes and adults in the NBA agents out of

546
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 14: deal with them, finance the finishing school. When want players

547
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 14: go back to school as best they can, as quick

548
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 14: as they can. We also had an anternship program that

549
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 14: we're trying to get players to get some work experience.

550
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 4: At that time, Sanders recalls that the main drug concern

551
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,520
Speaker 4: for the NBA was marijuana use. The league hired therapists

552
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 4: in each NBA city to talk with players that needed.

553
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 4: The death of Bias in June nineteen eighty six prompted

554
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 4: the league toust the focus of the program.

555
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,640
Speaker 14: It's one thing to have a program. All of a

556
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 14: sudden you have your first draft choice, the first round

557
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 14: draft choice die from cocaine behovado. I mean that everybody

558
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 14: wanted all the press, all the media wants to know

559
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 14: what we were doing. That that's one of the things

560
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 14: that gave the program. The player program development, a lot

561
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 14: of a lot of press. They certainly wanted to spotlight

562
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 14: the drug program, which they were already aware of.

563
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 4: Sanders claims the death of Bias did impact the players,

564
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 4: but not enough to keep them from using cocaine.

565
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 14: It certainly had an impact on players. You know, a

566
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 14: lot of folks were well aware of this young man's

567
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 14: talent that Lito came the contact with, Unlike the players

568
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 14: were talking about him, how this kid could be the

569
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 14: second coming of Michael Jordan type player. That's the kind

570
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 14: of skill level, physical, skill level folks thought he had.

571
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 14: Players were just shocked that this could happen. The first thing,

572
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 14: no one was aware that this young man had any

573
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 14: experience at all the drugs were concerned. That was not

574
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 14: his reputation. So you know, people were just just put

575
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 14: out by the fact that not only was he involved

576
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 14: in drugs but had an overdose. That was the talk

577
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,520
Speaker 14: of the talk of the league and certainly the talk

578
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 14: of the town. To a couple of years since, the

579
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 14: players start coming forward saying I'm going to change up

580
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 14: because of len Bius. So no didn't get that. Players

581
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 14: didn't react. It is to say, hey, I'm going to

582
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 14: stop stop doing what I'm doing cocaine. Want is because

583
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 14: I could be another Len Bias that did not occur.

584
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 4: But something else did happen and it involved Len's mother,

585
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 4: Lonis Bias.

586
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:32,120
Speaker 14: Lenise Bias my mother. We did bring her in to

587
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 14: talk to our rookie programs and she made a serious

588
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 14: impact on the young players coming in the league after

589
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 14: len Bias's death. I mean, she was a very impactful speaker.

590
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 4: We will have more on that part of the story

591
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 4: in a later episode that focuses on Lenise Bias. And

592
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 4: one other thing happened, something that more directly related Len's

593
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 4: story to drug abuse.

594
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 23: That was working at the creative Arts team at New

595
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:08,320
Speaker 23: York University and our company had created a show loosely

596
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 23: based on the death of Len Bias, but focused primarily

597
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:14,280
Speaker 23: to look.

598
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 24: At a young basketball player and the influence of the

599
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 24: street versus the potential for a successful career, and then

600
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 24: how drugs took him down.

601
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,280
Speaker 8: M it's the athlete high on the promise of stardom

602
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 8: who trades in his dreams for drugs and drugs for

603
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:32,840
Speaker 8: his life.

604
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 2: Just like they're doing more.

605
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:35,839
Speaker 3: Oh, let to try to jump to Mali.

606
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 4: You jump yo, right?

607
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 14: And what I do is chilling?

608
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 24: Is so I know that that show was actually based

609
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 24: on the issue on Lenby's death.

610
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 4: That's Zachary Meiner, a public speaker and executive coach. In

611
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,800
Speaker 4: the nineteen eighties, he was the director of high school

612
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 4: Programs with Creative Arts Team at New York University. In

613
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,600
Speaker 4: that role, he helped dou the show that catapulted the

614
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,319
Speaker 4: len Bias story into the cultural mainstream. Soon after the

615
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 4: play began, the NBA came calling.

616
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 24: We were again doing the show in the New York

617
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 24: City public schools when The Today Show with Brian Gumbel

618
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 24: and Katie Couric highlighted it on one of their morning shows.

619
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 24: And that's when the League called us to be a

620
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 24: part of their rookie transition program.

621
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 25: At this school in Washington Heights, this troop of actor

622
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 25: teachers is staging a drama. It's called Home Court. It's

623
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,600
Speaker 25: a play about an inner city family that's striving to

624
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,239
Speaker 25: beat the odds, striving to make good in the time

625
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 25: when many homes are being.

626
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 21: Pulled apart by drugs, which I.

627
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 25: Should notice based not too loosely on the tragedy of

628
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 25: len Bias.

629
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,560
Speaker 4: That's Bryant Gumbel, a former host of NBC's Today Show,

630
00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 4: from a segment in nineteen eighty eight, Eugene Key played

631
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 4: the part of Bias. You recall the impact the play

632
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 4: had on NBA players in a conversation with podcast producer

633
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 4: Dave on Grady.

634
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 10: I'll tell you.

635
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:09,439
Speaker 14: I'll tell you this, Dave.

636
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 26: When you get a standing ovation from guys that are

637
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 26: like six seven.

638
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 10: It's really a standing ovation, you know.

639
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:21,280
Speaker 6: It's like all these trees.

640
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 10: Its just took me by surprise, you know.

641
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,719
Speaker 26: And we also did the worship afterwards where they were

642
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,839
Speaker 26: questioning my character, and I do remember one time where, uh,

643
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,680
Speaker 26: it was really really great. It was just really good.

644
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 26: It was really intense, and they were really focused on

645
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 26: their questions and everything about what my.

646
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 10: Character was doing.

647
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:47,360
Speaker 14: And I really felt really.

648
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 10: Good afterwards, I really did.

649
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 4: We will feature more about that play in a later

650
00:36:52,239 --> 00:37:00,879
Speaker 4: segment about the culture of Lambias were not the only

651
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,799
Speaker 4: ones caught up in the anti drug message promoted by

652
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,360
Speaker 4: the league in the late nineteen eighties. The team that

653
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 4: beat the Celtics in the nineteen eighty seven NBA Finals,

654
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,920
Speaker 4: the Lakers, found a way to promote the message. They

655
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,319
Speaker 4: recorded a rap video later that year, first up Hall

656
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 4: of fame center Kareem Abdula Jr.

657
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,319
Speaker 15: Bar I'm Kareem the captain of the team. I don't

658
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 15: need drugs. I got a high a thing. My skywock

659
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:25,719
Speaker 15: makes a team look good. But there's a hope. We

660
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 15: got a shape from the neighborhood.

661
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:30,400
Speaker 4: Next another Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson.

662
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 27: I'd the minus too.

663
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:34,799
Speaker 4: Got to play the right way, to keep a move

664
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 4: and up.

665
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 27: This seemed a lot of boys day, but doesn't get.

666
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 6: Following.

667
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:57,920
Speaker 4: And finally, Adrian Branch, a teammate of led Bias at Maryland.

668
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 27: I understand it's against the jerky. I didn't run a chance,

669
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:12,319
Speaker 27: So that's the running. Tell him that.

670
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 4: There were enough great players who made headlines with their

671
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 4: talents on the court to help overcome the drug label

672
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 4: that had plagued the NBA for nearly a decade. One

673
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 4: that comes to mind Michael Jordan. He was able to

674
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 4: stay as high above the NBA drug fray as he

675
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 4: did above the rim, and he became arguably the best

676
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 4: player in the history of the league. Could Bias had

677
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:33,800
Speaker 4: he lived done the same?

678
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 28: Yeah, he was a god on the court. Brother, he

679
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 28: was a god on the court. God Jesus and the

680
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 28: devil guy there. He was the Holy Trinity on your hand.

681
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,839
Speaker 4: As for the Celtics, they picked the local college star

682
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:54,280
Speaker 4: as their first round selection in the nineteen eighty seven draft.

683
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 4: That was Reggie Lewis of Northeastern University in Boston, the

684
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 4: twenty second overall pair. Lewis would develop into the team's

685
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,360
Speaker 4: next star. As age and injuries and the void left

686
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,800
Speaker 4: by Bias' death impact of the Celtics. He became team captain,

687
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 4: the face of what had become a fading franchise. Then

688
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 4: Lewis collapsed during the playoff game in nineteen ninety three.

689
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 4: He was diagnosed with a heart condition. After getting clear

690
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,319
Speaker 4: to resume his career, Lewis died after playing in a

691
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 4: pickup game in June of that year. The Celtics dynasty

692
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 4: was over and the drought was in full force. It

693
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:36,240
Speaker 4: would not end until the Celtics won the NBA title

694
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 4: in two thousand and eight. Here's Ryan again talking about

695
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,880
Speaker 4: what happened to the team after Bias's death.

696
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:46,799
Speaker 2: He was viewed as the turnaround, good luck charm, you

697
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,400
Speaker 2: know that they needed to get back on track. In

698
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 2: that regard, has turned out he started out to be

699
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 2: the beginning of the bad karma that lasted over twenty years.

700
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: Next on them by the mixed legacy.

701
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:07,160
Speaker 17: Len had had had had done drugs or coka prior too.

702
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 10: That's crazy. But I will tell you this, I would.

703
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 17: Go on trial and deny that I was quick because

704
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 17: they were they were blaming them. They said it was

705
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 17: his fault in that control and left. It can't be

706
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:21,919
Speaker 17: with us twenty hours a day, sure, and there's twelve

707
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 17: of us and it's ridiculous. And they made him escape

708
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,360
Speaker 17: those you know this day, I don't understand when he

709
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,880
Speaker 17: that and that's what That's what pissed me on the moros,

710
00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 17: you know, before the details started coming out about what happened.

711
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,240
Speaker 3: Lenny, because his posture changed.

712
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:46,400
Speaker 2: He was rounded shoulders and he never looked up anymore.

713
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 14: His smile was gone.

714
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 2: He was I think he was deeply saddened and deeply

715
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:56,360
Speaker 2: affected by friend Staff and Boyla b.

716
00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,840
Speaker 1: This segment was produced by Dave Ungrady in Don Marcus.

717
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 1: It was written and edited by Don Market. The narrator

718
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,720
Speaker 1: was Don Marcus. Technical production was provided by Octagon Entertainment.

719
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 1: Production assistance was produced by Kevin McNulty, Tino Quagliata Lauren Ross,

720
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:18,919
Speaker 1: Georgia Brown, Casey Fair, Jamal Williams, Kelsey Mannix and Enzo

721
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 1: al Vareno. Matt Deherst is providing the social media assistance.

722
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:27,360
Speaker 1: Some content provided by the Office of Senator Dick Durbin

723
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: and from the Drug Policy of Office. Special thanks to

724
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: the University of Maryland and American University for providing against

725
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,800
Speaker 1: the decision. Education Foundation is a content and promotional partner

726
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,600
Speaker 1: of this podcast series. More information go to go gradymedia

727
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:46,360
Speaker 1: dot com. This has been a production of Go grading

728
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 1: Media and the Eighth Side networks like