Len Bias' Death

[guy]

I find it funny that if Bias wasn't a college star or a high lottery pick hardly anyone would care that he died. If he was an undrafted, 2nd round pick, or even a mid-1st round pick player nobody would care about his death and people would probably blame him for making a stupid choice in doing coke instead.

Since Bias was a college star though, everyone feels sorry for him and everyone else is responsible for Bias' death except for Bias himself.

Who the hell are you? Mother Teresa? Dude made a horrible mistake that cost him his life at a time when people were not as educated about how harmful those type of drugs were and at like 23 years old which is an age many people make mistakes. Its incredibly inhumane to not feel sorry for him regardless of it being his fault or not. Its not like he was a cold-blooded murderer and got killed in a shoot-out. Some people should really not be allowed to use the internet.

[Champ]

MJ didn't play as a senior. He was college player of the year(2 times by Sporting News). One of the best rookies ever. Not sure Bias was at that level.

Yes, my bad on Jordan.

IIRC, Jordan got POY in '84 and Bias was runner up in '86.

[Xiao Yao You]

Who the hell are you? Mother Teresa? Dude made a horrible mistake that cost him his life at a time when people were not as educated about how harmful those type of drugs were and at like 23 years old which is an age many people make mistakes. Its incredibly inhumane to not feel sorry for him regardless of it being his fault or not. Its not like he was a cold-blooded murderer and got killed in a shoot-out. Some people should really not be allowed to use the internet.

It's a result of American society where the War on Drugs has made drug users out to be criminals while legal drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol do most of the actual killing while not even being thought of as drugs.

[TheBigVeto]

trivializing a man's death very classy

It's not trivializing.
I am serious.

[ShaqAttack3234]

Why do people think this man would have still been the next best thing even if he didnt die that night? Do people overlook the fact he was a cocaine user? I h e never done the drug before, but it seems hard I believe be would have lived up to the "next Jordan" label as a cokehead.

Another thought-provoking post from one of ISH's esteemed posters.

Before making this post, did you try looking for information on how regularly Bias used the drug? How he often appeared to people who knew him? Was his behavior erratic? Did he seem healthy? Or did you even bother doing research on the drug? You've said that you've never used the drug, and your post seems to suggest that you're ignorant on it, so that's the least you could do.

There's a difference between using a drug once, a number of times or even every so often and being an addict(and I hate that term which forgets that everyone is still an individual who will be affected differently by drugs). An addict will rely on drugs daily, is there anything to suggest this was Len Bias?

We have no idea if Bias was addicted(well maybe some know one way or the other, but the OP doesn't), and even if he was, look at Chris Mullin. He went to a program for alcohol abuse and ended up having a great career.

And having sort of had experience with this particular drug and certainly the affects of it, I can say that cocaine in various forms affects your motor skills less than alcohol, which would be more similar to heroin if it's similar to any drug in terms of affects on balance and coordination.

Cocaine is a stimulant, so I can see athletes succeeding while using it, depending of course on how much and how often they use it, and how much it consumes their life.

And lets remember that this was in the 80's, the height of coke, many did it at parties, or on occasions and thought nothing of it. I'd be willing to bet money that there have been a number of successful athletes, especially from that era who used it.

When people talk about Bias, they often talk about his potential. Whether or not, he would have wasted it on drugs has nothing to do with how much potential he had as a basketball player. The same way someone like Greg Oden had all the potential in the world, but was derailed by injuries.

[Raz]

Before making this post, did you try looking for information on how regularly Bias used the drug? How he often appeared to people who knew him? Was his behavior erratic? Did he seem healthy? Or did you even bother doing research on the drug? You've said that you've never used the drug, and your post seems to suggest that you're ignorant on it, so that's the least you could do.

There's a difference between using a drug once, a number of times or even every so often and being an addict(and I hate that term which forgets that everyone is still an individual who will be affected differently by drugs). An addict will rely on drugs daily, is there anything to suggest this was Len Bias?

We have no idea if Bias was addicted(well maybe some know one way or the other, but the OP doesn't), and even if he was, look at Chris Mullin. He went to a program for alcohol abuse and ended up having a great career.

Great post

My friend, Michael at Celtic Nation, interviewed Red Auerbach before he passed away. Here's what Red had to say:

Celtic Nation: The death of Lenny Bias in 1986 changed the fortunes of the Celtics for years to come. Bias was tabbed to become the Next Great Celtic, the player who was going to take over for Larry Bird and continue the team’s string of excellence. Please tell me about Lenny Bias.

Red Auerbach: People don't realize how good he was, unless they saw him play. Bias was one of the early guys that was 6-foot-8 and could really run. I used to know him before it happened. Lefty (Driessel) was a good friend, still is.


CN: There is much speculation surrounding Bias’ death from cocaine intoxication – one camp believes that Bias had never used drugs before that fateful June night in 1986, while others aren’t so sure. From what I’ve read, Bias was clean. He just made a very bad decision, one that cost him his life.

RA: [COLOR="Red"]Bias was not a drug user.[/COLOR] That's why he died – he didn't know how to use them. We tested him a week before the draft, and so did a lot of other teams. He passed three physicals from three different teams.


CN: A year after selecting Lenny Bias, the Celtics select Reggie Lewis from Northeastern University. Lewis was on the verge of superstardom in 1993 when he collapsed and died from a heart abnormality. Lewis’ death was tragic, and also one that had a far-reaching effect on the fortunes of the Boston Celtics. Can you comment on the loss of Lewis, and what this meant to the Celtics?

RA: The bad break of it all was that the league never gave us a chance to recover from Reggie Lewis. Forget about Bias – they never gave us a pick or anything to recover from that – but they could have given us cap money to use when we lost Reggie. Because his contract was guaranteed, the league made us carry his salary on our cap for three years. Three! Today, they changed that rule. They realized how shabbily they treated us. When you lose two All-Star players and get nothing back – just think about that. Go to New Jersey and take away Kidd and their next best player. Where the hell would they be?

[Raz]

http://www.celtic-nation.com/intervi...ach_page11.htm

Link to Auerbach interview

[SHAQisGOAT]

Such a sad stupid story... Bias was a beast in college.