As we observe the anniversary of some awful events this month -- JFK and Jonestown -- Michael Wilbon reminds us that Len Bias would have turned 40 this week.
"He would have changed the game, you know. Bias would have altered the course of NBA history for sure. He would have joined a defending champion Celtics team with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish up front, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge in the back court. Bias would have practiced with Bird and McHale every day, would have been shaped by their way of playing the right way. And in short time, Bias's presence in the lineup would have allowed Bird and McHale to play fewer minutes. Bird's back likely wouldn't have given out so quickly, McHale wouldn't have had to play so many playoff minutes on a busted ankle. Both would have almost certainly been healthier for a few more seasons.
That means the Bad Boy Pistons probably would not have existed, not in championship form. They wouldn't have gotten past the Celtics. The Lakers wouldn't have won in 1987 and '88. Perhaps Magic would have gotten them past the Celtics one of those years, but not back-to-back. And Chicago's run would have started in, oh, '92 or maybe even '93, and Jordan probably wouldn't have retired for the first time, at the end of the '93 Bulls Threepeat.
You know how history has noted Michael Jordan never had a rival in the NBA? Len Bias would have been Jordan's rival."
Remembering Len Bias
[ November 21, 2003, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]