Do you believe in curses?
I don't. A certain baseball team cured me of such folly three summers ago when they defied seemingly insurmountable odds and won their first World Series title in 86 years.
There is a growing sentiment that the Boston Celtics are cursed. Ever since Len Bias celebrated his selection as the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft in 1986 by bingeing on cocaine, this franchise has been in a free fall of staggering proportions.
At the time of Bias's death, the Celtics were world champions. They made it to the NBA Finals again in 1987 with Kevin McHale playing on a broken foot and they haven't been close since.
You know what happened. Larry Bird's heels (1988), then back (1990) betrayed him. Reggie Lewis, the bridge to the next generation of Celtics stars, died of a heart ailment at the age of 27 in 1993.
Hope came in the form of Ping-Pong balls in 1997, and a franchise player named Tim Duncan.
The San Antonio Spurs won the lottery. The Celtics didn't.
Ten years later, Boston's hopes were again pinned on fate and chance, this time with two prized players at stake.
The Trail Blazers won Greg Oden. The Seattle (soon to be Oklahoma City) SuperSonics won Kevin Durant. The Celtics won . . . a smidgen of sympathy. That's about it.
Do I believe in bad luck?
I do. I will grant you Boston's shamrocks have wilted since the Curse of Len Bias descended on the hallowed parquet.
But here's a reality check: Bias died 21 years ago. Lewis died 14 years ago. And that Ping-Pong ball that sent Rick Pitino into an NBA funk from which he never recovered was a decade ago.
There has been ample time for the Celtics to recover from their calamities. The simple fact is they haven't.
There are various reasons for this. There have been draft snafus (Michael Smith in 1990, Acie Earl in 1993, Kedrick Brown in 2001, to name a few), and horrible trades of epic proportions (Vin Baker, anyone?). There has been the ongoing struggle to lure quality free agents to Boston. The bottom line on that: It's cold here and players prefer warm climates.
Funny, though, how that becomes inconsequential when your talent pool is loaded. If Oden had landed in Celtic green, there would have been a number of veterans who would have been intrigued with the idea of playing alongside the rookie big man, Paul Pierce, and Al Jefferson, and would have thrown the snow parka in the suitcase and signed on the dotted line.
Sorry, but neither Al Thornton, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Mike Conley Jr., nor Yi Jianlian provides that cachet.
Celtics apologists say the reason Boston hasn't been able to rebuild its empire is because the team is always picking in the middle of the draft, preventing it from selecting impact players.
Tell that to the Phoenix Suns.
