No. Bias died of cocaine intoxication two days after the '86 NBA draft and it has taken the Celtics more than two decades to get back to where they once belonged.
Tonight, the Celtics can win their first championship in 22 years with a victory over the Lakers in the Staples Center. An entire generation has grown up with no memory of Celtic greatness. Lakers guard Jordan Farmar was born six months after Len Bias was buried.
The Patriots and Red Sox in this century have made trophy-hoistings routine events in Boston. Duck Boat tires are bald from toting David Ortiz and Richard Seymour up and down Boylston Street. Young Celtic fans might think the New Three of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are destined to rain confetti on the Hub again next June and the year after that.
But it doesn't work that way in today's NBA. Championship moments must be savored. One never knows when the next opportunity will come around. To think otherwise is to tempt the gods.
The late Alan Cohen, part-owner of the Celtics during the golden days of the '80s, understood. He wrote a letter to then-general manager Jan Volk after Bias died in '86, warning of the sin of hubris. Cohen reminded Volk that it was important to remain humble. Just when you think you're invincible, somebody can come along and tear down your house.
"It was his way of trying to make us understand that these things do happen," recalled Volk, who left the team in 1997. "If you don't appreciate what you have, it can all be gone. Things unraveled very quickly after Len Bias's death. We had some bad luck."
It's an understatement.
Reggie Lewis - drafted one year after Bias - blossomed into an All-Star, then dropped dead of cardiomyopathy in 1993. McHale broke a bone in his foot. Bill Walton broke a foot and would play only 10 more games. Dave Gavitt came on board as CEO and failed.
