Horace Grant: “That was the baddest motherf***r I ever saw.”
Tracy McGrady: “You played with Jordan.”
Horace Grant: “Like I said, that was the baddest motherf***r I ever saw.”
(11:27 mark of the above video)
Can you imagine if the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors somehow had a top pick in the NBA Draft, drafted Karl-Anthony Towns, and two days after the draft, the future Rookie of the Year passed away?
That’s kind of what happened 31 years ago today, when Leonard Kevin “Len” Bias, at the age of 22, died of a drug overdose just two days after being drafted to the Champion Boston Celtics with the No. 2 pick.
Len Bias was the real deal.
A 6’8″ beast with 40″ hops like Jordan and the lean muscles of Karl Malone. He looked like LeBron James during an era when many of the small forwards in the league were built like Reggie Miller and Tayshaun Prince.
If you are thinking Bias might be one of those “what if” cases where a player becomes overrated over time because we never got to see what they could become, consider the fact that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski once said Bias and Jordan were the two best players to ever play in the ACC. Consider the fact that Celtics GM Red Auerbach, with his 16 Championship rings on his hands, spent three years making plans to get his hands on Bias. Why? Because Bias was already one of the best basketball players in the world before he shook David Stern’s hand.
And that’s why so many people considered him a “sure thing.” But the only sure thing in life is death, and unfortunately, 31 years ago today, death came way too early for the player Larry Bird wanted to be his successor in Boston.
“I would have left in 1988,” Bird told Bill Simmons. “I would have retired in 1988. I was starting to have ankle problems, and they were going to have to detach my Achilles to get these spurs out. I knew I was going to miss the whole year. If he was there, I would have just shut it down right there.”
To learn more about Bias and his unfortunate death, I highly recommend you watch (below) the ESPN 30 for 30 film “Without Bias” by director Kirk Fraser and all of the following videos.
LEN BIAS VS MICHAEL JORDAN
Michael Wilbon: “Those of us who watched Bias believe he would have been to Jordan what Bird was to Magic.”