Remembering Lenny

After the draft the other day, I sit and thought about other people that have been drafted and were duds. Harold Miner, Darko, etc... But there was one that never played a NBA game. He wore number 34, played forward, and stared at the University of Maryland. Leonard Kevin Bias was his name. Ten days ago on June 19, was the 21st anniversary of the death of Lenny Bias.

He is one of the biggest ( if not at the top of the list) "what ifs" in NBA history. He is sometimes called the curse of the Boston Celtics. With Lenny, the celtics would have probably won the next 4 titles, or maybe even 5 considering Larry Bird still was playing. At this point Reggie Lewis was alive as well.

By Keith Harriston and Sally Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writers
June 20, 1986

University of Maryland all-America basketball player Len Bias collapsed in his dormitory suite early yesterday morning and two hours later was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at Leland Memorial Hospital in Riverdale.

Evidence of cocaine was found in a urine sample taken at the hospital as an emergency medical team labored from 6:50 to 8:50 a.m. to revive him, police sources said. Maj. James Ross, head of criminal investigations for Prince George's County police, said even if cocaine had been detected, it would not be possible to tell if that had contributed to Bias' death without further tests.

Medical experts said sudden cardiac arrest in a 22-year-old in apparent top physical shape could have been caused by cocaine, by a heart ailment that even frequent examinations might have missed, or by a combination of the two.

Sources said Bias passed a physical—including a urinalysis to test for drugs—administered May 27 by the Boston Celtics, who Tuesday made him the No. 2 overall pick in the National Basketball Association draft. Bias showed no sign of a heart ailment in yearly team physicals, including a special study to look for hidden heart disease, and no evidence of drug use in urine tests late last season, according to University of Maryland physicians.

From interviews with Bias' family, teammates and friends, a picture of his last hours emerges: He flew in from Boston with his father, went to the family home in landover about 11 p.m., arrived at College Park around midnight, ate crabs in his dormitory suite with teammates and a member of the football team until about 2 a.m., drove off alone and was seen at an off-campus gathering, and returned to his dorm about 3 a.m. He collapsed some time after 6 a.m., while talking with teammate Terry Long.

Bias was unconscious and was not breathing when county ambulance attendants arrived at his dormitory suite at 6:36 a.m.—four minutes after they were called and six minutes before a mobile intensive care unit arrived—and he never regained consciousness nor breathed on his own, said Dr. Edward Wilson, chief emergency room physician at Leland Memorial.

Bias's body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore yesterday for an autopsy. Dr. John E. Smialek, Maryland's chief medical examier, said it would be seven to 10 days before complete autopsy results are obtained.

"We are not releasing any preliminary results,' said Smialek. "We will wait until everything is properly evaluated."

The county's homicide unit is investigating, as is routine, but a spokesman sad no foul play is suspected. All five teammates who shared the suite with Bias will be questioned, Detective Paul Noblitt said. Keith Gatlin was taken in shortly after 11 o'clock last night.

Bias' sister Michelle said she was told her brother was talking with Long on a couch in their dormitory suite in Washington Hall when he collapsed. A fire department spokesman, Maj. Thomas Brinkley, said Long was administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation when the county ambulance arrived. It could not be determined who placed the call for assistance.

"He was sitting on the couch with Terry Long," said Michelle Bias, who was not at the dorm, "and he laid back like he was going to sleep and he started to have a seizure."

Details of what Bias did between midnight and 6:30 a.m. were vague. His sister said Bias and their father, James, flew in from Boston and drove directly to their home in Landover. "He (Bias) left home at 11:30 p.m. to go back to the dorm," Michelle Bias said.

Keeta Covington, a defensive back on the Maryland football team, said he was in the dorm suite when Bias arrived. Covington said he, Long, Bias and basketball players Gatlin, David Gregg and Jeff Baxter ate crabs and talked about the Celtics and Bias' future until about 2 a.m. at which point Bias left.

"He got tired of all the questions," Covington said. "He'd had microphones in his face for two days. We were just like the reporters. We were curious, only without pencils and microphones."

Covington said he walked with Bias to the parking lot, where he said Bias told him "I'm getting away from here." Covington placed the time at "2 or 2:15."

Covington said Bias was merely tired of all the attention, not ill. "As far as feeling sick, bad—nothing," he said. "He was trying to get away from the phone."

Bias drove off alone in his newly purchased Nissan 300ZX, Covington said. "I was under the impression he was going to see a lady," he said.

David Driggers, a friend with whom Bias often played pickup basketball games, said he saw Bias at a small gathering on Cherry Hill just off campus. "He stopped by and said how excited he was and talked for a while," Driggers said.

Driggers said there was no alcohol or drugs at the gathering. "Just soda," he said.

Driggers placed Bias at the party "around 2, 2:30," and Covington was quoted as saying Bias returned to campus about an hour after his departure—which would have been about 3 a.m.

What happened between then and the time of Bias' collapse in the suite (shared by him, Baxter, Long, Gatlin, Gregg and teammate Phil Nevin) could not be determined. Long was not available to comment and Gregg declined to discuss it.

Nevin said he was out for most of the night and early morning, and when he returned he immediately went to bed, without seeing anyone. He said he awoke when the paramedics were taking Bias out.

Asked if he had seen any evidence of drug use, Nevin said, "I didn't see anything, but the police are going through it (the suite) with a fine-tooth comb."

Baxter and Gatlin both said they fell asleep earlier in the evening, and Gatlin said when he awoke he saw Bias on the floor and paramedics in attendance.

"I was in a state of shock," Gatlin said. "I was worried about Lenny, he was on the floor. All my teammates and I just rushed up, got dressed, shorts or anything, and followed him to the hospital. I called his mother and just told her that Len had a seizure and they were taking him to the hospital, and she said, 'Okay, I'm going.'"

Neither of Bias' parents was available for comment yesterday.

At the hospital, Wilson said Bias "was unconscious . . . he never spontaneously began breating on his own. He had no organized heartbeat."

Wilson said Bias was given five drugs in an attempt to revive him: sodium epinephrine (which he described as "basically adrenaline"), sodium bicarbonate (to normalize the acidity in his bloodstream), lidocaine (to control hyperactivity and any irregular heartbeat), calcium (to stimulate the heart muscle) and bretyline (a "secondary drug to control irregularity of the heart").

After the chemicals failed, Wilson said, a pacemaker was implanted in the heart muscle to try to get it beating. That also failed, he said.

Outside the hospital, Reginald Adams, a friend of Bias' and a player at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said he received a phone call at 7:30 a.m. from a mutual friend who said she was with Bias when he was stricken. "The only thing she said was he had problems breathing. He was breathing hard, getting cramps, then he just keeled over."

The woman's identity could not be determined.

In the medical examiner's office in Baltimore, Smialek said only the "initial phase" of the postmortem was completed.

Smialek said he had heard reports the hospital had found traces of cocaine in Bias' urine, but refused to say whether the medical examiner's office had found anything to suggest drug involvement.

"We obtained some of the urine sample that the hospital got and we are in the process of testing it, along with other samples obtained during the autopsy," said Smialek. "I'm not going to give any preliminary indication of anything so there are no misconceptions."

Washington Post staff writers Sandra Bailey, Tom Kenworthy, Eugene L. Meyer, Ed Nicklas and Dave Sell contributed to this report.

I can't explain to people in words how good this kid was. Allow this to do the typing for me. Enjoy.



On December 11th, 1990 Jay Bias, Lenny's younger brother, a promising high school basketball player, was shot to death in a dispute in the parking lot of Prince George's Plaza, a Hyattsville shopping mall located just miles from the University of Maryland.

By Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writer
December 6, 1990

After the shooting finally stopped, and the green Mercedes-Benz carrying the gunman pulled away, Tydus Mathis stayed low in the driver's seat of his red Toyota and yelled out the names of his friends.

"Jay!"

"Andre!"

Was anyone hurt?

Andre Campbell, sprawled on the back seat, was only dazed, cut by flying windshield glass. Yet in front of Campbell, slouched and bleeding on the passenger seat beside Mathis, was the dying figure of their friend and co-worker, Jay Bias, shot twice in the back.

"Jay was leaning over on the driver," Campbell said yesterday. "He was telling us to tell his family how much he loved them. That's what he kept saying. He kept telling us to tell his family how much he loved them.

"Then he started saying the Lord's Prayer," Campbell said.

"And then Tydus, he just rushed us to the hospital," Campbell said, describing the death Tuesday of Prince George's County's 113th homicide victim of 1990, James Stanley "Jay" Bias, 20, a younger brother of the late University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias.

Jay Bias, a former high school basketball standout who once showed some of the talent his elder brother lost to a cocaine overdose in 1986, was pronounced dead at Leland Memorial Hospital at 2:52 p.m., less than two hours after the shooting outside Prince George's Plaza in Hyattsville.

Makes me tear, actually.

Draft Tonight

The 20th anniversary of the new Lottery Draft airs tonight and I don't know about you guys but I'm kinda excited. Everyone already knows who the first overall draft pick will be this year. I understand that they want Greg Oden ( I mean he's probably one of the best talents to come into the draft since...Lebron James, but you get the point) but is he really ready to play in the league?

ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher reported on Wednesday night that Greg Oden's camp has been notified by the Portland Trail Blazers that they will take him with the No. 1 pick in Thursday's NBA draft.

SN hoops guru Mike DeCourcy stated that there's no question Oden is the best player to choose in the draft. "If the Blazers want to turn their No. 1 overall pick into some kind of marketing game, pretending they might find a reason to choose Durant over Oden, that's up to them."

SN member JTCOWBOY agrees that Portland will pick the Buckeyes' big man. "For those of you who have jumped off the Blazers' bandwagon, there is room for you to jump back on. The ride is going to be sweet."

Though, others believe that Kevin is going to rain bombs in the league, "He should eventually challenge for scoring titles. I see no reason why he won't average 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds within two years."

Kevin Durant has had comparisons with T MAC and other players. But, he's built like a 6'10 Reggie Miller and he looks like Tyshaun Prince. Maybe with 9 hours a day in the weight room this boy can beef himself up. He only weighs the mere weight of 215 pounds. I could spend another day observing these two players. But, I went to rank each player from three to five ( Kevin Durant and Greg have already been covered).

3. Yi Jianlian China - He will be the fourth Chinese Basketball to play in the NBA. The other three are of course Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and Mengke Bateer. "Yi the X-factor in jackpot draft," read a recent headline in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The reason I decided to put him up this high is because one, he is this good and two I think the Atlanta Hawks would want to take a player like him. Can he play defense, and is he strong enough to play in the NBA? And his age. The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)has his birthday as Oct. 27, 1987, 19 at draft time. But some believe he's about three years older. Teams might give a 19 year-old time to develop, but a 22-year-old is expected to be a finished product.

"He's definitely a great athlete who can be an NBA project for any team," said Xia Song, an NBA analyst on Beijing's BTV. "The draft is hard to predict unless you are a Yao Ming or LeBron James or Michael Jordan."

He averaged 25 point and 12 rebounds in the Olympics last summer. "Every international player -- every Chinese player -- is going to need time to adjust to the American culture, to the NBA, to the lockerroom," Xia said. "It is going to take time. But he's young, he's a very smart kid and he will be able to handle it very well."

The President of the United States Basketball Academy has been watching the Chinese Product for years now.

"I think he's the least known player in the draft," said O'Neil, who returned this week to the US from China.

"Some teams in the NBA have done their homework on him -- some haven't," O'Neil said. "For me he's a multidimensional talent -- a top-five pick for sure. Of course they play different positions, but he's stronger than Yao was at this point in his career."

His English is also said to be better then Yao's at this point. ;)

4.Al Horford Florida Gators - This guy is going to be good. When I would watch Sportscenter all I would hear about with Noah, Noah this. But when I would actually watch the games, I would look at this game and say, what the heck are they talking about Noah for? He play supreme defense on Greg Oden in the National Championship game as he did during the seasons ( not against oden, other people).

“On Wednesday, sources say one of the Hawks owners vetoed a hypothetical deal for Stoudemire for financial reasons.”

Note, please: “A hypothetical deal.” But wouldn’t a real deal — sorry, Mr. Holyfield — require some input from Stoudemire’s current team? Here, from the Arizona Republic, is this telling paragraph:

” ‘We’ve never spoken with Atlanta about Amare,’ Suns general manager Steve Kerr said Wednesday night, when he also called Stoudemire to assure him all rumors were bogus. ‘We have no idea why anybody would speculate on that.’ “

So, possibly Phoenix will get AH. Dunno.

5. Mike Conley Jr. Ohio State -

"It's not tough. He's a point guard and he can adjust to anything he wants to," Armstrong said Monday. "It's going to be up to him. He can run a team. It's going to be up to him on how fast he can and wants to learn. To me, that always comes down to the player. If you want to be on the floor, you learn as fast as you can.

"I think he's a guy that's hungry. Not a lot of people expected him to do what he did this year. You have to respect what he did for them at Ohio State. It's always up to the individual and how he wants to make his way through the league. Certain guys get satisfied just making the league. I think he's a very good, talented player that can make it happen in the league."

His skills have been compared to Current two time Champ Tony Parker of the San Antino Spurs. He's quick, gritty, and he can pull up for the mid range jumper with ease. Though, some don't think he is quite ready to make an immediate impact in the league.

"There's always an adjustment period," Ash said Monday. "It's tough on a player regardless if he spent one year in college or four years there. A lot depends on the individual coming in, his ability to play and his level of maturity. Conley is very capable handling the adjustment. He has a good court presence and he shows a lot of poise. He's done that at every level he's played at."

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas thinks Conley will be a "great NBA point guard,"

"He's an extraordinary talent," Bilas said. "If he were of age to come out in the 2005 draft that had Chris Paul and Deron Williams, you would still have a heck of a difficult time choosing from those three."

Conley recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer he's more interested in patterning his game after Nash and Parker. "I try to play as closely to them as I can," Conley said. "And they win, so I like to be a winner."

"He doesn't shoot it well," Bilas said.

"He's going to have to improve upon that. If you're a decision-maker, ready to pull the trigger on Conley, you've got to make a decision: 'Do we think he can significantly improve his shooting consistency so he can be the type of player his skills tell us he can be?' Because if he doesn't improve it, people are going to go under screens, sit in a big man's lap, and it's going to be hard for him to reach his full potential."

Conley said at the predraft camp in Orlando, Fla.: "As a freshman, they said I couldn't do a lot of things. I try to prove people wrong a lot. I feel with the right coaches, and the right people around me, they can definitely help me and guide me with my jump shot. And I'm willing to learn and fix things. I definitely have the ability to knock down the shot and be able to prove a lot of people wrong."

Disgruntled Stars

With the 20th anniversary NBA Draft coming up tomurrow, more highlights and GM attention has been focused on major NBA players. Currently, disgruntled stars around the league are requesting trades left and right, Paul Pierce the latest to join this frenzy of Trade Requests. Before I get to the actual draft coverage, I would like to analysis each player and the possible trades or jerseys they will be occupying next season.

Jermaine O'Neal Indiana Pacers - Rumors of this trade have been swarming around the league like bees since the middle of the Regular Season. The question is, does Jermaine O'Neal actually want out? The answer is yes, in one case he does on the condition that the Pacers choose to Rebuild. According to Larry Bird, this isn't the case.

"We're not rebuilding," Bird said. "And if I have a say in it I'll never rebuild. You take what you've got and you add to it. I don't believe in dropping to the very bottom to build yourself up. … You have to add to your core group and build from there."

But, does Jermaine really have anything to look forward to? I mean, the Pacers have no draft picks in this upcoming draft which posses to be one of the deepest drafts in the 20 year history. The Indiana Pacers are so much over the cap that it's stupid to even think about. Possible trade scenarios would be Jermaine O'Neal and Troy Murphy to the Lakers for Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom, plus their number 19 pick.

"We will get a good shooter," Bird said. "We'll get one of the top shooters in the league. It might not be the biggest name in the league but we will get a guy that can shoot the basketball. We can go either way (either by acquiring a draft pick or a veteran) but we will get a shooter."

One of the only teams currently in the league that is under the Salary Cap is the Atlanta Hawks who has the rights to pick 3 and 11 in the draft. So, is it possible that we trade Jermaine to the hawks for the 11th pick ( which was ours anyway) and clear some salary cap space? Then the Pacers could probably go after a shooter in the draft or free agency.

We'll see by 8:00 tomurrow.

Kobe Bryant Los Anglos Lakers -

"Kobe Bryant has played his last game in a Laker uniform," Espn's Rick Bucher said Friday. "That, at least, is the message consistently from Kobe's camp and the one he has sent to the Lakers more than once….

Kobe Bryant is currently and widely thought to be the very best player in the league today. It would be very hard to trade a 27 year old Michael Jordan. He has a contract that is monstrous in size, a no trade clause, and who's to say he tries to do this again with another team. Kobe Bryant is actually 2 years from his opt out year, so what if he doesn't win at his new home? Bulls GM John Paxson commented on how hard it would be to get Kobe.

''There's nothing going on,'' Paxson said. ''That's just the reality of it. I put myself in the other person's position when talking about deals. Unless that franchise would ever have a change of heart that they just have to do something ... what we would have to give up, I don't know how that would work for us.

''They've got maybe the top talent in the league -- definitely top-three. What we would have to do to get there ... I don't even know what it would be, but it would be significant. And then, are we better? That's what you'd have to ask yourself.''

Lakers Management is currently not giving any comments on this situation. But when you look at how frantic they are trying to deal, you can tell that their trying to get some talent and quick. But really, is giving up Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom worth getting a Kevin Garnett or JO in return? With a few more trades, maybe a duo of those two could win a championship. Maybe not, who knows?

Kevin Garnett Minnesota Timberwolves - As far as I know, KG hasn't actually requested a trade. But, everyone knows that he is disgruntled and wants out. Remember 3 years ago when the Timberwolves signed Sam Cassel and Latrell Sparewell? KG won the MVP that year, and made it the Western Conference Finals. The next year, Sam went to the Clippers, and Latrell barely played up to par.

Kevin Mchale has made a trade this off season, sending Mike James to the Rockets for Juwan Howard. 4 years ago, Howard could have signed with the Timerwolves.

"Even though I did not sign with Minnesota, it always was in the back of my mind when I was in Orlando [and] I second-guessed my decision," Howard said. "Nothing against Orlando, but I felt I should have signed with Minnesota."

Timberwolves basketball boss Kevin McHale said Howard is coming to Minnesota to "help stabilize the locker room and help stabilize the team, and it balances out our roster a little bit, so it was a good deal."

Maybe KG will be playing in a TimberWolves jersey next year. Who knows.

Paul Pierce -

"I’m expecting to make our pick tomorrow," Ainge said. "I’m excited about the fifth pick. I think the fifth pick can be an exciting part of our team this year and an important piece of our future." As to how Paul Pierce is going to react to this summer's inactivity, Ainge said what he had to. "Paul wants to win," said Ainge. "It’s that simple. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to be able to figure out that he wants to win. They all want to win. We all want. We’re all trying to become a more competitive and a winning team. It’s that simple." With this summer's inactivity and the lottery disappointment, this summer has to be considered another disaster for the Celtics and it will be interesting to see what Pierce's next move is.

Pierce wants another veteran in Bean Town or he's out. There's really not much more to say, no one wants to join him there. Shawn Marion followed suit about joining the Franchise and Kevin Garnett's agent told Celtic's Management that he does not wish to go to the Celtics.

Paul Pierce may be wearing a different jersey next year for the first time in his career.