40 for 34 #36 - June 16

"He's Going to be

a Star Someday"

The Celtics Were Ecstatic to Pick Bias in the 1986 NBA Draft

Len Bias has just been drafted number two by the Boston Cetics in the 1986 NBA draft. Soon after he was asked in a television interview why he wanted to play for the Celtics. “They’re a good team and they got, uh, good, uh, supporting players,” he said sheepishly. “I can go up there and sit on the bench and whether I go in and play or not, and I learn a lot from the players there.” He was sked him if he could accept the role of being a benchwarmer for a while. Bias chuckled and said, “I guess I’m gonna have to.”

The Celtics immediately expressed their glee in picking Bias. “He’s going to be a star someday, no question about it,” Celtics General Manager Red Auerbach said. “He gives us a lot of support. He can play some guard, he can play some forward, he can play a power forward, a quick forward. He is the best athlete, in my opinion, in the whole draft, and he’s going to really help this ball club. … He’ll get his playing time. … We’ve had guys sit around for a while. Except in this particular case, he’s gonna play. In fact, he’s ready to play now. He’s the guy we wanted, and we got him.”

Bias seemed to accept a reserve role as a Celtics rookie. “I’m ready to take the role of a learner now,” he said in the Boston Globe the day of the draft. “I can learn from great players here.”

Excerpted from the book,

Born Ready: the Mixed Legacy of Len Bias

Buy autographed copies

as a Father's Day Gift

The audio for this post was narrated by the author,

Dave Ungrady.

And listen to more about Len's early life in Episode 2 of the narrative podcast series, Len Bias: A Mixed Legacy

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