Throwdowns > Closed

GoNets 2.0 said 06/02, 02:08 PM
FFTI - Best Player to Have Career Derailed Due to Illegal Drug Use

My choice:

Len Bias

He was the 2nd overall pick in the 1986 draft, going to the defending champion Celtics. He never played an NBA game, because 2 days after the draft, he died from an overdose of cocaine. Boston was never more shocked over this incident, except for the JFK assassination. They even went so far as to give his #30 Celtics jersey to his mother, and that number has never been used to this day.

He was compared to MJ (even though MJ was still in the early part of his career at the time), and he was a unanimous first team All-American. Red Auerbach had intentions of drafting this guy for 3 years. And Red Auerbach knew how to spot talent. Examples: Bird, McHale, Parrish, to name a few.

His career college stats:

16.4 PPG
5.7 RPG
79.5% FT
53.6% FG

His senior year stat line, which garnered him All-American honors.

23.2 PPG
7.0 RPG
86.4% FT
54.4% FG

He was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation. If you compare the draft class also, he went ahead of such players as Roy Tarpley, Ron Harper, Johnny Dawkins, John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Drazen Petrovic.

GoNets 2.0 said 06/02, 08:10 PM
Very good pick. Nearly went with Steve Howe myself.

Sure, every draftee is compared to MJ. But think about this: back in 1986, MJ was still a nobody: no rings, no superstardom, and he was still trying to find his niche in the NBA. It was early enough in MJ's career that any comparisons to MJ would actually be considered legitimate.

And that's how great Len Bias was.

He was legit, and the comparisons to MJ were legit.

Now sure, we are talking potential vs actual career, but imagine how history would have changed, should have changed, for the NBA if Bias got to play with the likes of Bird and McHale. And playing in a league simultaneously with MJ could have made for a Kobe vs LeBron type scenario 25 years ago.

Bias was the real deal. There is no denying that. His death shook the Celtics and the Univ of Maryland to their very foundations. So much so in fact that in 1988, the US Congress, the highest legislative body in the country, instituted the Len Bias Law, which furthered the Anti-Drug Law and spawned such programs as the DARE Program.

No other athlete's death from drug use spawned that kind of reaction.

Bias was wasted potential, sure. BUt so was Steve Howe.

GoNets 2.0 said 06/03, 02:31 PM
Sure Howe did make it to the top. But not once, several times. You see, coke didn't derail his career, per se. Sure, he was suspended multiple times, but on almost every re-instatement into the league, he would show "flashes of his former brilliance," to quote Wiki.

The proof of this? His numbers pre-1984:

1980 - 7-9, 2.66 ERA, 1.77 K/BB, ERA+ 134
1981 - 5-3, 2.50 ERA, 1.78 K/BB, ERA+ 135
1982 - 7-5, 2.08 ERA, 2.88 K/BB, ERA+ 169
1983 - 4-7, 1.44 ERA, 4.33 K/BB, ERA+ 251

1984 was his first suspension, then again in 1986. He was banned from 1988-1990 before being re-instated in 1991.

He stunk it up in 85 and 87, but he put up some of the best numbers of his career post-1990.

1991 - 3-1, 1.68 ERA, 4.86 K/BB, ERA+ 249
1992 - 3-0, 2.45 ERA, 4.00 K/BB, ERA+ 164
1993 - 3-5, 4.97 ERA, 1.90 K/BB, ERA+ 84
1994 - 3-0, 1.80 ERA, 2.57 K/BB, ERA+ 258
1995 - 6-3, 4.96 ERA, 1.65 K/BB, ERA+ 94
1996 - 0-1, 6.35 ERA, 0.83 K/BB, ERA+ 80

He had a career-best in ERA+ in 1994 after all his suspensions. He also had his highest K/BB ratio in 1991, after his suspensions. How does this show derailment? Sure, his drug use shortened his career, but it by no means derailed it.