One thing that always takes me down from fantasizing what might have been is that he was drafted #2.
People act like he was that next sure thing, a generational prospect, that can't miss franchise cornerstone, etc., but he was drafted #2. Guys that are that clearly a superstar usually don't get drafted #2.
Now sure this was the era where if there's an All-Star caliber Center available, that's who you take, '86 was in the middle of a 5 year stretch of Centers getting drafted #1, along with most of the top few picks being either a C or PF. So maybe Bias just didn't fit the right mold to go #1. Maybe he was viewed as Durant here, a generational talent but the guy ahead of him had more appeal just because he was a Center. (But also think Jordan's explosion the previous year would help shatter that glass ceiling and have people start searching for that next Jordan, if he really was supposed to be the next Jordan).
And while sure there's some studs in the 80's near the top of the draft not drafted #1 (Jordan, Dominique, Isiah), but there's more non studs by far. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Danny Manning or Wayman Tisdale or Danny Ferry or Armen Gilliam or Rodney McCray or Xavier McDaniel, etc. who was drafted by the Celtics but had an untimely demise and then we'd see them romanticized the same way (only with the PF compared more to Barkley/Malone than Jordan).
Maybe there was a lot of debate of who should go #1, and maybe a lot of other franchises would have actually drafted Bias #1. There was debut that Carmelo should be drafted over LeBron, that Emeka Okafor should be drafted over Howard, that Aldridge should be drafted over Bargnani, that Durant should be drafted over Oden, that Ball should be drafted over Fultz, that Camby should be drafted over Iverson, etc. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.
But the fact that he went #2 definitely makes me question how much of a generational talent he really was at the time. And if there was that buzz, was it just normal rookie hype (like is often seen with guys like Andrew Wiggins, OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, etc.)?
Just on the hype train, here's a few articles calling Andrew Wiggins the next LeBron:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/basketball-phenomenon-andrew-wiggins-dubbed-the-best-prospect-since-lebron-james/news-story/024e639ff57e3a5c2ac15de9522384b1https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-wiggins-next-lebron-2013-5Just because people are saying it, doesn't make it true.
Just the pessimist in me.