The 80's Celtics would have been better if they did one thing...

[MaxwellSmart86]

We could have drafted Tim Hardaway instead of Michael Smith...  Yeah, that hurts too...

Yes of course...BUT, at the time--Bird was coming off of Double Heel surgery...and we had Brian Shaw...We just didn't know he was gonna stupidly bolt and play in Europe with Danny Ferry.

[Eddie20]

Having a coach like Doc Rivers who, unlike KC Jones, realizes the importance of limiting the minutes of veteran players during the regular season and doesn't run them into the ground is the single most important factor in us not raising more banners. KC ran our starters into the ground!

One other thing regarding the 86 draft that I haven't seen mentioned...
Aside from the Bias death, we also traded our 1st rd pick that year and with that pick Sabonis was drafted by Portland. Could we have enticed him to play in the NBA during his prime if it were to play alongside a Larry Bird led championship caliber team? Would Russia have allowed him to play in the NBA immediately following the draft if it meant exposure for their country by playing in a big city/marquee team? Not to mention that Rodman, Price, Hornacek, and Duckworth were all selected in the 2nd round.

[cdif911]

Sent someone to chaperon Len Bias after they decided to draft him.

didn't really have much time, he died a few hours after his press conference

[MaxwellSmart86]

Having a coach like Doc Rivers who, unlike KC Jones, realizes the importance of limiting the minutes of veteran players during the regular season and doesn't run them into the ground is the single most important factor in us not raising more banners. KC ran our starters into the ground!

One other thing regarding the 86 draft that I haven't seen mentioned...
Aside from the Bias death, we also traded our 1st rd pick that year and with that pick Sabonis was drafted by Portland. Could we have enticed him to play in the NBA during his prime if it were to play alongside a Larry Bird led championship caliber team? Would Russia have allowed him to play in the NBA immediately following the draft if it meant exposure for their country by playing in a big city/marquee team? Not to mention that Rodman, Price, Hornacek, and Duckworth were all selected in the 2nd round.

YES...KC Jones was horrible...he lost us the "87 Finals by NOT using his bench in the game that Magic hit his sky hook...We had a 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter---Starters were TOO TIRED to compete in the 4th...Lakers came back...and the series was over.

[Eddie20]

Having a coach like Doc Rivers who, unlike KC Jones, realizes the importance of limiting the minutes of veteran players during the regular season and doesn't run them into the ground is the single most important factor in us not raising more banners. KC ran our starters into the ground!

One other thing regarding the 86 draft that I haven't seen mentioned...
Aside from the Bias death, we also traded our 1st rd pick that year and with that pick Sabonis was drafted by Portland. Could we have enticed him to play in the NBA during his prime if it were to play alongside a Larry Bird led championship caliber team? Would Russia have allowed him to play in the NBA immediately following the draft if it meant exposure for their country by playing in a big city/marquee team? Not to mention that Rodman, Price, Hornacek, and Duckworth were all selected in the 2nd round.

YES...KC Jones was horrible...he lost us the "87 Finals by NOT using his bench in the game that Magic hit his sky hook...We had a 17 point lead in the 3rd quarter---Starters were TOO TIRED to compete in the 4th...Lakers came back...and the series was over.

Not to mention that we had a ton of injuries. McHale had ankles issues, but so did Parish. If memory serves me he sprained it twice during the Pistons series and his mobility was not the same during the Finals. Also think DJ was dealing with a thigh bruise at the time. You add those factors to KC's "strategy" and 2 back to back 7 game series' ,w/ Mil. and Det., and I actually think it's a testament to our team's heart that we even won 2 vs LA.

[misha]

One other thing regarding the 86 draft that I haven't seen mentioned...
Aside from the Bias death, we also traded our 1st rd pick that year and with that pick Sabonis was drafted by Portland. Could we have enticed him to play in the NBA during his prime if it were to play alongside a Larry Bird led championship caliber team? Would Russia have allowed him to play in the NBA immediately following the draft if it meant exposure for their country by playing in a big city/marquee team? Not to mention that Rodman, Price, Hornacek, and Duckworth were all selected in the 2nd round.

The earliest Sabonis could have joined is 89. It's about that time russian players in various sports started to play abroad, and about that time (end of 89, early 90) Lithuania (Sabonis is from there) gained independence.

[Neurotic Guy]

Nope, Max/Walton is a deal I'd still do in restrospect.

The Gerald Henderson deal, on the other hand...

no way we should question the gerald henderson deal - it worked out brilliantly and would have been viewed on the same level as the deal for parish & mchale (drafted) if len bias doesn't have a freak accident with drugs.

lenny bias was a 6'8" michael jordan and larry wins a few more rings while cancelling the lakers out, then Red builds around bias and reggie lewis after that.
just no way to have seen the bias tragedy coming - no way.
you can say all you want about the bumbling 90's .......... and rick pitino was an ego-maniac who had no business being GM ........... but i believe that we never recovered from lenny bias.
until now.

TP for the astute analysis of the Bias tragedy.  It is undeniable that cocaine was used abundantly on college campuses in the late 70's and throughout the 80's -- I have no doubt that many draft picks circa 1978 to 1990 used cocaine at some point. This was terrible luck for Bias, his family (mostly), and for the C's. Without the benefit of hindsight, you make the Henderson deal every time.   The Reggie Lewis tragedy was equally horrific and unlikely.

[Andy Jick]

Didn't the Celtics make a contract offer to Antoine Carr (1987?) and Atlanta matched (restricted)?  He would have definitely helped provide front-court depth.  We really had no skill-laden low block players on the bench, as we kept recycling guys like Darren Daye & Fred Roberts.

And Abdelnaby actually showed a few flashes of brilliance, but he was injured a LOT and had no lasting value.  But he had some nice low post moves...

[Celtics17]

Could a, would a, should a ... . There are a lot of things that possibly should have been done differently in the 80's. Trading for "Big Red" was not one of them. Bill Walton was the sixth man of the year that season and was so good off the bench for that if he were playing on this years team instead of the 86 squad and at the same age, we would be the hands on favorite to not only win this years title but to do so convincingly. Gasol would not score down low against Walton and noone on that Lakers team would be getting Bill's rebounds either.

[Beat LA]

I wish that I was around then - I missed the greatest decade of basketball in the NBA.  I constantly find myself fascinated with what if scenarios, and have researched the mentioned time period extensively.  In addition, I have thought about this stuff for way too long and feel the need to both get it off my chest, and bounce these ideas of mine off everyone/anyone that is willing to read over my theories.  Due to the length of my "solutions," I will post my thoughts one season at a time.  Please, all of you that were there, feel free to correct, disagree, or point out something that I missed.  This is going to take a while.

Allow me to start off by saying that I have really only poured over the time period from the 1983 NBA Draft to the conclusion of Larry Bird's career (my favorite player), although I have looked into Bird's rookie season.

Let's start off by stating the obvious: there were countless factors that influenced the title run of our beloved Celts during the 1980s - some over which we could have had control, and some that could not be controlled and/or foreseen.  For the most part, I will stay away from what ifs concerning injuries - they are an unfortunate part of the sport that can occur for many reasons.  Where I will start, however, is not with player transactions.  Instead, I will first examine the front office.  

End of Intro.

[Beat LA]

I wish that I was around then - I missed the greatest decade of basketball in the NBA.  I constantly find myself fascinated with what if scenarios, and have researched the mentioned time period extensively.  In addition, I have thought about this stuff for way too long and feel the need to both get it off my chest, and bounce these ideas of mine off everyone/anyone that is willing to read over my theories.  Due to the length of my "solutions," I will post my thoughts one season at a time.  Please, all of you that were there, feel free to correct, disagree, or point out something that I missed.  This is going to take a while.

Allow me to start off by saying that I have really only poured over the time period from the 1983 NBA Draft to the conclusion of Larry Bird's career (my favorite player), although I have looked into Bird's rookie season.

Let's start off by stating the obvious: there were countless factors that influenced the title run of our beloved Celts during the 1980s - some over which we could have had control, and some that could not be controlled and/or foreseen.  For the most part, I will stay away from what ifs concerning injuries - they are an unfortunate part of the sport that can occur for many reasons.  Where I will start, however, is not with player transactions.  Instead, I will first examine the front office. 

End of Intro.

On second thought, nevermind - if I were to follow through on writing about every wrong move made by the Celtics of the 80s I might waste a significant portion of my life.

[KungPoweChicken]

If Len Bias and Reggie Lewis never died, the Celtics probably would have taken a couple titles in the 90s and transitioned seamlessly from the Bird era. Len Bias was going to be an all time great.

[GreenFaith1819]

If Len Bias and Reggie Lewis never died, the Celtics probably would have taken a couple titles in the 90s and transitioned seamlessly from the Bird era. Len Bias was going to be an all time great.

So True.

But - If Bias had not passed, then we may not have drafted (or needed to draft) Reggie Lewis. Plus, Bias would've carried us well into the late 90's, which means we probably wouldn't have drafted Pierce....which means that almost 10 yrs later we probably would not have traded for KG or Ray.....

[lon3lytoaster]

If Len Bias and Reggie Lewis never died, the Celtics probably would have taken a couple titles in the 90s and transitioned seamlessly from the Bird era. Len Bias was going to be an all time great.

So True.

But - If Bias had not passed, then we may not have drafted (or needed to draft) Reggie Lewis. Plus, Bias would've carried us well into the late 90's, which means we probably wouldn't have drafted Pierce....which means that almost 10 yrs later we probably would not have traded for KG or Ray.....

For the sake of argument, I'll assume Bias would have met his potential. I'd be extremely tempted to give up what this team has made with Pierce and KG for Bias and Bird in the late 80's then (assuming we still got him) Bias and Reggie in the 90's.

[GreenFaith1819]

If Len Bias and Reggie Lewis never died, the Celtics probably would have taken a couple titles in the 90s and transitioned seamlessly from the Bird era. Len Bias was going to be an all time great.

So True.

But - If Bias had not passed, then we may not have drafted (or needed to draft) Reggie Lewis. Plus, Bias would've carried us well into the late 90's, which means we probably wouldn't have drafted Pierce....which means that almost 10 yrs later we probably would not have traded for KG or Ray.....

For the sake of argument, I'll assume Bias would have met his potential. I'd be extremely tempted to give up what this team has made with Pierce and KG for Bias and Bird in the late 80's then (assuming we still got him) Bias and Reggie in the 90's.

Well, I don't know..Banners are Banners, after all..it sure would've been nice to see Bias reach his potential, and allow Bird to ride off into the sunset in a better light.

Bias and Lewis played the same spot, right? I just don't know if we would've picked up Reggie with Bias on the team. I think we would've went for a Good Big, to replace McHale or Chief, who were getting up there in age.

Even with Bias becoming All-World (which he very well could've been), I still think Larry would've wrapped up the sneakers for good in the early 90's, maybe closing our window. Who would've replaced Chief? McHale? Chief would've probably stayed, as long as Bias made Boston competitive, but I don't know if those two would've been enough.

McHale was just done by the early 90's..his feet were gone.

Now could we have repeated in as Champs 1987 with A probable Rookie of the Year in Bias? I don't know...with Bill Walton's health deteriorating, I think we were still lacking bigs to contend with LA that year..Bias would've helped, but I don't know how much.

But man, that Summer of 2007 will never be duplicated, in my eyes. MIA has tried it, but it's just not real. It's too fake right now.

Summer of 2007 will Never, ever be duplicated. Pluck two special, deserving players off of fading teams..place them with a Star in Boston, right after the storied franchises' worst season ever...rest is history.

We'll unfortunately never know how good Bias would've been, nor Reggie as well. But Man KG, Paul and Ray have made this latest edition of the Big Three very special. And they ain't done.