Was 70 wins a possibility?

Celtsfan1980 · Post #1 » by **Celtsfan1980** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:31 pm

Obviously other people can post, but I'd specifically love to hear from those who watched Len Bias play. Many Celtics fans still to this day consider the 1985-1986 Celtics team as the greatest team ever. They were 40-1 at home in the regular season and I think 49-1 including the playoffs, 67-15 record, and lost only 3 in the playoffs. The greatest front court of all time, with Bill Walton as the best reserve in the league. Bias was considered the greatest college player of all time by a lot of people who watched him, so you could have two of the best reserves in the entire league. Some would even say he beat Jordan's North Carolina team by himself. The organization thought 70 wins was a possibility. From what I have read, Bias wanted to be a Celtic and Larry Legend was willing to go to training camp early just to help Bias, so any chances of a chemistry problem would be very, very small. I have a few questions I'd like answered.
1. Would a healthy Celtics team be able to win 70 games? Some would say I'm crazy, but is there any chance they could have won 75 games?
2. How many Championships would the Celtics have won with Bird and Bias together? Jordan likely would not have retired the first time, but how many Championships do you think Jordan would have won if Bias comes even close to his potential?
3. What kind of numbers do you think Bias would have put up in his prime and for his entire career?
4. Which players do you think Boston would have had that would have complimented Bias in the time after the "Big 3" retired?

Gutter92 · Post #2 » by **Gutter92** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:52 pm

What would have happened had Drazen not been killed in the car crash? What would have happened had Derek Fisher not gotten lucky? What would have happened had Manu not fouled Dirk? Why does my big left toe itch? All questions to which the answers can never be known..

Celtsfan1980 · Post #3 » by **Celtsfan1980** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:35 pm

Gutter92 wrote:What would have happened had Drazen not been killed in the car crash? What would have happened had Derek Fisher not gotten lucky? What would have happened had Manu not fouled Dirk? Why does my big left toe itch? All questions to which the answers can never be known..

I'm not sure what you're referring to about Fisher being lucky. The Spurs game is the only one that comes to mind. I was just curious as to what people thought of Len Bias and how much he would have helped Boston. He looked phenominal in the clips I've seen, but I was very young when he played in college so I don't remember much except for clips. A movie on him is coming out this Summer, so I hope to see that.

RapsGM · Post #4 » by **RapsGM** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:15 pm

What was Len Bias thinking?

RIPskaterdude · Post #5 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:33 pm

The Kings would have been NBA Champions in 2002.

The Main Event · Post #6 » by **The Main Event** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:39 pm

I've thought about this alot. Bizas was an athletic beast. They could only have been better with him on the squad. So to answer your question, i think that it is very plausible that give the right conditions, the Celts could had reached a regular season record of 70+ wins.

Baller 24 · Post #7 » by **Baller 24** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:46 pm

xx_skaterdude_xx wrote:The Kings would have been NBA Champions in 2002.

They were suppose to be, did the 2002 Lakers really deserve it? many now would say no.

Post #8 » by **studcrackers** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:04 pm

RapsGM wrote:What was Len Bias thinking?

cocaines a helluva drug

Cevap · Post #9 » by **Cevap** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:07 pm

If the guy killed himself partying for being the #1 draft pick, just imagine how hard he'd party for winning the championship (#17!!!!!) He would've taken Parish and McHale with him to the pearly gates....

guy1 · Post #10 » by **guy1** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:46 pm

I don't think Bias was ever considered the greatest college player ever. He probably ranked up there with the greatest NBA potential, but I've never seen him high on an all-time college player's list.

First of all, you should probably also include Reggie Lewis in this topic and make it a "what if Len Bias and Reggie Lewis didn't die?" topic. I think 70 wins was possible. But after 87, the Celtics had alot of injuries, so Bias would've had to have taken more responsibility right away. He probably would've had to take the best player role in his third year when Bird was out. I think if he lived up to his potential, the Celtics win the title in 87, and maybe in 90 and 91. The Celtics were already pretty good in 91 so they might've beaten the Bulls. Definitely not in 89 though since Bird was injured the whole year. I think by at least 92, the Bulls go on their run, and if thats their first title, Jordan never retires the first time, and they go after the Celtics 8 straight title record, and win 8 or 9 championships. I'm a little favored towards Jordan, but I'm not just going to assume Bias would've been better then him based off potential, cause Jordan was just that good. If Bias and Lewis lived up to their potential, a Bulls-Celtics rivalry would've been amazing, especially with Jordan-Pippen vs. Bias-Lewis.

As a result, Bird has 2 or 3 more titles and I think alot more people would rank him ahead of Magic, and Jordan actually has some more titles as well. Bias still has some titles but I think might've had the reputation Kobe currently has, where "he can't win a title without Bird". Also, Paul Pierce and KG probably wouldve never became Celtics.

erdamon · Post #11 » by **erdamon** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:46 pm

He wasn't just dabbling with cocaine. Chances are he would have either still died at some point or done enough damage to prevent himself from achieving his own potential. Maybe even spreading his addiction in the locker room doing even more damage.