Bias Revisted

General NCS Basketball10

On the eve of the NBA draft it makes some sense to revist this entry from last week that we hope that you saw.

Dave Sez had a follow-up on Bias worth linking. It includes some links to highlight videos that anyone who never saw Bias play ball should spend the time to review.

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General NCS Basketball

10 Responses to Bias Revisted

  1. burnbarn 06/27/2006 at 10:20 AM #

    I would say the second best player to ever play in the ACC behind you know who. What a shock when Lennard passed. I heard an interview with Lefty the other day about this topic. Lefty was widely criticised when this went down, but you can tell there was alot of love and respect between Lefty and the Bias family. It was sad day when he died.

  2. BladenWolf 06/27/2006 at 10:38 AM #

    I was courtside for many of the games Bias played in Reynolds. (NCSU 1983-1987). He was a man amoung boys in a lot of those games. I still remember being in complete awe of his physcial skills. I had many debates with my buds about Bias being far better than Jordan in college.
    I was not surprised at all watching him being drafted by the Celtics. I was stunned to learn about the overdose primarily because I never thought an athlete on his level would do something so stupid. What a tragedy.

  3. tractor57 06/27/2006 at 10:47 AM #

    There could be a real case made for Bias being the most dominant ACC basketball player ever (as opposed th the UNX fans who push MJ). Awesome on court talent and not a hint of off court problems until his death. In some ways Lefty got the shaft over that episode much as Valvano did. Can you imagine the Celtics with a young Bias – what a frontcourt.

  4. RickJ 06/27/2006 at 11:04 AM #

    I am pretty sure there was a time during Bias’ recruitment that V thought he was coming to NC State. The story went something like Tom Abatemarco (then an assistant at VPI) told V he wasn’t going to State but to Maryland (he coached with Lefty before going to VPI). I think Abatemarco may have been involved in VPI signing Dell Curry instead of NC State. V must have been impressed because he hired the “Alphabet Coach� (V’s term) the next year.

  5. Gopack80 06/27/2006 at 11:20 AM #

    Watch the youtube clip, they talk about Bias’s wrestling with transferring after his freshman year to State. Speaks about V talking with Bias. Can you imagine how powerful we would have been had we gotten Lenny Bias?

  6. choppack1 06/27/2006 at 5:02 PM #

    I heard someone say that the Celtics never recovered from the loss of Bias. If you never saw him play, you missed one of the greats. I simply haven’t seen a player w/ the “total package” like him – he could beat you inside or outside, soft jumper, he could sky, an incredible physical speciman and a warrior. We all missed out.

  7. StateFans 06/27/2006 at 5:14 PM #

    Celtics not only were negatively impacted by Bias…but, don’t forget the loss of Reggie Lewis.

  8. choppack1 06/27/2006 at 5:30 PM #

    That’s true, but I’ve always felt that the reason Lewis was anything more than an average starter was the death of Bias. You do wonder how Lewis could do that after what happened to Bias and his own previous episode. I mean w/ Bias, it was easy to be sympathetic – no one in his position had really died yet.

  9. redfred2 06/28/2006 at 12:06 PM #

    Bias was a man playing boys, definitely right up there at #2. He was no doubt better than MJ in college and there is no argument, as were so many others. I’m not saying that Jordan isn’t considered the best ever in the NBA, but the true reality of his four in college years are paled in comparison to many who played in the ACC. That’s also not saying he couldn’t have done it, but it didn’t happen only because of the system he played under.

    David Thompson was the most gifted, just waiting to take over a game at any second on either end of the court, absolute athlete that has ever played in the ACC or the nation in college. Right up there as one of the five best in the history of the college game. My bias would put at #1, but no lower than #3 or 4 in reality of all time. At just 6’4″, the best and most complete small foward ever.

  10. redfred2 06/28/2006 at 1:46 PM #

    David Thompson came out of Boiling Springs, NC already far ahead of anyone playing at the time. He played with his many brothers at home on a dirt court. Also Artis Gilmore and George Adams (NBA’ers) who were there at Gardner Webb at the time, and he more than held his own as a young high school teenager. There wasn’t any need for the usual adjustments to the college game when he walked on campus in Raleigh, he was already ahead. He had to play on the JV team as a freshman because the rules back then, so his ACC career #’s are based on three, instead of four full years.

    There is absolutely no doubt that he was the most physically talented, far and above EXCITING player to have ever stepped on the basketball court.
    The only college player, in my lifetime anyway, to even compete in the rawl excitement and awesome skills arena was Pistol Pete Maravich.

    David Thompson was given the oportunity and he did it all the way for all the right reasons, no show boating, just solid and awesome play. I remember only once he wasn’t calm and in control of everything going on the court. He strapped a team on his back and calmly and cooly delivered them to the promise land like no other player I’ve ever seen before, or ever will again. If you missed it, I feel sorry for you.

    Bias was great, but his college career is in the shadows of one that absolutely did it all, and made it look easy.

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