The story of Len Bias is never anything but sad. The former number-two overall pick in the 1986 Draft was supposed to revitalize the Boston Celtics at the tail end of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale‘s careers. But it never happened after his cocaine use immediately following the draft caused Bias to pass away due to heart failure. Read More »

Whatever words you would use to describe 2010 Kevin Durant — phenomenal, next biggest thing, etc. — Michael Beasley was once upon a time on the fast track to be even better.

But you don’t need B.I.G. to tell you that Things Done Changed.

One year after Durant (25.8 ppg, 11.1 rpg) owned college basketball and got picked No. 2 in the NBA Draft, Beasley duplicated the feat, topping KD’s freshman stats with 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. Read More »

When a young phenom stumbles, or goes all the way and completely falls from grace, the race is on amongst guys like us (media) to say “I saw it coming.” Whether it’s a young Mike Tyson‘s behavior around women or Todd Marinovich‘s father creating a recipe for his son’s rebellion, pundits like to say they saw the signs before anyone else. In the case of Michael Beasley, playing the “We saw it coming” card initially seemed like opportunistic hindsight, and yet, thinking back to our time spent with Beasley, everything that’s come to light this week makes sense. Read More »