The first one ('56-'57, over the Hawks in seven games) was the best. It’s always the first time you win.

The death of Lenny Bias in 1986 changed the fortunes of the Celtics for years to come.  Bias was tabbed to become the Next Great Celtic, the player who was going to take over for Larry Bird and continue the team’s string of excellence.  Please tell me about Lenny Bias.

 
People don't realize how good he was, unless they saw him play.  Bias was one of the early guys that was 6-foot-8 and could really run. I used to know him before it happened. Lefty (Driessel) was a good friend, still is.

There is much speculation surrounding Bias’ death from cocaine intoxication – one camp believes that Bias had never used drugs before that fateful June night in 1986, while others aren’t so sure.  From what I’ve read, Bias was clean.  He just made a very bad decision, one that cost him his life.

 
Bias was not a drug user.  That's why he died – he didn't know how to use them.  We tested him a week before the draft, and so did a lot of other teams. He passed three physicals from three different teams.

A year after selecting Lenny Bias, the Celtics select Reggie Lewis from Northeastern University.  Lewis was on the verge of superstardom in 1993 when he collapsed and died from a heart abnormality.  Lewis’ death was tragic, and also one that had a far-reaching effect on the fortunes of the Boston Celtics.  Can you comment on the loss of Lewis, and what this meant to the Celtics?

 
The bad break of it all was that the league never gave us a chance to recover from Reggie Lewis.  Forget about Bias – they never gave us a pick or anything to recover from that – but they could have given us cap money to use when we lost Reggie.  Because his contract was guaranteed, the league made us carry his salary on our cap for three years.  Three!  Today, they changed that rule. They realized how shabbily they treated us.  When you lose two All-Star players and get nothing back – just think about that.  Go to New Jersey and take away Kidd and their next best player.  Where the hell would they be?

After a horrible period during the 1990s, the team appears to be headed in the right direction.  The current group of Celtics surpassed a lot of expectations to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.  What impressed you the most with this team?

 
This team was an unselfish group of ballplayers.  They listened and bought into playing defense.  Antoine Walker is an unselfish player, and he’s become a leader on the team.  Pierce as well.  Both of them have great outside shots, and both of them aren’t afraid of taking the clutch shot.  Walker is multitalented; he can play his natural position or he can move out and play guard if he has to.  He has developed the inside game and has some nice moves around the basket.  Pierce is fearless.  He can play the two guard or the three (small forward) position.  You saw in the playoffs that he wasn’t afraid to drive to the hoop.

The team was unable to resign a number of its free agents, including Rodney Rogers.  Rogers was acquired in mid-season and played a key role in team’s march through the playoffs.  General Manager Chris Wallace was able to make a key acquisition via trade, bringing former All-Star Vin Baker to Boston.  How do you think the trade will work out?