NBA -- Injuries, Tragedies Take Celtic Pride To New Low -- Decade Of Problems Precedes Worst Season

BOSTON - The Boston Celtics will conclude their free fall to the bottom of the NBA standings today. Well, not the very bottom. They can still prop a worn sneaker on the Vancouver Grizzlies.

But finishing just ahead of a 2-year-old expansion team in the final standings is no consolation to the most celebrated franchise in U.S. team sports (after the New York Yankees). Remember, this organization has won 16 NBA championships, but none since 1986, when the Celtics had their best team ever.

How did the Celtics fall so far? The complex answer includes bad luck and bad decisions.

Boston's demise began on June 19, 1986, when Len Bias died after using cocaine. The Celtics had drafted the Maryland forward two days earlier, intending for him to succeed Larry Bird as the team's next superstar. Had Bias lived, he would be in his 11th NBA season.

Bias' death was also the first of a series of injuries and tragedies.

Some were just bad luck. In September 1987, Bill Walton injured a finger in a pickup game. Later, while pedaling an exercise bike, he injured a foot. Walton, the NBA's Sixth Man Award winner in 1986, played 10 games at the end of the 1987 season, did not play in 1988 and then retired.

Kevin McHale was having an MVP year in 1987 until Larry Nance of the Phoenix Suns stepped on his foot. McHale hobbled through the NBA Finals on essentially a broken ankle.

Dee Brown, after a promising 1991 rookie season, suffered torn cartilage in his left knee on the eve of the 1992 season opener and never regained his form.

Other injuries resulted from wear and tear. Scott Wedman, a key reserve on Boston's 1984 and 1986 championship teams, underwent surgery for the removal of bone spurs on his feet and played only six games in 1986-1987. Bird had bone spurs removed from both feet and played only six games in 1988-89. In 1991 he missed 22 games because of back pain. He underwent surgery in June 1991, played 45 games in 1991-1992 and then retired.

Alton Lister signed last summer and then required shoulder surgery. Frank Brickowski signed last summer, succumbed to chronic shoulder pain in January and had season-ending surgery.

Pervis Ellison dropped a table on a toe in November and has not played since.

The Reggie Lewis tragedy stunned the Celtics in 1993. Named captain after Bird retired, Lewis had worked hard to lead the team through that difficult 1992-93 transition season. In the first playoff game against Charlotte, Lewis collapsed. In July, while shooting baskets at a team practice facility, he suffered a heart attack and died.

Charles Smith, a quiet guard from Georgetown who was playing on a 10-day contract, killed two Boston University students in a hit-and-run accident in March 1991. He served a prison sentence.

Marcus Webb, a free agent who played nine games in 1992-93, was charged with assaulting a woman.

Bad decisions have compounded the damage wrought by bad luck. In 1988, the Celtics drafted Brian Shaw. Two years later they were in federal court fighting to keep him from returning to Italy, where he had played after his rookie season. Dave Gavitt eventually traded him to Miami for Sherman Douglas.

In 1989, the Celtics drafted Michael Smith and Dino Radja. Smith was a bust, and Red Auerbach's last No. 1 pick. Radja signed with Boston, but when his team in Yugoslavia objected and brandished a valid contract, he played in Europe the next four years before coming to Boston.

Carr has drafted well (Eric Montross, Eric Williams and Antoine Walker), has found one solid free agent (David Wesley) and has made one great trade (Montross and Boston's No. 9 pick in 1996 for Dallas' No. 6 in 1996 and No. 1 in 1997).

But Carr also signed Dominique Wilkins, who fled to Greece after one season in Boston. The long-term contracts of Pervis Ellison, Dee Brown, Rick Fox, Dino Radja and Dana Barros limit the Celtics' free-agent options.

Carr, ignoring the fact that he had no experience, named himself coach in 1995.

Put all that together, and it's easy to see why the Celtics are about to finish their worst season. They have fallen farther than any other former NBA champion except Philadelphia, which went from 68-13 in 1967 to 9-73 in 1973.