"It was a really good draft and guys found a way to screw it up," said college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who had just finished his own college career at Duke and was a second-round draft choice that year.
Yet that troubled group might have had an impact in the way NBA general managers and scouts looked into the backgrounds and social habits of the players they were interested in drafting.
"It changed markedly [after Bias' death]," said
"The risks and stakes are higher," Ferry said last week. "You talk to as many people as you can and go as deep as possible. There's also more [drug] testing in college than there was then, and more accountability."
At the time of the 1986 draft, drug testing was allowed only when an NBA team believed it had just cause. Currently, players are tested randomly throughout the season.
According to former
"As it turned out, we violated the collective bargaining agreement unknowingly," Volk recalled. "It was called to our attention subsequently by the players association after he had died and we said we had tested him and we suggested that if you want to fight that battle, this is probably not the time to fight it."