Krause: Reggie Lewis was absolutely a true Celtic

I know … that’s not news. He was a member of the team.But I mean he was a Boston Celtic. Just like Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, Dave Cowens and so many who went before him.You think about what might have been for the Boston Celtics in the years between Larry Bird’s retirement and the rise of the new Big Three in 2007 and you shake your head.There is, of course, Len Bias, the top draft pick who died of cocaine poisoning the night after he was selected in 1986. there’s Bird himself, who had to retire prematurely in 1992 because of back issues.And there’s Reggie.Lewis was from Baltimore, but by the time he became a Boston Celtic, he might have well been a home-grown. Jim Calhoun found him at Dunbar Memorial High School and brought him up to Northeastern in 1983 and from the time he was a freshman, you knew the Huskies had something special. Needless to say, they owned their league back in those days and made it to the NCAA’s four years in a row. They even won a game one year, and almost defeated Villanova to make the Sweet 16.I remember being down at Disney World in 1987 when the Celtics took Lewis as the No. 1 pick. As a Northeastern alum, naturally, I was ecstatic. But I also felt he could play.And could he ever. As the Big Three of Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and Bird began their steady decline, Lewis saw his minutes increase … and he took full advantage of it. He was, in the parlance of the game, a slasher. He could get to the basket, he could draw fouls, and he could hit free throws. He could also fill it up.He wasn’t a shooter, per se. He didn’t have the best-ever low post moves. He was good enough at all phases of the game, but not spectacular at any one in particular. But he was a scorer. And as the year progressed, Reggie’s place in the Celtics’ hierarchy steadily grew until, by 1993 (one year after Bird’s retirement) he was the team’s leader.But in the team’s first playoff game in 1993, he inexplicably went down and, while he returned briefly, he was out for good by early in the second half. He’d scored 10 quick points before that happened.What happened after that was a nightmare. Lewis was diagnosed with a heart condition and told his career was basically over. He kind of shopped around for a second opinion and got one from another team of doctors. He could play, they said, but he’d have to be real careful.He was not careful. He collapsed during “shooting practice” on July 27, 1993, at the Celtics’ practice facility in at Bentley. He never regained consciousness and died later that night.It’s futile to say he’d have been among the pantheon of greats had he not died, because he probably couldn’t have played. But oh, what could have been had he had just a little luck. And what he and Bias could have done together.Twenty years … wow!