Royce White refuses assignment to D-League (UPDATE: Rockets suspend him)

Honestly,I feel sorry for Royce because of his health issues,but he hasn't addressed things properly. Too bad,it will probably end before even starting.

 

this fear of flying is not a real disease
just strap him to an airplane and let him fly 24/7
either he gets over it
or he goes crazy, in which case he now has a real disease
none of that anxiety crap

 

There is a nice profile on White from a journalist that knows him in which the writer notes White can be quite the manipulative character. No evil genius type stuff. Just a self-centered guy who does what he will to get his wants.

This is the closest thing we have from a reliable source:

I'm not gonna dig it up, but the reports were that White met with Rockets brass about playing time and when that did not work out, he stopped showing up for work as he felt the team was holding his earlier absences due to his disorder against him. The media then noticed his absence a while later.

White has talked about his "honesty" about his condition being used against him by the Rockets, but no details are offered by him.

In the end, given his biggest fits have come when the DL comes up, and that he was working with the team to get back on court, it isn't much of a logical leap to see this is a guy who expects to get on court at TC. I doubt he wants to work his way in to sit on the bench.

One policy White argued for on Twitter was to not be punished when he would call in sick 15 minutes before practice (or just not show up).

Implementing a mental health protection protocol sounds good to the rational mind. But White is neither rational nor forthright. For him, playing time (structuring his environment to meet his OCD) is probably a health issue.

 

There is nothing new in that interview. He has always said these things. He offered no new details. He just said it all in one interview off twitter. "Stay healthy... Everyone else is mishandling this... Safe work environment.... Protocol as prescribed by the doctors, etc."

 

its effin basketball mr. royce white
you are not in law enforcement, you are not a fireman, you are not in the military
wtf is so hazardous in playing basketball?
this guy is just plain out of this world

 

Simulate flight

hi

I'm sure this was already suggested. But has it been reconsidered how to get Royce White's anxiety or fear over flying diminished is to get him used to it.

Get him to ride or be in a flight simulator. A simulator that actually moves and vibrates. That way, he might just get past his fear of flying.

 

Royce is not a bad person...just had mental issues...

as morey said his 5th best talent in the draft.....

 

he is mentally ill..

 

or he could just take a Benadryl

honestly - i don't think it's the flying.

 

play chess then Mr White

 

im making the point he needs to suck it up if he wants to last, hes not the only person with issues out there.

 

You're talking Royce White style here, you wrote a lot of words but you're not really saying anything.

Let me lay all the facts down on the table:

1) We have NO IDEA what's happening, the ROX have been tightlipped about it and Royce White has not said anything as well. Everytime he goes on a twitter rant or an interview he phrases it differently "Protocol must be followed", "Houston Rox have been inconsistent with support", "Medical decisions should be made by doctors etc." All we really know is White demanded SOMETHING, and when the Rox didn't provide it he went AWOL.

2) While there has been no mention of it, several articles both by reliable and not reliable sources have hinted that the "demands" are basically playing time, and most fans are assuming this is the case, because well it's hard to think of any other thing White might demand. He didn't have any issues playing in college, and while he skipped out training camp he had a good run in SL, so it's not like he needed a ton of special care or handling before he went insane. He was getting something in SL and preseason that he didn't get in the NBA, and other than playing time I can't think of anything else.

3) Logically speaking, it's hard to believe any of the crap White has been saying since he won't give any proof and has been really obtuse about it. He keeps saying the Rox have been inconsistent, but everyone who has a comment in the situation keeps saying the Rox have been extraordinarily patient with him, they have a record of doing something to accommodate his wishes (bus trips), and didn't raise a ****storm when he missed training camp. He's also been extremely dramatic about the whole situation, basketball is one of the least dangerous contact sports yet he keeps on insisting that the Rox are somehow making him do something dangerous, so no I don't think there's any chance the Rox will be sued. White has no legal leg to stand on, in fact he's been refusing dleague assignments and not showing up practice, so it's more like the other way around.

4) To me, it seems like you've fallen into the White trap which is be as vague as possible and let people draw their own conclusions. Letting team doctors have the final say in medical situations sounds good, but what exactly is the medical situation? Considering White doesn't have an existing injury, what kind of life threatening situations are the Rox putting him through that requires doctor input? Also note that White didn't say TEAM DOCTORS, he's referring to his doctors, the ones that he probably paid to say that it's unsafe not to start because it would increase his anxiety.

Just because you don't know what really happened doesn't mean you can't draw a reasonable conclusion, based on the stuff we do know White is asking for something unreasonable, otherwise the Rox would have given it already as with his bus request and/or White would have been more honest about it #transparency. If you're not guilty you've got nothing to hide, right?

I'm tired of this chump. A lot of normal, 100% healthy people would kill to be in his shoes and he's pissing it all down the drain. More importantly he's destroying the dreams of similarly challenged people to play in the NBA and make full use of their talents, just like how Joe Alexander almost destroyed C-bud and Parson's dreams to play in the NBA.

White is a disgrace and he can take his #be well and eat it.

 

I'm going to make a prediction that this guy will be begging to come back to the NBA in a couple of years if he takes either a self imposed retirement or the Rox cut him and nobody picks him up.

Guy just doesn't know how good he's got it yet until he gets a real job.

 

Sedate him...

 

Royce White suspended

Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen
Rockets as expected have suspended Royce White 1 week after he refused assignment to the D League.

 

Howard Chen ‏@ho_chenCSN
. @dmorey statement: White's suspension "effective immediately for refusing to provide services as required by his Uniform Player Contract"

 

Mark Berman ‏@MarkBermanFox26
Rockets GM Daryl Morey: "The Houston Rockets have suspended Royce White immediately for refusing to provide services as required by his Uniform Player Contract. We will continue to work with Royce to hopefully come to a resolution."
Expand

 

While the suspension is a logical move for the Rockets, It doesn't change anything in that he wasn't getting paid anyway due to fines nor was he playing.

 

It's about time. You just can't have a guy flouting the rules and not take any action, now it's up to White to either report or get suspended again.