Good thing it's 'only' been training camp. Once the season starts, he is coming up with more drama, no one can excuse this further
Yep, this is where we are. The Rockets are in training camp and he's having tweeting wars. And this isn't about anxiety. If he had an attack, then cool, I would understand. But he isn't having any attacks, he said so himself.
This isn't just about anxiety. Royce White some very serious personality issues that he has to get a grip on. Tell me about it. Seems like he's waving his mental as a shield against criticism.
My argument makes sense from both perspectives, hence why i also mentioned fans in my reply. If Lebron came over here, aren't you going to embrace him, if he plays well, and we win? Are you going to dismiss it simply because he was a jerk when he left cleveland? Fans, who say otherwise, are full of it. If we win a ring they'll be right there cheering Lebron on with everyone else. Didn't we embrace Ron after his brawl? Michael Vick? Kobe Bryant? You play well on the court/field and both management and fans will forgive what you do outside of it. the better you play and the more you win, the higher the number of fans you win back. You'd literally have to murder someone in cold blood to be exempt from that (mainly because you'd be in jail, but you get my point).
Roxxy. I get your point. But you have to separate something. From the human point of view, he has my sympathy. And I think a lot of people here do. From the team's point of view, you have to look at it like a business: How can this guy contribute to the team. If wife beating and stuff like that inhibited the player from contributing to the team, you can bet your life that there would be heaps of criticism. From the basketball point of view, White's condition is not different from a player being too short, or too slow, or lack of confidence in shooting. Nobody would use those things as excuses for not being a great player and ask people for sympathy. I have a guy at work who has been in wheelchair since he was 17. Now he is retiring and he has accomplished amazingly much in his career. That's inspiring. But he is also a guy who is very difficult to get along. People hate to work with him not because of his physical condition but because of his personality. If not for his talent and drive, he might not be tolerated for so long in the organization. You can say that he is who he is because of his disability. But why do we have to turn a blind eye on his stinky personality just because he has physical challenges?
Yup. He's betraying an immaturity and egocentricity that does not at all bode well, especially for a completely unproven rookie. I hope for his sake that he actually makes it worth the Rockets time and proves his worth on the court, or otherwise things could end up very badly for him. In the end, it's a business, and that's the cold hard truth that every athlete has to face sooner or later. Trying to start a national pity party is not going to change that. Not at all faulting him for wanting to work out what's best for his personal health, but smart, mature people do that work behind the scenes and then get together with the team afterwards, call a press conference and put lots of glittery spin on it, with some charity foundation cherry on top that makes everybody look good. Royce White is failing miserably at this, and instead is coming off as a petulant little child with entitlement issues.
Honestly, Royce just needs to come into camp and play. Once he plays well everything will be forgiven and everyone that was saying he should be sent down to the will be back on the bandwagon. See that Lin thread back from last year pre-season. Fans are fickle.
Whats going to decide the fate of this situation is whether future events are laced with this same kind of drama vs whether this is a bump in the road that doesnt surface again. While there are many sympathizers at this point, myself included, people will grow tired of it if it becomes an ongoing ordeal. If in December we are having threads before each game betting on whether White will make the game or not then the whole situation will need re-thinking and some kind of closure. Whats motivating me, and I am guessing others as well, is the perception that this will not be a one ended event. The current concessions by the Rockets will not be a cure and White's anxiety and mental disposition will re-invent itself time after time. If on the other hand it wasnt seen in this way, we would have already dismissed the event as inconsequential and moved on to other subjects.
Whether justified or not, he's going to have a stigma of being a high maintenance player and someone that's going to take issues straight to the media and twitter. If he doesn't deliver on the court he's going to have a lot shorter leash than most. I still think Rocye could turn into the poster boy for why you don't draft people with documented anxiety issues. He could do more disservice to his "cause" than help. That is of course unless Royce turns things around and gets his name mentioned in ESPN for his play rather than his problems.
We all need to relax and give this Royce a chance. Once around his teammates I think this will be a different ball game. Royce's condition originates from a lack of trust in people and situations that stem primarily from childhood. In my experience in dealing with individuals that suffer from anxiety disorder, there is a major break in trust that occurs during a developmental stage and manifests itself later in life with overwhelming and excessive worry. So none of us has an idea exactly what occurred him to lead his mind to to its current state. The author hits on it a little bit, but we don't know the details and maybe Royce will never let us fans in or even himself in on the root of his symptoms. Nonetheless this is the crux of the problem and no matter what medication or world class psychologist or psychiatrist Royce is treated by, honesty and belief in something deeper and greater than humankind will be the real answer to his struggle. I know he mentioned how music has helped with anxiety, and his interest in philosophy only puts a bandaid on the situation but these again are stopgap measures and not the cure. He needs to find his faith and develop a relationship with God a la Jeremy Lin which will then ultimately lead to his mind recovering and experiencing the fulfillment that he currently lacks. He is surrounded by good people and a great organization in the Houston Rockets, however, my sincerest hopes is that he is Jeremy Lin's rook and Jeremy engages him with Jeremy's faith. With that folks, I m taking off as I am on the hot seat with my wife for spending time with my other love Houston Rockets in the middle of our honeymoon.
I think your right here and let me add that the higher the expectation of his play to balance his distractions and special attentions, the more anxiety it may bring to him and the higher the burden placed upon him.
Fear is a an incredibly powerful emotion - We need to show some empathy for the dude - Man it's just a week in the big picture - You try going to an nba media day and starting a pro career in the public spotlight scared to the point where you can't breathe - come on people - give him a break !!!
From a person with a history anxiety, I say it would be much less stressful to keep this to yourself than to manage a twitter campaign and make a scene out of it... that's the part I don't understand.
It isn't like he is going to disrupt the team's championship run this year. This season is a sandbox. He can thrash.around a bit without hurting anyone but himself. If he doesn't learn to cope by the end of his rookie contract when you are starting to get serious again, oh well. Chances are at least one of three mid first round picks will wash out.
We will all forgive him......til his next tantrum? What are we gonna do then? Forgive him again and then wait until the next one??? He has some serious character issues that need to be addressed AND separated with his physical disorder.
