Increasingly, I'm shocked the Rockets came to an agreement with him. He doesn't want to be an NBA player, at all. he wants to be a martyr. I take mental illness very seriously, but I have dealt with all sorts of employee disabilities as a manager. The NBA already discriminates in a way that is reasonable under the law. A paraplegic athlete has never played a minute in the NBA, and we will probably never see it happen. Why? Why not? Doesn't the ADA protect them and require the NBA to accommodate such a person? Actually, no. A paraplegic cannot complete the minimum basic requirements of the job of an NBA basketball player, so they have no court case against the NBA. To me, Royce White fits *exactly* the same place. Conditioning drills are too stressful. Competition for playing time is too stressful. Travel is too stressful. That is all fine, but you might as well have paralyzed legs, Royce, in terms of the basic requirements of professional basketball competition. He can go on about the American system, but the American system of capitalism and the fundamental realities of human life as we know it don't really give him a court case or a legitimate labor grievance.
What gets me is that in the article, he mentions Royce acts so normal. When I was first apprehensive/anxious about driving I had my hands 10 and 2, always looking around etc etc. Here he says Royce had one hand one wheel, and just was chillin. I'm not saying he doesn't have mental issues, but to what degree and to what if* plausible is made up.
I'm really not sure there is any hope for this guy in the NBA. I think the fact that he's blowing up this whole "mental illness" protocol and "most people are mentally ill" in his head is actually part of his mental illness. The guy can't control his own mind and lets it get the best of him. Everybody worries, gets overwhelmed, paranoid, overthinks etc...But at some point you just have to tell your brain to shutup and just live life without letting it control you. Again, I suppose it's part of his mental illness that he cannot do this...and that's why I don't have much hope for him making it in the NBA. He is not going to be able to deal with adversity well at all.
he just wants to limit the amount of work he has to do as much as possible and still get paid millions.
These interviews in the first place are ridiculous. When you want to know something about a patient, especially a mentally ill patient, you don't ask the patient. You ask the doctor. When you talk to the patient, you get gibberish like we see above. Royce's agent/handlers are doing him a disservice by allowing all this exposure. His grasp of the ADA is tenuous at best (even though he throws it up as a shield all the time) and his insanely small world-view gets exposed every time he opens his mouth. Again, we come back to - who does this kid have around him? Royce should find better advisers.
Royce knows all the populist buttons to push, even using the Occupy Wall St. lingo (nevermind that Royce is a member of the 1%). Hugo Chavez would be proud. The Grantland crowd eats that stuff up. In the marketplace of public opinion, this BS ability has immense value. But the NBA is a bottom line business, your value is your performance, your contribution to the success of the organization. Royce would have you believe this is an evil, unforgiving capitalist mindset, when in fact it's the only honest and moral way to treat people.
Moron. Plain and Simple. This guy will never be a meaningful contributor in the NBA. What a waste of a pick.
he may have a disorder, but it's not anxiety. he shows textbook signs of narcissism 1. Exaggerating your achievements or talents 2. Expecting constant praise and admiration (retweeting all those people who praise him) 3. Believing that you're special and acting accordingly 4. Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans 5. Taking advantage of others 6. Trouble keeping healthy relationships 7. Setting unrealistic goals
quit saying deal with it, deal with it, this is life, its tough. thats bull crap, change your paradigms
I'm going to sue the NBA for being discriminatory. They clearly discriminate against 5'8 fat guys in their 30's that can no longer jump over a pencil. His whole premise is ridiculous, but the is the part I find most disturbing is that he feels the Rockets (and society at large) owe him something. Why should an organization feel obligated to bend over backward for an employee who has produced nothing and in fact has been a royal pain in the arse to this point.
It's funny to see someone follow a criticism of capitalism with the statement "Life is what you make it". It's purely speculation to say Royce has made his life with the Rockets safer and happier. There's no real evidence that his "protocols" will actually help him. He may feel that way now, but it's a very reasonable to say he's dramatically hurt his chances of success in the NBA. Will failing in the way he wants to fail be more beneficial than success?
It's pretty interesting, although I have no frame of reference since I don't know any self-identified mentally ill people in my life. In the end, I don't think it matters. As long as he can't get away with "my doctor says I'm ill so I'll sit this one out coach," everything else is meh. He does seem lazy though, which likely means there's no chance he becomes relevant in the NBA. Might as well get his 15 minutes before people realize he's not NBA caliber. Hopefully he can prove me wrong and keep being relevant by not actually sucking.
