Wow. It is expected when Morey drafted him. He is making some noise at least. Now we have 2 players worth a story on ESPN. Not bad.
There's only FOUR games he can drive to during the season, from what I can see. You could say it's a low enough number to side with Royce or low enough for him to just fly anyway...IIRC, about half are going to be one way drives, since he'll have to fly out with the team from there to reach the next city/game.
He is probably not in the rotation anyways with so many forwards on the roster already. I think Rockets have the leverage here. Let him sit out and I don't think the rockets need to pay him. White is the one that's "anxious" to join the team and get paid.
Here's an overview of my basic understanding of the ADA: To be protected by the ADA an employee must be: (1) disabled and (2) a qualified individual. Even assuming that Royce is disabled (not that straightforward), he must be a "qualified individual" which means he must be able to perform the "essential functions" of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. There is likely stuff in the CBA re: the ADA, but it may not go into anxiety disorders since it seems Royce is one of the first to come forward with it. If he can establish he is protected under the ADA, then Royce is entitled to a reasonable accommodation (i.e. his bus). BUT, the Rockets don't need to excuse him from performing essential functions. Therefore, if "flying" is an essential function they can grant him accommodations to help him fly, but he doesn't need to be granted a bus. Royce would likely argue that "traveling" is the essential function and not flying in which case he can request the bus as an accommodation. The same type of analysis goes for "practice" (in the D-league). Whether something like "flying" or "practicing" is an essential function is based on different factors including employer judgment and time spent doing that function. Assuming "travel" is the essential function and Royce requests the bus, the Rockets can also argue that the requested accommodation is an undue burden. This is a pretty high hurdle though. Royce can then rebut any contention of undue hardship.
I just don't get why this would stop you from coming to camp. There has to be more to it, otherwise I'm not too sympathetic for missing camp! Most everyone has a phobic illness of some sort whether they know it or not. GET IN CAMP!!!!!
I doubt there is any legal action contemplated on either side. There is no way that the Rockets are not going to try to void his contract over some accommodation requests, even if they are highly unusual ones. First, Royce White clearly has talent. In the NBA, teams will put up with much more than anxiety disorder or even some questionable timing on bus requests if a guy has talent. Remembe how many teams took chances on Terrence Williams? Second, what is the benefit of voiding his contract? Getting out of paying less than $3 million for the next two years combined? That's peanuts and does not help the team with its cap room in any significant way. I'm sure Morey and McHale are annoyed at the "holdout" or whatever the situation is, but they'll work through this. The real question is whether Royce White has sufficient on-court talent to make him a factor in the NBA: Can his ball-dominant point forward game translate against NBA opposition. Can he defend? Can he find a way to help the team when he does not have the ball? If he can help the team on the floor, the anxiety disorder will not make the team give up on him. If he can't translate his game to the NBA level, not having anxiety disorder-- in fact, being a complete boy scout-- will not keep him in the league (remember when the Rockets cut that really hard working nice Asian kid last Christmas?).
Maybe he just doesnt like practice <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d29VsG35DQM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It would be a great gesture if the whole team (or some of them at least) decided to join him and travel by bus also instead of flying.
I think his request should be granted for now and he should see a psychiatrist to work out what is causing him to feel his flight anxiety. There are ways to treat this since Anxiety disorders are a medical condition
There's nothing crazy about Royce White wanting a plan to maximize his likelihood of succeeding in the NBA.
Wake me when he does something news worthy (like show up for practice/games). Otherwise, keep on trucking Rockets.
Who said anything about voiding his contract? That is the last thing the Rockets would try to do. Royce White has talent but, like I said earlier, there is no guarantee he would be successfull in the NBA without his problem.
Enough people have been saying void is contract and calling him mad an saying a bunch of other ignorant ****.
If he was our only 1st round pick I'd be soooooooooooo pissed at him/Rockets. As it stands, I have room to be patient. But again, somebody dropped the ball...seriously.
So your first read of this situation defines Morey's pick and Royce's entire career? Then when you get called out on that, you defend yourself by saying 'it's my opinion'? Alrighty then.
You've said that numerous times, in one form or another, and I don't disagree. What does appear "bizarre" is doing this negociation publicly via the social media and missing camp, crucial for a rookie, while doing so. Royce is not serving his own best interests by "negotiating" in public. Both Morey and McHale must be doing a slow burn because of that. Yes, Royce has a problem. Yes, the Rockets knew that when they drafted him. Yes, he's possibly a special talent and worth taking a risk on, in my opinion, but the way he's handling things could only be worse if he was shouting his desires nude on a sidewalk in front of the Toy Box. I sincerely hope this is resolved quickly and Royce goes to work. This isn't college, it's a job, a profession, and what Royce is doing right now is very unprofessional, to put it mildly. I've got my fingers crossed, because I want to see him on the court, showing us what he can do at this level. So does everyone else.
I understand anxiety but what I don't understand is why in the past four months, Royce and his doctors didn't begin developing this plan for his upcoming lifestyle and instead he waits until day 1 of training camp.
