[ESPN] For Royce White, It's a Matter of Trust

I'm not going to say that Royce White was wrong to ask for special accommodations. I think that's fair, actually. The way he went about it, though, doesn't bode well for his future in the NBA as a potential star. That requires a level of dedication and single-mindedness (perhaps to an unhealthy degree) that I think his disorder won't allow him to give.

 

Cousins is a legit Top 5 draft pick with issues....
Royce is a would be Top 10 pick with greater issues

With that being said Royce has some upside, he can contribute

 

A little perspective to this sanity for those calling for White to be cut or for Morey to be fired.

He is the #16 draft pick. If you blow the #16 draft pick you are not missing out on Hakeem Olajuwon. You are most likely missing out on Brevin Knight or Chris Gatling. Do you think the Wolves are still upset that they "wasted" their #16 pick on Luke Babbitt? The Raptors still fuming over Joey Graham not making it?

Furthermore, he is on a rookie contract, which is one of the best possible financial arrangements for the team. In the event that he ends up as our third-stringer because he only makes it to every other game...well, so? We're paying him like a third-stringer. His contract would only be worth pitching out the window if we knew he would never amount to anything already - a pretty hasty conclusion to jump to.

Don't get me wrong, I'm of the strong opinion that things like his demands and his reaction to the article should be handled like a man, dealing personally with the Rockets org/the writer and not whining on Twitter about it. And I'm of the opinion that he should have been en route to McAllen the instant he had a verbal agreement with the Rockets about the bus thing. But even if this stuff is the sign that he's ready to flame out completely, that's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be, because he's just one of our four young, potential-laden 4s and the others are more than ready to soak up his minutes in the worst case scenario.

 

For the last 3 drafts Morey gets blasted for not taking risks with players with high upside and now he gets killed for gambling on high upside.

He can't win here. Zeller? What's His upside? Backup center? I'll take a chance with White.

 

Great post.

The thing that really irkes me is his twitter wars but give that man some time and see what he can amount to in the league before dismissing him.

 

i'm glad twitter wasn't available ~2002-2005, as Pacers fan. I think that Jermaine O'Neal / Artest / Tinsley / Stephen Jackson / Jasikevicius team would've been kings of dumb tweets and twitter wars

 

I'm with you. If this was just a power play or something for attention, he would have taken some bus down to the valley already. It's got to be something real and I bet the Rockets are supporting this situation.

Also, this should be treated like an injury as stated in the article, with an understanding from both parties that it could be career ending if Royce can't get it together. My overall feeling is that things will work out over time and we'll forget about this.

 

I also think this will end badly. Some people don't understand that a mental illness is just like a physical illness.

This would be like White having bad knees or some other physical ailment. Can he work and recover form it? Possibly. But it just means that parts of him are more fragile and when you're competing at the highest level, these things will be a problem.

 

I'm just not sure why the bus arrangement couldn't have been made when negotiating the rookie contract. Surely he knew he'd be afraid to fly at some point prior to training camp.

 

would you risk the money? The Rockets aren't obliged to sign him at all. They could've said "you know what, swim to Europe, solve the issues and then fly back"

 

Fair enough...but any other issue (physical or mental) should be addressed then. If he didn't disclose it, should Rockets management have thought to ask? Let's say they did and White's camp said "not an issue". Now right before camp White decides to address it?

Looks bad on Rockets for not doing their due diligence and finding out if flying was going to be OK. Looks bad on White for not addressing it prior to camp.

 

it seems like that's how it went

 

Two or three big men were still on the board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_NBA_Draft

 

White said he didn't address it because part of the illness was to put things off until the last minute,so just look for that as an excuse for anything in the future.

Is there any word from the NBA yet ?

 

Can't just look at where Royce was taken and assume he's just any other 16th pick. It was a deep draft AND he dropped. I'd say every pick's value is actually closer to 2-3 picks higher, but in White's case he's more like a 10-12 pick.

Not sure I buy that. All of that can be done away from home via the phone or internet. Seeing the bus or driver in person would obviously help, but all the preliminary stuff could have been done from McAllen. Really, it should have been done well before training camp, even if he was afraid to ask, he could have prepared in case he had to ask later.

The professional thing would have been to show up, if you're not sick, and then ask for the time off to get all that straightened out.

 

Royce is back in practice. Let's focus on this and let Morey worry about all that bus stuff.

RocketsJCF: Royce White is back with the team, preparing for start of today's practice. http://t.co/cXcsgnv9

 

Two or three big men that weren't good enough to get picked in the top 15. Are you saying that Tyler Zeller or Fab Melo is a franchise-changer?