The problem seems to be that White has used his mental issues as excuses for questionable behavior. To all the apologist, what does anxiety disorder have to do with being a thief? Athletes, especially gifted athletes, are coddled from the time they distinguish themselves from their peers, all through college, and until they get to the pro's. Guys who have no mental issues whatsoever still become screw-ups after they become pros because of this entitlement mentality they are indoctrinated with from an early age. You add that to Whites mental problems, it just seems this guy has a built in excuse not to work whenever he doesn't feel like it. I'm sorry, the NBA is business with millions of dollars and peoples jobs on the line on a daily basis. There is no reason to believe that Royce White will be able to be successfull in the NBA period after one lame episode after the other. It was a good gamble because frankly, Morey didn't draft these guys looking to keep them. And lets face it, anything after the top 10 is a crapshoot.
LOL, are we even talking about the same issue? Are we discussing whether it is righteous to criticize Royce White or not??? Let me help you to understand this post. marothisu is basically saying that people here are hypocrites to criticize Royce White because folks wouldn't be dare to do so in the same room with White since he is 6'8"/265lbs. It is the same way to say it is hypocritical to criticize anyone on the internet because you wouldn't dare to do so if that anyone could post immediate danger to you. And it is also the same way to say you are a hypocrite to criticize a serial killer in an internet discussion forum because you wouldn't dare to say it in the serial killer's face if he had a gun in his hand. So what does Royce White's illness have anything to do with this intelligent insight? Please let me know if I still have not laid it out clear enough for you.
Reading this thread leaves me angry but not surprised. Too many people don't understand anxiety disorders and are making totally unfair and frankly insulting judgments. Also, calling him a wasted pick is laughable. We knew White was raw coming out of college, it doesn't make him useless. Some guys develop immediately, and some guys take their first year as development time (DeAndre Jordan, Avery Bradley etc.) Just like Marcus Morris is making legions of dumb people on here eat their words, I hope White does the same later this year or next year. On a broader note, what makes Clutchfans a great forum is the dozens of great posters that actually post insightful analysis and contribute by reporting what news is going on. But you have to wade through legions of bull**** to get there, and most of the bull**** is by posters who have knee-jerk reactions. People, his career is barely two months old. Chill out. White is acclimating himself to a new lifestyle. Also, who says the migraines weren't a legitimate medical problem? Ugh.
Houston -> Toronto Houston -> NYC Houston -> Florida * then a return trip back to Houston. When is he going to have time to practice?
This is all very trivial. I agree with SC1211. I hope White proves who ever is calling him a wasted pick wrong. I am sure when he does this everybody will love Royce again. Fans are fickle after all. And there is a lot of unfair judgement & frankly insulting comments going on from people who know little about anxiety disorders.
Why the turn-around on Morris? Because he's proving it by his play on the court. Fans know players' private life is private. We don't criticize them since we don't know well enough about what they're going through. But players' performance on court is open to criticism. Or if they cannot get on court at all or at practice, like White. NBA is a professional career. Sorry it seems Royce is not ready at all. Coaches and team may already be marginalizing him because he can be a distraction. Migraine? He can't even appear on court on opening night? Nobody expects him to play and soon nobody will look for him anymore.
Royce White is a scrub and a distraction for the team. What a wasted draft pick. I hope he proves me wrong.
Please explain to me - if he can fly to Toronto, why can he not fly to Dallas? IF he has a legit disorder, then I would think he can't fly at all. And sorry, but if he has that disorder, the team must weigh its options in dealing with him. If it means he becomes a distraction, they should just do what they have to do - put him in the D-League, leave him on the bench, whatever - but keep him away from the team. It's not like they would have to play him if he had a physical handicap, either.
A mental condition is not a static thing like a broken leg, whereas once you can run, you'll be able to keep running forever. Anxiety comes and goes. Has good days and bad. Royce has stated that it is not the length of the flights that are a problem, but the number of them. So he's obviously flying when he logistically has to, and avoiding the short flights in order to reduce the amount of stress and trigger situations he is put in. It's a baby steps kind of thing.
In that case, even before any flight, there will be uncertainty if he will be ready to go or not. Sorry for him, if true, but no team can accept that constant uncertainty. He is free to look for a job in which he will not have to fly as much.
There is no need for anyone to be bothered by White's problem at this point of time as he will never make it into the team rotation anytime soon. It is almost a certainty that Mchale already has plan to send him to the D-League. In the mean time he has all the time he needs to go through medication and therapy.
This really has nothing to do with having knowledge of anxiety disorders. It has to do with timing. He fought through it to get drafted. That means he already had a lead on beating it. Instead, he gave into it immediately after getting a contract. I admit, i was waiting for things to work themselves out. Now, it doesn't look like they will get better anytime soon. Now i'm pissed that he did that. I'm pissed because we are going to have to go through more "basketball politics" again this year. We can't just start off a play our rooks like other teams are doing. No, we have to go through a whole bunch of drama for a 4th of the season first. This is why i am starting to feel that he was a wasted pick. Of course, i hope i am wrong.
Wow! Try some patience before giving up on a guy. He has not been close to playing for the Rockets. He is behind Patterson, Morris, Jones, DMo, Smith, and Parsons for PT at the 4 right now. He is going to have to get in shape and develop before getting PT. At this point, I don't think he sees any meaningful minutes for the Rockets this season before halfway through the season at the earliest. He might not play a minute for the Rockets this season. His draft pick was a swing for the fences pick. If he doesn't work out, he was only the 16th pick. The way Morris has played this year so far should be a lesson that fans need to be more patient. I am really hoping Morris continues his good play. I am hopeful to see White play at some point for the Rockets. I hope to see him destroy the D League. My biggest fear are the turnovers. He has a lot of them. If he can work on cutting down the turnovers, he'll get his shot in the NBA. I should add that I think White has the highest bust chance between Jones, Motiejunas, and White. Because of his condition, there will be limited information available to the public about non-basketball issues. It is not good that these issues are making an impact on training camp and appearing at games. I expect it will take a while to work some issues out with him. It is a red flag, but the Rockets and White have time to work things out. If they don't, I still like that the Rockets swung for a high reward high risk prospect. Motiejunas and Jones still have lots of potential ahead of him and they still have to beat out guys ahead of them for PT.
As a mental health professional, I can tell you that the attitude you are expressing is counter to what makes people beat an anxiety disorder. You don't let your anxiety disorder control you, you find a way to control your anxiety disorder. It is not a "baby steps" thing, it's an avoidance thing, and it is destroying his career.
A lot of the "insulting" remarks are jokes trying to lighten up the frustrating situation. Perhaps the jokes are insulting like racist or sexist jokes. I am not one who thinks that White is a wasted pick, not yet. But to be honest, I'm not optimistic, mainly because White doesn't seem to be dealing with his disability in a mature way. It's unfortunate that he has this problem. It's not his fault. But the team, or the world for that matter, doesn't owe him anything. In fact, it's the other way around. The team gave him a chance by drafting him and giving him a contract. He owes the team for their investment in him. He should be doing everything he could to be productive for the team. If he did that, I am sure the team wouldn't mind giving him some leeway to accommodate his mental issues. And I am sure the fans would have been supportive of him.
It would have been a PR nightmare not to, when they were put on the spot like that, out of the blue. But there is clearly more going on than we would know, as evidenced by the guy's tweets and McHale barely containing himself when saying "all I know is he should be here". There is also most probably a lot of legal uncertainty regarding how to deal with this situation from the Rockets' side. You don't want to look heartless, you don't want to do anything wrong legally, you don't want to be unfair - but at the end of the day, this is about the team and the whole organization and not about one clearly very self-absorbed person.
The day that teams can start sending players to the D League is the day Royce White stops being a distraction. What day is that? Anyone know?
