I heard about this trouble player a few days ago that has a horrible backround but has tons of tallent if he can tone it down. He wants to enter the draft this year but they say if he does he will only have a change in the 2nd round. Some say NBA is a waste of time for collins and some say it could turn him into a good player, because of the maturity of players he would have to mix in quick. he was On the Mcdonalds all american high school team and seems to be a good SF/PF. I seriously think if any body could tone down collins it could be Rudy T and a few of the Mature Rockets. He has a backround like AI but can he turn into a Star like him as well? if anybody heard about this guy, follow me up on it.
I wanted to post a thread about him, but then I read that his crime was pummeling a teammate so badly that he needed reconstructive surgery. I don't know, but this guy should probably prove himself elsewhere first.
They had a special on Espn about him last weekend. Apparently beat up a teammate i think his freshman or sophomore year in highschool. But supposedly he's changed his life, and he knows something that happened to him 4 years ago will never go away
He may have changed, infact I'm sure he has, but it's easier to forgive somebody like EG for punching a guy once, or Odom for toking up, than it is to forgive a guy who commited a violent assault of another person.
I posted in College Corner & NBA Draft but what I said was this guy was lying his ass of in his ESPN interview he still doesn't take responsibility for what he did to that boy I don't trust him farther than I could throw him so no
I found this artical about the guy at Inside Hoops. for those who are wondering who the guy is The guy has run in a little bit with the law, but I'm sure he has learned from his mistakes. Just becasue a player had a troubling past, doesnt mean they are going to have a troubling future. Heck even Griffin, the shy speaking stone faced player, was given a bad rep becasue he punched a guy in college, and arent you glad he fell to us? Kid With Extra Baggage Trying to Make NBA Jump By Brian A. Lester Much has been made of DeAngelo Collins' decision to enter the NBA draft, but it is not because this is a typical story of another player attempting to make the daring leap from high school to the pros. Really, that is no longer a big deal. But what is a big deal is that Collins, if drafted next week, will be bringing a great deal of baggage with him. Collins has a tarnished past and teams are concerned. Collins, after all, has been convicted twice on charges related to violence. Once, he was found guilty of beating up a female friend. In another incident, he was convicted of assaulting a former high school teammate. Certainly anyone with a tendency for violence is going to be a cause for concern because, sadly, our sports world is littered with athletes who have their names end up on the police blotter instead of in the box score. There was Wil Cordero beating up his wife, Albert Belle attempting to run over egg-throwing trick-or-treaters in his car, Latrell Sprewell choking his coach and Rae Carruth gunning down his pregnant wife. All of the above irked fans and made them question why their teams ever acquired such troubled athletes. All of those senseless acts of violence, along with so many others that have made us look differently at the sports figures we are so quick to worship, are vivid reminders that an athlete's ability to hit harder, throw further and run faster than the average human often outweighs his potential for trouble. But this is not to say Collins will turn out to be a bad person simply because of his checkered past. People make mistakes and the true mark of a person's character is defined by which direction he or she goes in after the mistake has been made. Look at Allen Iverson. He was considered to be a huge risk when he entered the draft in 1996. He had a troubled past, a bad attitude and hardly appeared to be a player worth taking a chance on. But the Philadelphia 76ers drafted him anyway. They looked beyond his troubles and fortunately for the 76ers, it turned out to be a good decision. Iverson has no doubt matured during his time in the league and is loved by the fans in Philly for his blue-collar work ethic. Iverson has steered clear of trouble in the same manner he eludes helpless defenders with his flashy crossover dribble and there is much to be said for that. But while someone such as Iverson has evolved into a good person, an athlete like Daryl Strawberry will never learn from his mistakes. No matter how many chances he is given, he wastes them and shows no signs of ever changing his ways. In all likelihood, Collins will be drafted next week. A team will see that he has potential and will be willing to take a chance. If Collins has truly learned from his past and is willing to make a good life for himself, then the team that drafts him will rest easy knowing it made the right choice. But if Collins is lured back into a life of run-ins with the law and is simply a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, then one more draft pick will have been wasted. Personally, I hope Collins is successful and leads a good life. I truly wish him the best because the last thing our sports world needs is another athlete who makes his way into the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. http://www.insidehoops.com/nba061902.shtml
If we've taken on baggage guys like Francis, and Griffin yes. Especially if we're interested in Odom. The Rockets love to take on sketchy characters if they can play ball.
All they have to do is resign Willis & put him in charge of watching over this kid. Let's see him try to beat up Willis.
What baggage did Francis have when we picked him up. Is this about the DWI. He was a Rocket before that happened. Griffin's problems are blown up way too much. He got into 2 fights, come on, lots of kids have fist fights. The difference that Collins has is that he beat up a FEMALE friend and assaulted a teammate so badly that he had to have reconstructive surgery to repair his face. It's apples and oranges, anybody who claims NBA teams were worried about Griffin is lying, there was nobody who was worried about him for being in a fight. Collins, on the other hand, tried to kill a guy. I'm sure he's changed, but it's hard to imagine anybody wanting that guy on their team. I would feel better if he was older and there was like 10 years between now those incidents, but I think they were like 4 years ago. I don't want to hear youthful indescretion either, at 14 you know that beating up a girl and mauling another guy is wrong.
Come on, kidrock8... have you forgotten that Rudy T was almost killed, had his career shortened, and had MAJOR reconstructive surgery when he was assaulted on the court by another player? Do you really think he might want someone with something like THAT on his record???
Just for comparison, Caron Butler, who many people are trumpeting as the personification of character, was arrested at roughly the same age with a big bag of the nose candy, as well as a gun. Furhermore, he was arrested 15 times before the age of 15. If young Mr. Butler could turn around his life, it's not out of the realm of posibility that Mr. Collins could as well. The problem is that he hasn't proven it. If, however, Butler had declared out of HS, and someone had drafted him in the second round, I'd imagine they'd be pretty pleased with themselves right about now.
