The wonderful thing about the internet is that the ClutchFans community doesn't have to accommodate your lack of quality posts.
I don't have a problem if this is truly the case. But, if he's going to miss any games it's a different story.
Oh, for ****'s sake. At no point, ever, has anyone suggested that he might miss games. Atlanta-Detroit is "too far" to drive, so he's going to fly. The general outrage is ridiculous... the Rockets organization feels that this is a prudent plan for someone they feel is a worthwhile investment. No one else gets to say any differently.
For anyone interested the Rockets had to travel the 3rd highest amount of airline miles per trip. Miami was 1st. In 10/11 Rockets had to take 37 trips over 800 miles. Best choice for bus travel would be Chicago. Houston is a bad location for someone who has difficulty flying. 2nd amount of trips over 800 miles when bus travel does not appear to be an option. R.White was a high risk, high reward pick. Right now it looks as if Boston did okay with the Jared Sullinger pick, despite his back problems. http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/distance-traveled-by-nba-teams-during-a-season/
you never know... maybe a year going through nba travel will desensitize him to flying. its not like we're competing for anything this year anyways...
It seems that there is something keeping some people from learning and understanding more about disabilities and reasonable accommodations, despite quite a bit of good information being thrown at them.
1. That one is one I see a problem with 2. 8-9 hour trip isn't a big problem 3 & 4. He has 2 days. It would drive me crazy. Like you I have a hard time understanding how someone could prefer travel times like that. If he is driving himself, it is a problem. If someone else is driving, particularly if he can sleep during travel, it will be manageable. None of us want it. None of us fully understand this. We'll see how this works out.
It's a problem if you're expected to be at shoot-around/warm-ups in about 18 hours. It makes a back-to-back far more difficult. Not a question of CAN he get there by hours...but a question of what does a road-trip like that consistently do to your game-readiness. He has 2 days...but holy crap...#3 is Houston to Portland...that's nearly 2,400 miles apart! Like 30 hours of drive time. Are we seriously going to pretend that's a driveable trip? #4 is Salt Lake to Chicago, which is a 21 hour trip. The NBA season is a grind....and travel is part of the reason why. Again, I'm not saying this is impossible...and if it's the only way, well, then it's the only way. But I'm not thrilled with it at all as a fan. I think it's ok to be honest about it and say it's a limitation at the very least. And the ones I mentioned are just games in November, alone. I'm reasonably convinced he's not going to be in the rotation early on, and I have a difficult time seeing McHale not holding this against him, rightly or wrongly. Feels like a recipie for discontent from all parties to me, going in.
Maybe he's fine with only 10 hours of free time before tip-offs. I didn't realize Portland was so far (I was thinking in the 20 hour range). As a fan, I don't care as long as it doesn't hurt the teams performance. I don't know if it will. I'm not Royce White and I'm not his teammate. I also don't know what the travel will be like. If I could ride on the MNF RV all the time, I'd be fine. If I was riding Greyhound, I would not.
