It has widely been known that Houston Rockets' rookie power
forward Royce White has anxiety issues, specifically with flying on planes. It
was not a surprise sprung on the Rockets organization out of nowhere post-draft.
This was known by all thirty general managers well before the draft, and
managed to scare fourteen other teams from taking a chance on him. Now it looks
as if those other teams conventional thinking was the right way to go.
Unconventional, outside-the-box Rockets GM Daryl Morey took a calculated
chance on White this summer. By calculated, I literally mean it. Every move
Morey makes is from the "Small-ball 101" handbook. Getting the most
bang for your buck by evaluating statistics in ways never thought of before,
which has caught on even more since the days of the Oakland A's Billy Beane and
now prevalent in Houston with Morey. Role players consistently play a huge role
for the Rockets' successes in recent years.
In the summer, Morey raved about how good White was
progressing. His raw talent, size, and freakish athleticism seemed to progressing in a way that satisfied the
Rockets' organization. They knew he
might be a project, but with a little guidance (Hakeem anyone?) they figured be
patient, and the 16th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft would pay off down the line.
Which brings us to the current situation: Royce White versus
the Houston Rockets, with Royce White versus his anxiety in the co-main event.
He has yet to play this season, citing his anxiety as a major health problem.
He spoke with Yahoo Sports on using a bus during the season.
"What it's going to look like is every game that's
drivable, I'm going to get a bus for myself," White said. "And I'm
going to make that bus feel like home so that there's a level of consistency in
a job where inconsistency is very apparent because of the schedule. I'm going
to try and level that out and make sure that my stress levels stay low and that
my rest is regular and that my meals are regular and that as much as I can,
draw consistency from a very inconsistent schedule. People with mental illness,
one of the most important things is that they have that consistency and
routine. The girth of (my request) was, 'Can I travel by bus to close enough
games?' "
To their credit, the Rockets have been very patient with
their young star. The "star" referring to his days at Iowa State,
where he drew praises for carrying them to the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed,
losing to the eventual champions Kentucky in the third round. They are not
trying to leave White on a limb here, but are trying to be as patient as
possible.
While I would never try and get in someone's head and tell
you what they are thinking, I strongly believe White is painting himself as a
victim in a way to get his way. Yes he deals with anxiety, and it can be
referred to as a disease. But he wants everything on his terms. He wants the
doctors to help him construct a plan, and wants the Rockets to agree to
everything with no leeway for them to maneuver any of their own ideas into the
fold. It's White's way or bust. Which has led to his current stance which he
posted to Twitter Thursday night: "I'm not PLANNING to quit, but if its
between my HEALTH and BASKETBALL, health takes precedence."
What White has to learn though, is that at the end of the
day the NBA is a business. This isn't a
youth league, or a charity. He is an adult now, and will be treated as such.
White's problems can be helped with, but
to demonize the people who gave him an
opportunity in the league, and are paying him to play for them is almost a
figurative death wish for his career. This shows teams around the league that
they were right. If White does leave the Rockets and ends up wanting to play in
the NBA, what team is going to give him a shot now?
If this saga continues to get worse for the Rockets, the
worst possibly thing is White quitting. After dealing away the six top scorers
from last season in hopes of stashing picks that would land them Dwight Howard,
the Rockets would now be left with only one from all of that movement (Terrance
Jones). Granted they got James Harden by trading Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb,
but in this situation they would get nothing for White. He'd leave on his own
terms. He'd leave a lot of money on the table as well. If White is as
determined as he's shown on Twitter and in interviews about getting his way or
leaving, Morey has no leverage.
The typical situation is a young player doing anything to
stay on a team, whether it is practice hard to get better, or biding time on
the bench until they can get their chance to show management and fans what they
are capable of. The general manager can most assuredly control the fate of the
player in that scenario. But Morey here cannot get reparations in any way from
the NBA if he loses White. It would be like finding a puppy who is very jumpy
and lacking trust, then busting your ass to help the dog trust you, and then
one day it just runs away.
White needs to work more with the Rockets to deal with his
anxiety, and not expect everything on
his terms. Don't run away, Royce. Too many basketball players around the world would
jump at the chance to be on an NBA roster.
If he does quit, years later White might look back and realize he
should've given this whole crazy NBA experience a shot.
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