Royce White
- Thread starter macadocious
- Start date
That's the kind of treatment you might give someone who brings a REAL asset to your team, although I personally wouldn't even think of it. It's not the kind of thing you do for some 10-day signee. There's no way he has the kinds of skills to merit such kid glove treatment.
No thanks.
KingsCitizen
Starter
If this guys plays well, all a sudden we might feature the most bully front court this season with White at SF, Evans at PF, and DMC at C. But this probably is a move that means were cutting down DMC and Gay's minutes keep them away from any injuries or for DMC's case more bad raps or techs as the season close.
We might close the season with these guys taking chunks of minutes
C- Gray/JT
PF - Acy/Evans
SF - Williams/White
SG - BMc/Johnson
PG - RayMac
We might close the season with these guys taking chunks of minutes
C- Gray/JT
PF - Acy/Evans
SF - Williams/White
SG - BMc/Johnson
PG - RayMac
Glenn
Hall of Famer
Absolutely. I am sure this is why he shunted from school to school and university to university. I couldn't make sense out of what he wanted from the NBA to accomodate his mental disorder.
rainmaker
Hall of Famer
This guy has been a distraction every place he's played ball since HS. Maybe he was in HS as well. Don't care enough to look.
Why PDA/Malone think our locker room is ready to handle another distraction is beyond me. We're not the Spurs. We're not a vet team where we've got leaders running the locker room and keeping the nonsense out. That doesn't even get into our actual roster and how little sense it makes to bring him on.
Why PDA/Malone think our locker room is ready to handle another distraction is beyond me. We're not the Spurs. We're not a vet team where we've got leaders running the locker room and keeping the nonsense out. That doesn't even get into our actual roster and how little sense it makes to bring him on.
Livinthedream
All-Star
I don't think you do it for anyone. Traveling is part of the job. If you are unable to do it, then you don't take the job.
I understand his situation, but he has to learn to cope with it. Not the other way around. No, I'm not insensitive. I understand the actual diagnosis quite well. It can be absolutely debilitating. But I also understand that your job can't fix it.
Livinthedream
All-Star
With all the power forwards PDA keeps bringing in, I'm getting the feeling we are not drafting a big man.
rainmaker
Hall of Famer
He should go to Europe where they frequently travel by train.
Why he can't pop a valium/xanax pre-flight and get on with it, I don't know. That's what business travelers who hate flying do all the time. And I hate medication, it's pushed far too much, but if it allows you to at least compete in the career of your choice, do it, or go find another career. But you can't be a part of a team and not travel/practice with the team. Not at this level. That's asinine. Just imagine Royce not being at shoot around or practice before a game in Boston because he's taking his sweet time riding Amtrak from the last city we were in.
biltalent
Starter
I think he explains it in his "last interview"
"And I also trying taking things like Benadryl, and Xanax. [...] they’re some of the most addictive drugs on the market. So I tried those things at Iowa State, I did some of those things, and I got through a season at where I took basically every flight that the team took. [...] realizing from a medical standpoint that the number of flights was almost quadrupling [in the nba], meaning that the way that I got through it at Iowa State wasn’t going to work for a longer schedule and it definitely wasn’t going to work over a ten-year career [ ...] And it was unacceptable [to me] to be taking a sleeping pill every single time I got on a plane, which would be almost every day for six, seven months."
"We really, in terms of me and my representation, we didn’t ask for anything more than when possible allow me to drive, and when necessary I’d have to fly; and I was OK with that as well. Outside of that, it’s really just respecting and regarding mental illness in the same format that you regard physical illness or injury."
Edit: wow, I think you have to read the whole interview if you want to know his point of view.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/177979/royce-white-his-last-sports-interview#
Last edited:
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
That's fine. He can go work in a gas station and never have to worry about his illness.
He wants to be an NBA player, then either a) suck it up and do what's necessary; or b) don't and go away. There are many jobs where his disability would cause minimal inconvenience. This isn't one of them.
Royce White is irrelevant to everyone but himself. There is not a reason in the world for a team to employ somebody who necessitates special treatment over somebody who does not. He continues to act like there is something special about Royce White. There is...to him. To the professional basketball world there is no more reason to employ someone mentally disabled who cannot or will not overcome it than there is to employ somebody who is wheelchair bound.
You could take the exact same player with the exact same problem and at this point be 2 years deep in positive articles about what a trooper he was, about how he had to take sleeping pills to make it through flights. How he had played a game last year in Boston just an hour after a panic attack. About how he was making the best of things and fighting through a debilitating problem. Instead we are two years into him lecturing the league/world on how they owe him special treatment out of respect for his disability, about how misunderstood he is, about just anything but shutting up and making the best of it.
This is the question we need to be asking. Is the management so ingrained in being the extreme opposite of the last one that we're collecting stubby PFs like Petrie collected SGs?
MassachusettsKingsFan
All-Star
Is there any chance he IS better?
I haven't read or heard anything about him recently till the tweets that we were interested started showing up.
Maybe the reason we're considering this is because he's learned how to deal with his issues. Or at least he's saying he is, and I guess we'd have to sign him to find out.
I'm not worried about it though. It's 10 days ... 4 or 5 games? If something good happens it happens, if it doesn't we move on.
I haven't read or heard anything about him recently till the tweets that we were interested started showing up.
Maybe the reason we're considering this is because he's learned how to deal with his issues. Or at least he's saying he is, and I guess we'd have to sign him to find out.
I'm not worried about it though. It's 10 days ... 4 or 5 games? If something good happens it happens, if it doesn't we move on.
Last edited:
HndsmCelt
Hall of Famer
If I were his agent I'd have him working with top mental health professionals and approaching teams with a try out request like a 10 day contract to let him show you what he can do and put the rumors at rest.
GoodOldDouwe
G-League
Anybody seen this? Great mini doc by Grantland, gives you a better understanding of Royce's problems:
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
Great insight in that documentary. I'd like to see us bring him in for a look.
You can train your body and you can certainly train your mind.
Imagine the "culture" change possibilities it would have, if you bring in someone like him and he succeeds. It would effect everyone in a positive way, including us the fans
You can train your body and you can certainly train your mind.
Imagine the "culture" change possibilities it would have, if you bring in someone like him and he succeeds. It would effect everyone in a positive way, including us the fans
whozit
Starter
This might be one of the opportunities that they may be trying to tap. Different thinking.
He mentions in his interview that Benadryl and Xanax are addictive. Xanax, absolutely. Benadryl...no. I don't know about him, but for most people a strong dose of Benadryl will absolutely knock you out for a few hours. Like Brick says, suck it up, take your damn Benadryl about 30 minutes before the flight and get over it!
EDIT: Okay, I posted that before I watched that 8 minute documentary on him. I see now that his disorder goes beyond just getting on airplanes. Wow, I couldn't even imagine having to live like that. How incredible would it be if we signed him and it ended up being a good fit for him? Talk about a feel good story if that happened....
EDIT: Okay, I posted that before I watched that 8 minute documentary on him. I see now that his disorder goes beyond just getting on airplanes. Wow, I couldn't even imagine having to live like that. How incredible would it be if we signed him and it ended up being a good fit for him? Talk about a feel good story if that happened....
Last edited:
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
My guess is Vivek said something like...."I'm very interested and would love to meet him"
Gary
All-Star
Same thing happened to my Bengals when we brought in a REAL HEADCASE in Vontaze Burfict from ASU.
He was top 2 round talent but he completely fell off the draft board because he had major red flags with his attitude and personality. The Bengals picked him up as an UDFA the day the draft ended.
Two years later he's one of the top Linebackers in the league (yes only two years) and had recently gone to his first probowl. He's a monster!
He was top 2 round talent but he completely fell off the draft board because he had major red flags with his attitude and personality. The Bengals picked him up as an UDFA the day the draft ended.
Two years later he's one of the top Linebackers in the league (yes only two years) and had recently gone to his first probowl. He's a monster!
Gary
All-Star
As long as he doesn't abuse the Xanax then he should be fine, but that type of med is hard for a youngster to take without abusing it. He should have someone giving it to him when he needs it.
MassachusettsKingsFan
All-Star
Benadryl is addictive in that continued use gets you dependent on it to sleep, period. In the air or on the ground. It's not anywhere near the correct solution to his problems.
I think this is something he can defeat, though, simply because he's flown so many times already. I'm guessing it's nearly in the hundreds, which is a lot more than most people will fly in their lifetime. I don't think the Kings would target him if the flying this was still a major issue. Not that he likes it, or that it doesn't still bother him, but you simply cannot play in the NBA without flying ... If he can't do it, you can't sign him.
Glenn
Hall of Famer
But why waste time? In this case 10 days equals 0 days. This is what is beginning to bother me about PDA. There seems to be no method to what he is doing except to find the diamond in the rough. The trouble with constructing a basketball team is that sometimes even the diamond doesn't fit.
We don't need a PF. PDA has stripped us bare of guards. It is as if he is finding people to throw out on the court to keep us from losing interest in the team for the rest of the year. This one has the double interest of being somewhat of a freak show.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
How about chloroform? A tranquilizer gun?
Look, we have 41 road games a year. Of those 41 games, probably only half a dozen or so involve flights longer than maybe 2-3hrs -- basically just the beginning and ending flights to kickoff and close East Coast swings. Somebody hit him on the head at airport maybe. He only needs to be out 2 hours a pop.
kupman
Starter
This is not true. He was not a distraction at Iowa State. He was well-behaved and a team leader. He was a beast on the floor. He could do it all. He lead a very good team in all offensive categories. He is a great ball handler, his passing skills are awesome, he can score from anywhere on the floor and he can rebound very well. He is a Karl Malone kind of PF.
There was a reason that the Rockets took a chance on him. Hoiberg and McHale had a close professional relationship with the Wolves. I am pretty sure that Hoiberg vouched for Royce telling McHale that he was not a significant distraction while playing at Iowa State. Fred might be eating crow now, but I am pretty sure he would not intentionally lie to a friend about his experiences with Royce.
HndsmCelt
Hall of Famer
Because IF he can/does fly and fits in he is a big talent for a low price (risk/reward). 10 days is not to much to risk to take for the potential upside.
MassachusettsKingsFan
All-Star
I know that when Petrie was here I would watch team after team sign these low-risk, high-reward type guys all while the Kings sat there and did nothing. It was a toxic mixture of lack of funds and a lazy GM.
So based on my prior feelings towards this subject, I applaud PDA for taking these chances. It's what I wanted, and now we're finally seeing it. The Williams trade, the Gay trade, brining in Orlando Johnson, and now this potential signing .. it's aggressive, it's something different, it's not being afraid to fail ...
I don't think he's bringing in White because he's a power forward. He just happens to be a power forward. What he IS, is the highest potential free agent on the market. I think PDA would go after him at any position if he thought he could play. And White has more potential than any power forward on this roster.
And I question PDA's long-term vision, if he has one at all. I really do, but these little moves .. I just don't see the downside. It's not my money, it's not my time that is being invested, it's Vivek's and the coaching staff, and I don't think they would be doing it if they thought it was a waste of time. And I don't think this will work out, for the record, but that doesn't mean I don't applaud them for trying.
Just because we don't need a PF now doesn't mean we couldn't use a player like White in the future. He is truly a unique basketball player. He's entirely different than anyone else on this roster, and there may not be a player in the league with his skill set. Maybe Boris Diaw when he was younger. Diaw played some of the best basketball of his career as a 'do it all' bench guy. That would be my plan with White. Use him as a bench big man. Less pressure, can give you a little bit of everything, etc.
And I don't know that he's stripped us bare guards. I mean, he's dealt some guards, but they have all the guards I want to see for the rest of the season, anyway. IT and McCallum at point, Ben and Orlando at SG .. I don't know that we need anyone else at this point. Next season? absolutely.
Oh, and I think someone in this thread said he was in terrible shape earlier.
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen Feb 25
Saw White at the Rockets game in Minneapolis. Looked good, slimmer but still strong.
Just one tweet, so we'll see.
