Adam Silver "A lot of players are unhappy"

[Green-18]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-on-mental-health-of-league-a-lot-of-players-are-unhappy/

Very interesting article regarding the concern of mental health throughout the league.  It makes you take a step back and look at things from a different perspective.  An entire generation of NBA players has grown up in a world where social media has dominated their lives.  It's easy to see how the pressure of expectations has affected many Superstars.   Social Media addiction is a real problem.

The media has always been difficult but the difference now is that we live in a 24/7 365 news cycle.  The most consumed media is also frequently the harshest.  People are essentially growing up in an alternate reality where priorities are completely screwed up.   

[Big333223]

Just posted this in another thread in response to the comments:

It makes sense. The rise of the internet, social media, and personal devices has everyone isolating more. The growth of the NBA has made the experience more corporate. The phrase "it's a business" is almost parodic now. And if it's all just a business, that makes these players a commodity, right?

Throw in AAU and the one-and-done culture, where would we expect these guys to learn how to become teammates? Where do they learn to value friendship or loyalty? All of this before they're old enough to drink. Some, before they're old enough to smoke.

I'm ranting and blowing it out of proportion but I there's something there.

[CelticSooner]

This should be a bigger story then it is. The grumpy I just want to ball my friend stars of today honestly are driving me away from watching. Teams legit have the smallest window for titles than they ever had now.

People should listen to Simmons latest pod where they go in depth on some of this. Misery loves company and the NBA are running out of likeable stars.

[Who]

They should give the players more room to breathe.

Reduce media commitments.

Get the bloody media out of the locker room. I hate seeing the media in the locker room. That should be a players & coaches only zone. A safe zone.

[gouki88]

They should give the players more room to breathe.

Reduce media commitments.

Get the bloody media out of the locker room. I hate seeing the media in the locker room. That should be a players & coaches only zone. A safe zone.

Completely agree. The media swarming players when they've just had a shower seems like insanity to me.

[Bobshot]

Yeah, the media gets bigger and bigger. Thousands and thousands at the Super Bowl, many not even involved with football.

But the media pays those millions the players are getting, so it's a love-hate relation. And the media knows it--they are very demanding. And they have agendas, especially those from NY and the tabloids like WEEI.

They play Irving like a fiddle. He can't shut up.

[ConnerHenry]

But it's a double-edged sword. When players use their celebrity to cross over into film/television, endorsements and promoting their brand, they become more like a George Clooney than a George Gervin.

I understand Kyrie's frustration at the attention his celebrity brings, but maybe one shouldn't seek out multiple endorsement deals, create a fictional character for a soda company and then make a feature film or speak out about evolution (the earth is flat).

Hollywood celebs go through significant training on how to deal with the public and the press. Maybe NBA teams or agents will be more proactive and have these conversations. For reference, at Disney Channel we put every single actor through a 3-day training on how to navigate stardom.

[Big333223]

But it's a double-edged sword. When players use their celebrity to cross over into film/television, endorsements and promoting their brand, they become more like a George Clooney than a George Gervin.

I understand Kyrie's frustration at the attention his celebrity brings, but maybe one shouldn't seek out multiple endorsement deals, create a fictional character for a soda company and then make a feature film or speak out about evolution (the earth is flat).

Hollywood celebs go through significant training on how to deal with the public and the press. Maybe NBA teams or agents will be more proactive and have these conversations. For reference, at Disney Channel we put every single actor through a 3-day training on how to navigate stardom.

NBA players definitely get tons of media training. It's part of their job.

But being available to the media and answering questions is not the same thing as being isolated by celebrity. I don't think there's anything that can really prepare you for that.

[bdm860]

Part of it has to go be the people pushing kids to the NBA and the system that helps funnel them there.

I think of this video of future NBA players watching Blake Griffin dunk in the summer of 2012.  A lot of these guys are 15 (Booker, Stone) and 16 (Vonleh, Russell, Lyles, Briscoe, etc.) years old, and the system has already figured out who the future NBA prospects are and gathered them all together.  This isn't just random chance here that these kids all ended up at this event, these are kids who for years have likely spent all year grinding, working out, and on the AAU and Sneaker Camp circuit to get noticed.  We're talking 6am workouts, school, practice, more workouts/homework, wake up and do it all again the next day.  If a kid even has the slightest bit of potential to get that money, fame, power of being a pro athlete, people will recognize it early and push that kid there, ruining a lot of childhoods in the process.  This comes from both well meaning parents/coaches as well as the leeches and hangers on who want to get a piece of somebody else's hard work.

We all know the story of how messed up Michael Jackson was, thanks to Joe Jackson pushing him (whether or not you believe the allegations, you know MJ was messed up).  It's like that a lot of times, but with basketball instead of music.

And it doesn't stop once you get selected to the McDonald's game, or get the scholarship to an NBA factory like Duke or Kentucky, or become a lotto pick, or make the NBA.  Every step along the path just adds more pressure.  Now if you don't make it you're a joke (Anthony Bennett, Darko, Morrison), if you do make it, you deal with fans wanting to trade you, analysts saying you're not good enough, and wondering if anybody really likes you for you.  Is every girl you meet just a gold digger?  And can you really trust any friend you've made since you were tagged a basketball prodigy at age 12?  Everyone just wants your money or to be friends with the basketball star, right?

You didn't have a normal childhood, constantly pushed to the limit since your early teens, with constant pressure and media scrutiny.  I can see how this could cause people to crack.

I think it's very, very similar to what goes on in the Ivy League.  Obviously different world but similar situation.  You've been given this great opportunity to make something of yourself, everybody will be disappointed if you don't, and there's huge competition with everybody gunning for your spot or to get that internship or job offer or whatever.  You spent your junior high and high school  years studying, taking AP and college level classes.  Spent your weekends doing SAT prep courses, or volunteer work, or something else to help make you stand out to admissions.  Not a normal childhood, constantly pushed to the limit, with constant pressure to succeed.  It's why Ivy Leagues have high suicide rates and terrible mental health grades.  Or you can read Jeremy Lin's piece on the "Silicon Valley suicdes" and the pressure those high school kids feel.  I'm sure it's similar to how a lot of athletes feel, just swap out gpa with ppg.

[gouki88]

Part of it has to go be the people pushing kids to the NBA and the system that helps funnel them there.

I think of this video of future NBA players watching Blake Griffin dunk in the summer of 2012.  A lot of these guys are 15 (Booker, Stone) and 16 (Vonleh, Russell, Lyles, Briscoe, etc). years old, and the system has already figured out who the future NBA prospects are and gathered them all together.  This isn't just random chance here that these kids all ended up at this event, these are kids who for years have likely spent all year grinding, working out, and on the AAU and Sneaker Camp circuit to get noticed.  We're talking 6am workouts, school, practice, more workouts/homework, wake up and do it all again the next day.  If a kid even has the slightest bit of potential to get that money, fame, power of being a pro athlete, people will recognize it early and push that kid there, ruining a lot of childhoods in the process.  This comes from both well meaning parents/coaches as well as the leeches and hangers on who want to get a piece of somebody else's hard work.

We all know the story of how messed up Michael Jackson was, thanks to Joe Jackson pushing him (whether or not you believe the allegations, you know MJ was messed up).  It's like that a lot of times, but with basketball instead of music.

And it doesn't stop once you get selected to the McDonald's game, or get the scholarship to an NBA factory like Duke or Kentucky, or become a lotto pick, or make the NBA.  Every step along the path just adds more pressure.  Now if you don't make it you're a joke (Anthony Bennett, Darko, Morrison), if you do make it, you deal with fans wanting to trade you, analysts saying you're not good enough, and wondering if anybody really likes you for you.  Is every girl you meet just a gold digger?  And can you really trust any friend you've made since you were tagged a basketball prodigy at age 12?  Everyone just wants your money or to be friends with the basketball star, right?

You didn't have a normal childhood, constantly pushed to the limit since your early teens, with constant pressure and media scrutiny.  I can see how this could cause people to crack.

I think it's very, very similar to what goes on in the Ivy League.  Obviously different world but similar situation.  You've been given this great opportunity to make something of yourself, everybody will be disappointed if you don't, and there's huge competition with everybody gunning for your spot or to get that internship or job offer or whatever.  You spent your junior high and high school  years studying, taking AP and college level classes.  Spent your weekends doing SAT prep courses, or volunteer work, or something else to help make you stand out to admissions.  Not a normal childhood, constantly pushed to the limit, with constant pressure to succeed.  It's why Ivy Leagues have high suicide rates and terrible mental health grades.  Or you can read Jeremy Lin's piece on the "Silicon Valley suicdes" and the pressure those high school kids feel.  I'm sure it's similar to how a lot of athletes feel, just swap out gpa with ppg.

TP. Great post

[action781]

Well said Who and bdm.  I agree with both of your assessments.  But something I haven't seen addressed I think is the bigger part of Silver's piece, which is that it is a generational issue. 

Silver mentioned people sitting in locker rooms with head phones on.  They likely have their face buried in their phones too.  This is not just an NBA locker room phenomenon though.  It happens in the college classes I teach.  I'll walk into a few minutes before class begins and in some of them classmates are chatting it up with eachother.  But more often, the room is silent with every single person's face buried into their phone.  It's actually beginning to feel awkward.  Often I'll make some playful comment pointing it out to which some students will put their phones away and the silence is broken.  And the next class its back to the same.

I think replacing these real, face-to-face, human interactions with interactions through an electronic device leaves us missing something.  The rise of depression and anxiety in our society could lend some support that statement.  And I think Silver is saying here that NBA players are not exempt from that.

[SHAQATTACK]

They should give the players more room to breathe.

Reduce media commitments.

Get the bloody media out of the locker room. I hate seeing the media in the locker room. That should be a players & coaches only zone. A safe zone.

1000 TP for all you said .   It the truth . 

We don't need info on everything they think or do.....people get a f n life ,  go earn money , help,the poor ,  do good deeds.  What ever ,  put your " D" diddlers down ,  you can do wihout them ...quit feeding the monster  , act like you have social skills and go visit a family member ,  go out and actually hike , play ball,  dig a ditch , just get the F away from your addiction to all the garbage .  or make a new friend today . 

[Moranis]

I don't think this any different than any other time in league history, but as with everything it is just more known. 

[Androslav]

Definitely a positive sign from the commissioner.
Showing awareness of these everpresent "invisible" injuries.

[mgent]

Players are put under a bigger microscope then they were.

They're also compensated more.

Maybe you're only worth a bagillion dollars because of all those articles about you.  That's how they generate money.