Interesting Larry Sanders tweet

[rochrist]

From Wikipedia:

It was announced on February 21, 2015, following his second suspension for marijuana use, that the Bucks were buying out Sanders' contract.[16] On February 25, a video of Sanders was released where he explained that he entered into a program at Rogers Memorial Hospital for anxiety, depression and mood disorders. He said that the program led him to realize "what's important, and where I would want to devote my time and energy" and that ultimately he realized that "for [basketball] to be consuming so much of my life and time right now ... it's not there for me. It's not that worth it." He did, however, claim to still love the game and that "if I get to a point where I feel I'm capable of playing basketball again, then I will."[17][18]

I don't think there's any evidence that Sanders was a bad guy, just that he had some problems, and he evidently recognized that and addressed them If his head is back in a good place, we could do a lot worse.

[dannyboy35]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

[Snakehead]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

Nothing you said at all shows that he would not have depression or anxiety issues.  As someone who goes through those same issues.   When I've had these issues at their worst, including a real bad, dark period that started about a year and a half ago, I would have loved to have had the money to step away from work and collect myself instead of going through the daily grind while having a breakdown.  In my particular case, for reasons that don't need to be gone into, getting away from work would have actually been the single best thing for me but I never had the option.  You don't know about what was causing issues for him.  It could have been very closely tied to basketball itself.

Really not anything to judge or doubt him on.   Let the team decide.

[GetLucky]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

I have an old post regarding Sanders' depression. I believe it was from an interview preceding all of the retirement hoopla, although I may be mistaken. I'll try to find it. The man had a rough go during childhood, and that really messed up his state of mind for awhile.

[Rosco917]

I'd rather have Sanders with a healthy outlook, and for the right price, than Zeller.

Many knew it was a matter of time before Sanders eventually realized, he has one shot at a playing career, and he should take advantage of it while he's still young.

Everyone deserves a second chance, sort of harming others. Unless he's still suffering from his original diagnoses, the C's should kick the tires on him.

[dannyboy35]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

I get ya. I felt grant hill was kind of a dink for accepting ton of money he didn't play for.

[GetLucky]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

I have an old post regarding Sanders' depression. I believe it was from an interview preceding all of the retirement hoopla, although I may be mistaken. I'll try to find it. The man had a rough go during childhood, and that really messed up his state of mind for awhile.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

Nothing you said at all shows that he would not have depression or anxiety issues.  As someone who goes through those same issues.   When I've had these issues at their worst, including a real bad, dark period that started about a year and a half ago, I would have loved to have had the money to step away from work and collect myself instead of going through the daily grind while having a breakdown.  In my particular case, for reasons that don't need to be gone into, getting away from work would have actually been the single best thing for me but I never had the option.  You don't know about what was causing issues for him.  It could have been very closely tied to basketball itself.

Really not anything to judge or doubt him on.   Let the team decide.

Note that I haven't made an argument about things to show he would not have depression or anxiety issues. I've merely stated that I don't believe him, and furthermore added motivation on why he might lie about it.

I'm not arguing about the "myth" of depression or not, if it exists or not, or if people go through it or not. I have family members that go through it, so I'm not arguing against the validity of depression and it's debilitating aspects and what not.

I have no problem if people want to believe him, and I'm open enough to allow myself to acknowledge that it could very well be true he's going through this or went through it, but I still have high doubts about the situation as it came about.

All I'm saying is that personally, I don't believe him or am doubtful and skeptical about taking his word for it. That's all.

As much as depression is very real, so are con-artists, liars, and self-interested motivations.

[GetLucky]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

I have an old post regarding Sanders' depression. I believe it was from an interview preceding all of the retirement hoopla, although I may be mistaken. I'll try to find it. The man had a rough go during childhood, and that really messed up his state of mind for awhile.

Found it:


Keep in mind, this post is from Feb 2015, so the interview was over 4 years ago, before his retirement or anything remotely close to it:

Here's an article from almost 2 years ago, before all of the marajuana concerns. This reveals another underlying issue for Sanders: he was raised basically fatherless. The short time (6 years) he did have his father in his life, Larry Sanders Sr. was an alcoholic wife beater. This is probably the cause of the emotional instability, as he even referenced "scary flashes" in this article:

Sanders, a candidate for both the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player awards, most often provokes two questions among NBA observers.

1. How did he block that shot?

2. What is wrong with that guy?

Sanders, now in his third year from Virginia Commonwealth, is second in the NBA with 2.8 blocks per game and tied for the league lead with 14 technical fouls. He's been fined $50,000 for criticizing the officials. He's sarcastically flashed thumbs up to the referees after being ejected. He's been sent home by his (former) coach for a "team conduct issue." And he's absolutely lost it during an extended jawing match with the Pacers that got him tossed from a game last April.

In this week's Sports Illustrated, senior writer Lee Jenkins goes deep to answer both questions, chatting with Sanders about his craft, his upbringing and his many interests outside basketball, which include drawing, skateboard building and gospel music.

Jenkins uncovers a back story so haunting that it makes you re-evaluate any knee-jerk reaction you might have to his on-court disciplinary issues.

The ugly episodes came on weekend nights, when Larry was four and five years old, tucked into bed. “I remember flashes,” he says. “Some of them won’t ever go away. Some of them are really vivid, really terrifying. There were occasions I’d be sleeping and I’d hear my dad come home late. He’d been drinking and gambling, and he’d use my mom as an outlet if he lost. I’d hear a chair crack against the wall or a loud scream. He was so big. She was only 5'5".?” (Sanders Sr. says he has never had a drinking problem.)

Larry’s mother, Marilyn Smith, hid her pain. “I didn’t tell him what happened,” Marilyn says. “I don’t believe in hate. I didn’t tell him what Daddy did. I wanted him to love his father. But I had to get him out of there so he wouldn’t see anything.” Marilyn left home with her six-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, even though they had nowhere to go. “No one really took us in,” Larry says. “We lived on the streets.” They slept in a shelter for battered women, where Larry shared a bed with his mom and his sister, and they shared a room with another family. “I felt like my mom was my lady,” he recalls, “and I had to take care of her.” He rarely left her side. They were kicked out of the shelter for breaking curfew one night and moved in with Marilyn’s mother, who, despite being bedridden with diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, already had 16 family members spread through her living room, garage and trailer. “We felt we had to duck from my dad,” Larry says. “He couldn’t know where we were, or we were afraid he’d come get us.”

They settled in a Section 8 house off a dirt road in Vero Beach, where Larry spent hours at the kitchen table with his notepad and the Indian River Press Journal. “Drawing was a way for my mind to take a break from everything I’d seen and focus on the lines,” he says. “It was a release for me. I could zone out and just be there.” Marilyn bought him a black skateboard, another vehicle that allowed him to escape, up ramps and down driveways with new friends.

Marilyn wanted to keep her children close, so she worked wherever they went to school, whether it was Citrus Elementary or Olive Middle, whether she was a bus driver or a crossing guard, a cafeteria cook or a substitute teacher. But she could not shield Larry from trouble. He was expelled from fourth, fifth and sixth grades. “I didn’t fight a lot, but I had a problem with authority,” he says. “I’d get into it with teachers.”




There are layers and layers to this piece. Did you know, for instance, that Sanders wants to open a shelter for battered women? There's just no way to read this profile without fundamentally changing how you perceive the Bucks' 24-year-old big man.

Source: http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/2013/04/14/larry-sanders-bucks-sports-illustrated

So none of this is new stuff. The "artist" thing isn't media fluff. He legitimately means it. He took psychology at VCU so he could "figure out why people do bad things." He basically grew up trusting only his mother, probably believing that people were inherently bad, and he clearly struggled with some sort of untreated mental instability due to his circumstances. Basketball used to be his outlet, but when it got too crazy, he started to suffer again.

I do applaud the guy for his decision, and if anyone wants to argue against the word "applaud" I'll be happy to. Hopefully he finds the solace in basketball that he once had and joins a strong, supportive group, either as a player or a coach. Maybe he goes back to VCU to help Shaka Smart. Almost all of his players grew up fatherless, and they're all fiercely loyal to him. Either way, I wish the best for the man.

Again, the above post was from Feb 2015, so the interview is over 4 years old, just a s Sanders was blooming as a basketball player and way before retirement was even on the horizon.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, whether he comes here or not, good luck to the guy. Depression and anxiety really suck. Hope he is well or gets well.

Agreed. I've just felt like in this particular case though, it was manufactured to generate sympathy and put pressure on the organization for a buy-out rather than him actually suffering.

He could be, but it just came off all too cleanly for him so that he could pursue other passions while also retaining the ability to smoke weed without much oversight.

In all, I always felt he was disingenuous and took advantage of the situation. If he's really suffering from depression, then I'd apologize, but nothing I've seen from then and now indicates to me anything but my first impression I got when he "came out".

I have an old post regarding Sanders' depression. I believe it was from an interview preceding all of the retirement hoopla, although I may be mistaken. I'll try to find it. The man had a rough go during childhood, and that really messed up his state of mind for awhile.

Found it:


Keep in mind, this post is from Feb 2015, so the interview was over 4 years ago, before his retirement or anything remotely close to it:

Here's an article from almost 2 years ago, before all of the marajuana concerns. This reveals another underlying issue for Sanders: he was raised basically fatherless. The short time (6 years) he did have his father in his life, Larry Sanders Sr. was an alcoholic wife beater. This is probably the cause of the emotional instability, as he even referenced "scary flashes" in this article:

Sanders, a candidate for both the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player awards, most often provokes two questions among NBA observers.

1. How did he block that shot?

2. What is wrong with that guy?

Sanders, now in his third year from Virginia Commonwealth, is second in the NBA with 2.8 blocks per game and tied for the league lead with 14 technical fouls. He's been fined $50,000 for criticizing the officials. He's sarcastically flashed thumbs up to the referees after being ejected. He's been sent home by his (former) coach for a "team conduct issue." And he's absolutely lost it during an extended jawing match with the Pacers that got him tossed from a game last April.

In this week's Sports Illustrated, senior writer Lee Jenkins goes deep to answer both questions, chatting with Sanders about his craft, his upbringing and his many interests outside basketball, which include drawing, skateboard building and gospel music.

Jenkins uncovers a back story so haunting that it makes you re-evaluate any knee-jerk reaction you might have to his on-court disciplinary issues.

The ugly episodes came on weekend nights, when Larry was four and five years old, tucked into bed. “I remember flashes,” he says. “Some of them won’t ever go away. Some of them are really vivid, really terrifying. There were occasions I’d be sleeping and I’d hear my dad come home late. He’d been drinking and gambling, and he’d use my mom as an outlet if he lost. I’d hear a chair crack against the wall or a loud scream. He was so big. She was only 5'5".?” (Sanders Sr. says he has never had a drinking problem.)

Larry’s mother, Marilyn Smith, hid her pain. “I didn’t tell him what happened,” Marilyn says. “I don’t believe in hate. I didn’t tell him what Daddy did. I wanted him to love his father. But I had to get him out of there so he wouldn’t see anything.” Marilyn left home with her six-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, even though they had nowhere to go. “No one really took us in,” Larry says. “We lived on the streets.” They slept in a shelter for battered women, where Larry shared a bed with his mom and his sister, and they shared a room with another family. “I felt like my mom was my lady,” he recalls, “and I had to take care of her.” He rarely left her side. They were kicked out of the shelter for breaking curfew one night and moved in with Marilyn’s mother, who, despite being bedridden with diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, already had 16 family members spread through her living room, garage and trailer. “We felt we had to duck from my dad,” Larry says. “He couldn’t know where we were, or we were afraid he’d come get us.”

They settled in a Section 8 house off a dirt road in Vero Beach, where Larry spent hours at the kitchen table with his notepad and the Indian River Press Journal. “Drawing was a way for my mind to take a break from everything I’d seen and focus on the lines,” he says. “It was a release for me. I could zone out and just be there.” Marilyn bought him a black skateboard, another vehicle that allowed him to escape, up ramps and down driveways with new friends.

Marilyn wanted to keep her children close, so she worked wherever they went to school, whether it was Citrus Elementary or Olive Middle, whether she was a bus driver or a crossing guard, a cafeteria cook or a substitute teacher. But she could not shield Larry from trouble. He was expelled from fourth, fifth and sixth grades. “I didn’t fight a lot, but I had a problem with authority,” he says. “I’d get into it with teachers.”




There are layers and layers to this piece. Did you know, for instance, that Sanders wants to open a shelter for battered women? There's just no way to read this profile without fundamentally changing how you perceive the Bucks' 24-year-old big man.

Source: http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/2013/04/14/larry-sanders-bucks-sports-illustrated

So none of this is new stuff. The "artist" thing isn't media fluff. He legitimately means it. He took psychology at VCU so he could "figure out why people do bad things." He basically grew up trusting only his mother, probably believing that people were inherently bad, and he clearly struggled with some sort of untreated mental instability due to his circumstances. Basketball used to be his outlet, but when it got too crazy, he started to suffer again.

I do applaud the guy for his decision, and if anyone wants to argue against the word "applaud" I'll be happy to. Hopefully he finds the solace in basketball that he once had and joins a strong, supportive group, either as a player or a coach. Maybe he goes back to VCU to help Shaka Smart. Almost all of his players grew up fatherless, and they're all fiercely loyal to him. Either way, I wish the best for the man.

Again, the above post was from Feb 2015, so the interview is over 4 years old, just a s Sanders was blooming as a basketball player and way before retirement was even on the horizon.

That's a very good counter-argument, and certainly gives credence to his battle for sure.

[dannyboy35]

I find myself coming to the defense of pot smokers because they really are some of the kindest , compassionate people I've ever met.  Does nothing for me, unfortunately. Lol

[ChillyWilly]

Let's not be fooled lots of pro athletes use cannabis. We all know plenty of people who lead successful lives while being cannabis users. I'm about as liberal as it comes when cannabis is the topic (Yes even for pro athletes). HOWEVER...

My worry about Larry Sanders is he decided cannabis was so important in his life that he'd forgo millions. Not a single successful person I know would ever let something come between them and their goals. No one in his inner circle could be talk him out this? What sort of support does this man have in his life?

Quitting your job during prime earning years to use a recreational plant says a lot about his character. Larry Sander would have quit basketball with or without the cannabis excuse. He's not motivated by money nor is he motivated by the game of basketball.

I'd have 0 interest in letting this guy work for me. You might get production but you'll always be disappointed.

[trickybilly]

Let's not be fooled lots of pro athletes use cannabis. We all know plenty of people who lead successful lives while being cannabis users. I'm about as liberal as it comes when cannabis is the topic (Yes even for pro athletes). HOWEVER...

My worry about Larry Sanders is he decided cannabis was so important in his life that he'd forgo millions. Not a single successful person I know would ever let something come between them and their goals. No one in his inner circle could be talk him out this? What sort of support does this man have in his life?

Quitting your job during prime earning years to use a recreational plant says a lot about his character. Larry Sander would have quit basketball with or without the cannabis excuse. He's not motivated by money nor is he motivated by the game of basketball.

I'd have 0 interest in letting this guy work for me. You might get production but you'll always be disappointed.

Interesting. Would you even give him an interview or two?

You can't deny his skill set is literally perfect for the Celtics..

[dannyboy35]

It's not my money so it's easy for me to say try him out.