Royce White opens up about U of M experience, mental health and more

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GH's Nadine Babu did two really in depth interviews with former Gopher, Cyclone and Houston Rocket, Royce White.

Part 1: Eight years after leaving the University of Minnesota, one of most talked players about is still Royce White. Many make assumptions about what happened, but few know the truth about his story at the U. Hear what happened from Royce himself, how Tubby Smith was involved, and how he ended up having a breakout year at Iowa State playing for Fred Hoiberg. -> https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Royce-White-Pt-1-What-really-happened-with-the-Gophers-ep-54

Part 2: Royce White has been deemed a “head case” by many and many have marginalized his anxiety as simply not being able to fly. It is far more complex than that, as is the issues with the NBA. Royce talks very opening and passionately about his experience in the NBA, his friend Tyler Honeycutt that lost his life far too soon, what needs to be done, and what we can do about this mental health epidemic. -> https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Royce-White-Pt-2-On-mental-health-in-the-NBA-ep-55

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This was a fascinating interview. Heck of a listen.
 

El Amin Fan said:
This was a fascinating interview. Heck of a listen.
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Thank you, I appreciate it. Royce may be one of the brightest, if not the smartest player I've ever interviewed. Like him or not, he has a lot of interesting things to say, and I appreciate what he's trying to do to raise awareness for mental health.
 

GopherLady said:
Thank you, I appreciate it. Royce may be one of the brightest, if not the smartest player I've ever interviewed. Like him or not, he has a lot of interesting things to say, and I appreciate what he's trying to do to raise awareness for mental health.
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Agree completely. In fact, after the end of his basketball career, I can see Royce returning to the University and becoming involved in research; and possibly later teaching.
 

Here are a few videos I posted as previews, there are also more on my IG: @NadineBabu

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Royce is a smart guy no question. His problem is that he thinks, and carries himself, as a revolutionary genius.

HBO's Real Sports recently did a follow up to their earlier piece on Royce and it's well worth the watch. Pretty sad that a guy with his incredible talent level can't get out of his own way and end up playing for peanuts in a crap league located in the basketball backwaters.
 

Talks a good game...body of evidence with respect to behavior speaks volumes to the contrary
 





HOOP DREAMS said:
Elite con-artist.
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I disagree.

Although I believe Royce was involved in situations that were inappropriate and crossed the line at the Mall of America and at the Dorm, and certainly more so than he leads on in the Podcast. I do not think they are any different than many situations most young people get themselves into at that age that do not escalate to the level they did for him. This is a racial issue. You put 5 Caucasian young people in both situations and the outcome is dramatically different.

This happens all the time. We just happened to read about these 2 because he is good at basketball.






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gopherlaney said:
I disagree.

Although I believe Royce was involved in situations that were inappropriate and crossed the line at the Mall of America and at the Dorm
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Has nothing to do with the MOA or the dorm insident.

________________

He may very will have all the issues he talks about... More then awareness to mental health he wants to use it to be a famous importation person. Why else would he be upset for DeMar DeRozan for helping his cause?

Royce's PR that sued him for not paying -- Myers says when she was initially hired, there was a plan in place to build White out as an influential style and music figure.

"I don't like to compare myself to other great people" Royce said, before talking about Gandhi and MLK.

How many kids does he have now? Is he still not paying child support?
 





My main take away is Royce attempted to clarify his perspective within context of growing up in the inner-cities and the added dimension that carries with it. He offered a lot of valid and heartfelt points about the difficult tight-rope of wanting to remain loyal to and taking care of those in his community while at the same time being told he needs to leave those potentially damaging actors behind. I certainly didn't experience this to the same degree, but I remember as a HS basketball player the institutional pressures that were placed on athletes to discard proletariat friends that could side-track an otherwise promising path forward, and I agree that those are deeply unfair choices for a teenage kid to be forced to make. And I agree with his critique that the real question - how is it that we can lift those people up instead of being forced to choose to abandon them - rarely gets asked. Of course that gets into very large questions about society, human nature, etc., but there's a callousness to it that can't be overlooked. Certainly he's made some mistakes, he's human, but those don't invalidate his larger criticisms - nice to see someone with the courage of their convictions, can't imagine anyone needs to tell him everything he's given up to stand his ground on these things.
 


Sorry, I used it in a confusing way - I meant it to have connotation of those easily discarded by society
 

gopherlaney said:
I disagree.

Although I believe Royce was involved in situations that were inappropriate and crossed the line at the Mall of America and at the Dorm, and certainly more so than he leads on in the Podcast. I do not think they are any different than many situations most young people get themselves into at that age that do not escalate to the level they did for him. This is a racial issue. You put 5 Caucasian young people in both situations and the outcome is dramatically different.

This happens all the time. We just happened to read about these 2 because he is good at basketball.






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When you make excuses for people they will never own up to their mistakes.


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I was going to respond with a really pithy point and then I completely lost track of what I was going to write as I saw all these pics of girls with big racks. Where did this new advertising come from???... It's to say the least...very distracting.

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Madman said:
I was going to respond with a really pithy point and then I completely lost track of what I was going to write as I saw all these pics of girls with big racks. Where did this new advertising come from???... It's to say the least...very distracting.

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk
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Dude. The advertising is typically specific to you.. Baised on you browser activity and search history.
 

It was hard for me to listen to both podcasts. He made a lot of excuses for his time at the U. The mall of America incident he played off as kids doing stupid stuff. He also noted about his lack of respect for authority (mall security). The laptop scandal he refused to cooperate with the investigation and once again calls out campus police as not really cops. Leader of the players union? Really dude? He also went on to say he was and still is NBA ready and doesn’t know why he isn’t on a team. It’s because you can’t get your attitude and actions under control bro.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Dude. The advertising is typically specific to you.. Baised on you browser activity and search history.
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Hahahaha, I'm glad someone already addressed this. Too perfect with your icon, Madman. I respect a man for not deleting his history, though I don't get the idea you did that purposely, haha.
 

paulser21 said:
It was hard for me to listen to both podcasts. He made a lot of excuses for his time at the U. The mall of America incident he played off as kids doing stupid stuff. He also noted about his lack of respect for authority (mall security). The laptop scandal he refused to cooperate with the investigation and once again calls out campus police as not really cops. Leader of the players union? Really dude? He also went on to say he was and still is NBA ready and doesn’t know why he isn’t on a team. It’s because you can’t get your attitude and actions under control bro.
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All very true. I think every post on this thread has described him pretty well, actually. This is going much better than the Geno one that thankfully finally seems finished.
 

Madman said:
I was going to respond with a really pithy point and then I completely lost track of what I was going to write as I saw all these pics of girls with big racks. Where did this new advertising come from???... It's to say the least...very distracting.

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk
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I believe all of the ads on sites like GH and most sites in general are tied to your browsing history. With that being said, I can tell we'd get along well!
 

I don't know Royce, other than to say Hi to him a couple of times. I have not taken time to listen to the interviews yet. I am not enough of a psychiatrist to attempt to have any insight into why he does what he does, or thinks how he thinks. I have seen him play 3 or 4 times at the TC Pro-Am this year and saw him quite a bit back when he played on the Howard Pulley team (17U kids) playing in the Howard Pulley Pro-Am back at The Sal. He hasn't changed or grown much in how he handles adversity. Any borderline or bad call takes him out of the game for at least the next 8 possessions while he is complaining to the refs and the fans and to anyone that will listen. Eventually he gets over it and bulls his way to the hoop and scores a few hoops. Then a teammate has a bad play or some perceived slight to him or his team, takes him out of things for a few more minutes. At least the last 2 half-times he has spent most of it complaining to the refs. It is maddening to see the talent wasted because he can't get over a play.
I wish him the best, but I put the over/under on him getting tossed out of the Italy league at 3 weeks. But it won't be his fault.
 

Minnesconsin fan said:
I don't know Royce, other than to say Hi to him a couple of times. I have not taken time to listen to the interviews yet. I am not enough of a psychiatrist to attempt to have any insight into why he does what he does, or thinks how he thinks. I have seen him play 3 or 4 times at the TC Pro-Am this year and saw him quite a bit back when he played on the Howard Pulley team (17U kids) playing in the Howard Pulley Pro-Am back at The Sal. He hasn't changed or grown much in how he handles adversity. Any borderline or bad call takes him out of the game for at least the next 8 possessions while he is complaining to the refs and the fans and to anyone that will listen. Eventually he gets over it and bulls his way to the hoop and scores a few hoops. Then a teammate has a bad play or some perceived slight to him or his team, takes him out of things for a few more minutes. At least the last 2 half-times he has spent most of it complaining to the refs. It is maddening to see the talent wasted because he can't get over a play.
I wish him the best, but I put the over/under on him getting tossed out of the Italy league at 3 weeks. But it won't be his fault.
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Having seen him at the TC Pro-am several times really makes me think there must be something in his past that makes his mental health issues show themselves on the court.

He can go from being at his most petulant, whiny, and assholish during a game to just minutes after it ends smiling, hugging, signing autographs, istening intently to the friends that came to watch him play talk about their day and engaging in conversation with any kids that come up to him (Never ever seen him turn one away, or not give them a big smile and high five while accommodating their request).

It's really unfortunate but I think basketball may have been the worst possible career path for him, it really brings out his mental health issues in ways other paths may not have.
 

GoodasGold said:
Agree completely. In fact, after the end of his basketball career, I can see Royce returning to the University and becoming involved in research; and possibly later teaching.
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Yeah. I could see this happening too, and it's exactly what's wrong with universities today.
 

gopherlaney said:
I disagree.

Although I believe Royce was involved in situations that were inappropriate and crossed the line at the Mall of America and at the Dorm, and certainly more so than he leads on in the Podcast. I do not think they are any different than many situations most young people get themselves into at that age that do not escalate to the level they did for him. This is a racial issue. You put 5 Caucasian young people in both situations and the outcome is dramatically different.

This happens all the time. We just happened to read about these 2 because he is good at basketball.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Good Grief. It is so condescending to African Americans to spew this idiocy.
 

He can go from being at his most petulant, whiny, and assholish during a game to just minutes after it ends smiling, hugging, signing autographs, istening intently to the friends that came to watch him play talk about their day and engaging in conversation with any kids that come up to him (Never ever seen him turn one away, or not give them a big smile and high five while accommodating their request).

He sounds like he has a future in politics.
 


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