Delonte West was selected by the Boston Celtics with the No. 24-overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft coming off of a fantastic college career when he and Jameer Nelson comprised the backcourt for the St. Joseph's Hawks team that went 30-2 in the 2003-04 season and made it to the Elite Eight. However, West is apparently in a bad way nowadays given a recent sighting of the former Celtics guard.
According to a report from TMZ, a big basketball fan recognized West outside of a Jack In the Box fast food restaurant in Houston where the former NBA guard was aimlessly walking around by himself wearing no shoes and, frankly, not looking to be in the best of shape. As evidence, the fan snapped some pictures with West and, indeed, West looks to be quite bad off:
Instagram
Even worse, though, is the interaction that the fan reportedly had with West. After walking up to him to take the photos, the fan asked, "Are you Delonte West?" Quite harrowingly, West replied, "I used to be, but I'm not about that life anymore."
West hasn't played in the NBA since suiting up for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011-12 season. After that, he spent seasons bouncing around in the D-League and in China, playing his last game in the D-League in early 2015.
However, West had far from a conventional professional basketball career. Rumors always prominently circulated about West having a relationship with the mother of his teammate in Cleveland, LeBron James. Moreover, West gained viral fame after a video of him freestyle rapping in a car after picking up food from KFC surfaced online.
Though all of this might seem a bit humorous, it's sad to see a player who had such promise coming out of college and showed flashes in the NBA be in this sort of state where he's all alone in bad shape outside of Jack In the Box saying that he's no longer Delonte West anymore. Just another cautionary tale, or so it would seem.
[H/T to Sporting News]
I don't know if anyone had seen this yet, but another sad tale of what's left after the highs of professional sports. I also don't know if there is a program for rookies to attend that would help them in organizing there affairs both financially and personally.
Too many tragic endings.
Delonte West
Re: Delonte West
A big part of Delonte's problem is that he had/has severe psychological and cognitive issues. I believe he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and based on a lot of the public missteps and meltdowns and some of the innuendo out there, that is probably only scratching the surface of what his problems are.
It isn't just a cautionary tale about the traps of stardom, it is a cautionary tale about the dangers of mental illness and the importance of having a support system in place that you can trust to look out for your best interest, which unfortunately Delonte did not have. (Interestingly, at one point Red Auerbach tried to play that role for him, but Red was very old when they met and did not live long enough to see/intervene in the trouble Delonte has found himself in over the years.)
It isn't just a cautionary tale about the traps of stardom, it is a cautionary tale about the dangers of mental illness and the importance of having a support system in place that you can trust to look out for your best interest, which unfortunately Delonte did not have. (Interestingly, at one point Red Auerbach tried to play that role for him, but Red was very old when they met and did not live long enough to see/intervene in the trouble Delonte has found himself in over the years.)
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"If you build it, they will come." --Us, circa 2011
Re: Delonte West
He was troubled well before, during and after his stay at St. Joe's.....looks like it is still the case.
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F*ck Alacki, DarthFriar, DirtyBeanFriar94, xCoachK, Boxworth, Friar Faithful, bicycleicycle, Matt_Keough, Patrick Norton, the Rosato brothers, and especially Benjamin Lord !
Re: Delonte West
it's from the summer of 2014 and kind of long, but this is one of the best things I've read on Delonte West.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sp ... cious.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sp ... cious.html
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