Why can’t you bring the discipline that enabled you to become a world-class athlete into your personal and social life?
Dude, guns are neither props, toys nor cute. Did you learn nothing from your 8-game suspension in March? What was that phony script you recited in April about needing to be a better man? Your public hand wringing was total BS.
When I saw the video in the Denver strip club my impression was, “That’s a young man definitely having too much fun.” Dude, some of my high school and college friends died from “too much fun.” Why can’t you bring the discipline that enabled you to become a world-class athlete into your personal and social life?
When I saw the video of your bad ride with DeVonte, ya’ll looked like you were having too much fun again. And then you flash a gun (oh yes, it was definitely a gun) with a shit-eating grin that illustrated an unhealthy detachment from reality, and unwarranted giddiness.
If the Grizzlies and NBA make you sit out a year, I’d hate that but would not be surprised.
If the Grizzlies and NBA make you sit out a year, I’d hate that but would not be surprised. Hopefully, you’ll have some kind of therapeutic epiphany in time to be reinstated. But that’s not as important as schooling a young, Black superstar with endless visibility on the responsibilities that come with your standing.
Sadly, the United States has been subsumed by a gross firearms culture, which exists in no other Western nor civilized nation. And our hometown of Memphis has become one of the most tragically violent. After your bad decisions in March, some NFL players were ridiculing you and the city, saying with misplaced laughter, “That’s Memphis now; you in it, you become a part of it.” Please prove them wrong before training camp. You need to defeat that image, because those guys called you out as a bad clown.
Here are some recommendations for your public rehab:
- Stop hanging with DeVonte Pack, your “brother” who was with you in every regrettable event during the past year, and appears to be a VERY bad influence. Give him a little cash if necessary, but get him out of your life.
- After your next counseling program, please volunteer yourself to be the new face of anti-gun legislation in America, and lend your standing to defeat all the destructive NRA legislation and agenda.
- Bring your dad into counseling with you; if he hasn’t pulled in the reins on you, somebody needs to do it for him. Sure he’s a great, fun guy, and we love seeing him at games. But good dads don’t let their sons . . .
- Use your visibility to reduce and diffuse the gun culture in Memphis and the nation. Advocate publically for gun control legislation at the federal level, beginning with a renewed ban on assault weapons.
- Partner with Draymond Green to broker a peace in the Memphis gang wars. He kind of offered to do that last year during the playoffs. OK, that’s maddeningly quixotic, but a guy can dream. But he loves Memphis and Memphis music.
- Set the example that firearms aren’t props of successful young people, but weapons of destruction that kill people. It’s not jewelry or a toy. Say that LOUD at every public appearance for a while.
- Use your standing to speak out LOUDLY every time there’s another mass murder by firearms. Sadly, we’re conditioned to expect one most days in the US.
“You are already the lead granite block in the Mt. Rushmore of Memphis NBA basketball along with Hubie Brown, Lionel Hollins, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and the Brothers Gasol. The Memphis college hoops Mt. Rushmore includes Larry Kenon, Larry Finch, Keith Lee, Mike Butler, Penny Hardaway and Gene Bartow. It’s MY Mt. Rushmore and I pick 6. And you have to have a 6th man.”
You are the greatest skilled player to ever in Memphis, and you’ve brought us much excitement, joy and happiness. But you brought a huge series of embarrassments to yourself, the Grizzlies, the city and the NBA. I’ve got CONfidence in you to turn all this around and make good. Feel free to call anytime you want to talk. DeVonte is not your friend, I am. Let’s all work on making Memphis a less scary place, and de-glorifying firearms as props for rich young men.
H. Scott Prosterman, Grizz Fan
HSP played college basketball at Division III Rhodes College in Memphis in the 1970’s, and was the shortest white boy to dunk. For real, ya’ll. He thinks about all that fun when his back and hip pain flares up.
