Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love each revealed in the past week their issues with mental health caused by the rigors and pressure of playing in the NBA.
Mental health among NBA players has long been an issue that has been kept private because of the perception that 1.) millionaire athletes shouldn’t have any real issues because they’re rich, and 2.) going public about mental health issues or depression may affect a player’s future earnings if teams have the impression that he struggles with the pressure and/or criticism of being a star.
DeRozan and Love should be commended for their bravery in admitting that there are extreme mental burdens from playing in the NBA. The question now is, how do players deal with this stress and continue to be productive players, and how do they seek treatment privately if they feel teams are going to judge them for their admissions?
Sports psychologist Brent Walker, a former president of Association of Applied Sport Psychology and a liaison for the NBA Retired Players Association, offered his thoughts on the challenges of highly paid athletes dealing with mental health issues.
“The reality is that professional athletes are not different,’’ Walker said. “Everyone has their struggles regardless of what it looks like on the outside. We all have stuff we have to deal with. Where it gets different and difficult for the professional athletes is that it’s worst in a team sport in that, ‘I can’t let anybody know. I’ve got to be a man [or woman]. I can’t let anyone know there’s something wrong with me.’ ’’
DeRozan recently spoke publicly about his battles with depression. Love said he’s suffered from panic attacks during games, including one episode three minutes into a January home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Mental health issues are not new to professional sports. It’s just that players have become more comfortable revealing their struggles and obstacles.
“The most common comment I hear from [retired players] is, ‘Man, where were you 20 years ago?’ ’’ Walker said. “No one wants to admit they have a problem. It’s always somebody else. Another fascinating piece to that is everyone who’s reached out to me for a referral usually has worked with someone in the past. In that sense, the stigma has been broken for them because they know what it’s actually like to get help.
“By DeMar opening up and talking about it, it made it OK for Kevin to talk about it. I think that was an important step.’’
Walker explained the nature of many of these issues: the professional sports lifestyle.
“You’re spending abnormal amounts of time away from your family, you’re sleeping patterns are absolutely atrocious,’’ he said. “A lot of the basic well-being items that we would recommend for people, staying close to people you’re close to, getting adequate amounts of sleep. Professional athletes don’t have that luxury during the season.
“Speaking [of] the money, you sign a big contract and then you feel the need to justify your worth of that contract. They have a lot of external pressures that the average person doesn’t deal with.’’
Psychologists, mental health coaches, and other advisers are becoming more prevalent for athletes in dealing with these issues. The most difficult part is admitting that the lifestyle may be damaging. Love and DeRozan have publicly been lauded by their NBA brethren for their admissions, and third-year Washington Wizards swingman KellyOubre recently talked about his struggles with mental health.
“The NBA is now proactively taking steps so that you can give resources to guys,’’ Walker said. “But reading Kevin’s piece, some guys try to ignore it and act like it doesn’t exist.
“Here’s the interesting challenge, even if there is a person available to the team — a lot of guys are hesitant to use that person because what they fear is the team is going to find out they have a problem, and like Kevin Love said, ‘[I] fear my teammates won’t be able to trust me.’ I actually had one GM in an honest moment tell me my biased [opinion] would be I’m going to stay away from the guy who’s suffering from something.
“That makes it more difficult for guys to get help because they don’t want anyone to know they’re getting help.’’
Walker suggests that players who need help seek it confidentially, to overcome the fear of admitting that help is needed, and to understand that mental health is equally as important for athletes as physical health.
LINES OF COMMUNICATION
Can’t they all just get along?
Improving the relationship between players and officials has been the league’s goal the past few months. Many players pile up technical fouls, and there have been instances of players having to be held back from making physical contact with officials after questionable calls. And then there was the December incident between the Warriors’ Shaun Livingston and official Courtney Kirkland, who had to be separated after a controversial call.
The Livingston-Kirkland episode was a stark example of how the relationship between players and officials has decayed. Former official Monty McCutchen, now the league’s vice president of referee training and development, is meeting with all 30 teams to get their feedback on how to improve relations.
McCutchen met with the Celtics last week in Chicago.
“You go into it with two goals in mind,’’ he said. “One of our goals is to articulate to players and teams how we’re going about making the systemic changes we think will benefit the league. Those changes encompass a more complete view of what it means to be an NBA referee, and accuracy, of course, has to be the threshold of excellence, we’re very clear about that.
“We’re already starting to implement some of these ideals that we have to be better at listening and communicating and being strong and humble. Being able to show strength without arrogance.’’
McCutchen said the league wants to begin “analytically tracking’’ progress by officials and how well and effectively they are communicating with players. The players fully realize they aren’t going to like all of the calls, but seek consistency and the ability to dispute calls under emotional control without fear of a technical foul.
“We’re trying to articulate to the teams these are the areas we are starting to explore, document, start to have a more complete view of what it means to be an NBA referee,’’ McCutchen said. “For the last decade or so, accuracy has taken on the forefront, as well it should, up against the scrutiny of where the league has come to. No one is denying that need. We are saying there’s more to refereeing than just that and that being a good communicator, being strong and humble, being resolute, being firm without giving off signs of arrogance, all of these things make a complete referee. Showing these teams that are part of these meetings.
“The other part, the most significant part, is to be good listeners in these meetings and hear how players and coaches feel the relationship is and how it can improve. The biggest issue is we’re trying to create an environment through these discussions in which we realize that yes, the players are the game, the coaches are the game. The referees serve the game.’’
A primary issue that has escalated player-official bickering is the influx of new and younger officials. Gone are veterans such as McCutchen, Steve Javie, Eddie Rush, Joey Crawford, and Dick Bavetta, who knew how to deal with unruly players and made it clear when they were crossing the line. Younger officials tend to have shorter leashes with players and at times have escalated disputes.
“Communication is the biggest issue, one of the things we’ve been hearing [from the players],’’ McCutchen said. “How do we learn how to disagree respectfully? We realize that 1.) referees make mistakes, and 2.) we probably don’t make the amount of mistakes we’re perceived to make. We work quite hard at our craft and we’re very good at it. How when we’re in those throes of competition, how do you show the will to stand up to the will to win?’’
“Learning about how we can all disagree about he calls, respectfully so we can actually get to the meat of the disagreement, maybe the discourse is the best word so both sides can offer perspective without it becoming an issue of respect. The goal is to get to communication that isn’t power oriented.’’
Another wrinkle in the responsibilities of officials is the advent of social media. Controversial calls are now posted on Twitter moments after they occur, firing up fans following unfavorable calls for their team. Also, the NBA releases a daily Two-Minute Report that assesses the officiating in the critical moments of the previous night’s games.
The league not only points out correct calls in that stretch but also notes incorrect or missed calls, inviting even more criticism for officials. On Wednesday, the NBA said that officials erred when calling a jump ball between the Magic and Lakers after a clock malfunction with 0.6 seconds left with the Magic trailing by 1 with the ball.
The jump ball killed the final 0.6 seconds and the Magic never gained possession. The NBA said Orlando should have received the ball, but it hardly mattered because the game had been over for nearly a day, causing even more friction between teams and officials.
“It’s affected all of our jobs,’’ McCutchen said. “For many of our players, social media has been a big part of their adult lives. They are more comfortable with it. Players and coaches and referees have become a little more sensitized and social media has made us a little more defensive in some ways. I’ve been trying to articulate that the scrutiny has changed and it’s up to us and the caretakers of the game, we’re able to rise above that, to get to our work based on the work itself and let the outside noise be just that, outside noise.
“And if we’re capable of taking on these high-principled ideals, then I think we have a better chance to getting to the relationships that matter.’’
ETC.
Irving has a ball with ‘Uncle Drew’
Kyrie Irving spent last summer making his first feature film, “Uncle Drew,’’ about the life of the character he portrays in Pepsi commercials. It was on the set of “Uncle Drew’’ in August that Irving found out he had been traded to the Celtics by the Cavaliers.
Irving’s costar in the movie, comedian Lil Rel Howery, explained on the Oscars red carpet the reaction of the cast when the trade was announced during filming. Irving added his take.
“I left for about five minutes and came back and started acting my scene again,’’ said Irving. “That is a full-blown life right there, being a professional basketball player and acting in the summer.’’
Irving said he shaved during the filming of the movie because the glue from Uncle Drew’s gray beard was sticking to his actual beard, hence his clean-shaven look for the Celtics press conference. “Uncle Drew’’ debuts June 29, a few days after the NBA Finals.
Irving is the latest NBA player to enter the world of acting. His personal favorites include “He Got Game,’’ released in 1998 and starring ex-Celtic Ray Allen and Denzel Washington.
“That was a unique story for me,’’ said Irving. “It kind of played on my life a little bit. Not necessarily the combat that was going on with the husband and wife, but Jesus [Shuttlesworth] losing his mom and the way his dad pushed him.’’
In the movie, Washington tirelessly pushes his son, Jesus (played by Allen), into being a great basketball player. Jesus eventually signs with a major university.
“I kind of envisioned that as my dad in my backyard telling me people in LA are working out while you’re sleeping,’’ Irving said. “ ‘You want it! You want it! You want it!’ My dad giving me a whole bunch of talks, really just pushing me to the point where I just took the reins and went with it.’’
Irving said his passion for the game grew to the point where he didn’t need Pop’s pep talks by high school.
“When I turned about 16 years old, I didn’t really need the motivation talks from my dad anymore telling me this is the person you need to be ready for,’’ he said.
“This is an opportunity you need to be prepared for. At that point, I already had that itch and that it factor in wanting to destroy and wanting to become such a maniac of this game. Once you become maniacal about it, you can kiss the normal-people things out of the window.’’
The “Uncle Drew’’ character is a combination of his basketball and family mentors over the years, Irving said. That made the opportunity to film a commercial with all-time great Bill Russell even more enjoyable.
“I’m just channeling a lot of guys that have come before me,’’ he said. “You listen to Bill Russell talk and the fact that I actually did an ‘Uncle Drew’ spot with Bill Russell, that’s legendary. He’s over there and he’s talking and you could tell that he was an unbelievable hooper in his walk.
“He’s a little bit older now but you just know that [vibe] that older people carry. They’ve been walking this earth for so long, they have so much wisdom and so much knowledge that for me being Uncle Drew, I just try to be in that channel as much as I can, just be in that mind-set to just give back, consistently give back.’’
Layups
G-League Maine has been without Jabari Bird since Jan. 31 because of a back injury. Bird, on a two-way contract, has been recovering slowly, working out at the Celtics’ practice facility, and may return by the end of the Red Claws’ regular season March 24. Bird has not exhausted his 45-day NBA limit and could also be available to the Celtics for the remainder of the season. The Red Claws are unlikely to make the playoffs, also making two-way contract rookie Kadeem Allen available . . . Boston College junior Jerome Robinson and sophomore Ky Bowman are expected to at least explore the NBA Draft, but neither are projected as first-round picks. As usual, it will be a freshman-heavy draft, but there is so much depth as well. Unless Robinson and Bowman just feel they are ready for a change, there doesn’t appear to be any advantages for them to declare for this draft. The past two examples of BC players declaring early are mixed. Reggie Jackson was a first-round pick of the Thunder in 2011 and eventually earned a five-year, $90 million deal from the Pistons. Olivier Hanlan was a second-round pick of the Jazz in 2015 and played overseas until this season, during which he played for San Antonio’s G-League Austin affiliate. He has yet to play in an NBA game.
Don’t expect Missouri prospect Michael Porter Jr. to hesitate to enter the draft despite missing most of his freshman season with a back injury. Porter returned for the Tigers’ appearance in the SEC tournament and will play in the NCAA Tournament. That should be good enough of a resume for Porter to be a top 7 pick. Remember, Kyrie Irving played just 11 college games before going No. 1 overall in 2011.
Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
