Michael Sweetney (aka Sweets)

[Jeff Van Gully]

and yes, weed can increase anxiety due to the paranoia effect if that's how you react to it. and certain strains do certain things, etc.

we need to cultivate weed the right way to make it work for us, instead of going up the hill to the dominicans and getting "haze" that's really backyard boogie sprayed with 409 and black flag and laced with heroin. point being, every bag you get from every dealer ain't the same. so it's hard to categorize weed. you can smoke something that has you chill, something that makes you want to read a book, or something that has you foaming at the mouth.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Which begs...why is Sweetney viewed with so much less vitriol than Eddy Curry even though Sweetney was fatter, accomplished even less and should be viewed as an even bigger waste/bust/disappointment. Sweetney lost his dad, Curry lost his entire family.

Is it the Icarus effect?

Draft picks. That's why. We only wasted one on Sweets, but missed out on a ton of talent for Curry.

was eddy ever diagnosed? i know he had some of the tell-tale signs. and i took it easy on him because he really is a pitiful case. but i don't know if he was ever clinically depressed or was found to be.

either way, i felt bad for the kid and didn't go to knick games during his era because i was scared a piano might fall on me just for being that close to him.

also, we got rid of sweet before the worst of it. we actually traded him FOR eddy curry. the two forever linked.

[stuporman]

I myself suffer from a hereditary disposition I have dealt with my whole life and know full well how a chemical imbalance can make the most typical and mundane things in life a very challenging and often harrowing experience. I also do agree that the US is an over-prescribed society and it doesn't always result in an healthier outcome.

Even though I can have compassion for Sweetney about his issues I can also say I hated the pick when it happened and still do....the person I can feel for, the player not so much.

[Jeff Van Gully]

I myself suffer from a hereditary disposition I have dealt with my whole life and know full well how a chemical imbalance can make the most typical and mundane things in life a very challenging and often harrowing experience. I also do agree that the US is an over-prescribed society and it doesn't always result in an healthier outcome.

Even though I can have compassion for Sweetney about his issues I can also say I hated the pick when it happened and still do....the person I can feel for, the player not so much.

amen. the two aren't mutually exclusive. just because you believe clinical depression is real doesn't mean you agree with overprescribing of meds and the abuse of the system. on one hand, i saw poor black kids in my neighborhood who didn't get enough mental health care. on the other end, i went to a small private school where rich white kids used janky doctors for every excuse in the book to take untimed tests and generally shirk personal responsibility. both are travesties.

i saw kids whose parents raised them on pills just to pacify them instead of caring for them. and too much of that happens. but too much of the opposite does as well.

[stuporman]

I myself suffer from a hereditary disposition I have dealt with my whole life and know full well how a chemical imbalance can make the most typical and mundane things in life a very challenging and often harrowing experience. I also do agree that the US is an over-prescribed society and it doesn't always result in an healthier outcome.

Even though I can have compassion for Sweetney about his issues I can also say I hated the pick when it happened and still do....the person I can feel for, the player not so much.

amen. the two aren't mutually exclusive. just because you believe clinical depression is real doesn't mean you agree with overprescribing of meds and the abuse of the system. on one hand, i saw poor black kids in my neighborhood who didn't get enough mental health care. on the other end, i went to a small private school where rich white kids used janky doctors for every excuse in the book to take untimed tests and generally shirk personal responsibility. both are travesties.

i saw kids whose parents raised them on pills just to pacify them instead of caring for them. and too much of that happens. but too much of the opposite does as well.

One doesn't need to "believe" in the clinical psychological issues for them to exist, there is evidence nowadays that prove they are real even if one doesn't "believe" they exist. Although the science is still quite vague about how and what is happening in each case though it's progressing quickly and it doesn't help that each case is different from every other one.

I know from my own experience that one of the influences that exacerbated my own situation is the food I was eating as well as other chemicals. The chemicals in processed foods, in the home and environment from industrialization made it worse and until I eliminated them the best I could I was dealing with a issue made more difficult by them.

Even though it has never been completely eliminated since it is an imbalance that is genetically produced in me I have mitigated it's influence through awareness and manage myself instead of just be reactionary to it's effects.

[moocow007]

I myself suffer from a hereditary disposition I have dealt with my whole life and know full well how a chemical imbalance can make the most typical and mundane things in life a very challenging and often harrowing experience. I also do agree that the US is an over-prescribed society and it doesn't always result in an healthier outcome.

Even though I can have compassion for Sweetney about his issues I can also say I hated the pick when it happened and still do....the person I can feel for, the player not so much.

Yeah i wasn't a fan of the pick either at the time.

In hindsight there really weren't that many guys left that amounted to much of anything.

At the time? If memory serves the several names in particular were discussed by a lot of folks. That was the draft where there was a huge swelling for the Knicks to draft Maceij Lampe who was getting the usual "next Dirk" comparisons. There were also folks that wanted Ndudi Ebi and Sofoklis Schortsianitis...remember them guys?

[BKlutch]

Eddy Curry had depression too for sure.

Also - did you know that many depression meds make you put on a ton of weight, which reduces testosterone, which makes you feel low on energy? It's a pretty crappy cycle. You can pick out athletes with depression very easily.

Or maybe depression isn't a real thing and just a made up disease like obesity.

Everyone goes through depression. You arnt born with it. Certain things happen in people's lives which can cause depression which can last days months or years.

Medication Doesn't fix it, just makes it worse. I have seen many people diagnosed with depression and for stupid reasons. One of my good friends got diagnosed when she was 12. Had her on all types of ****. Why? Cuz she started to act up and was sad all the time.

But did the doctors take the time to figure out why? Nope... Let's just disregard puberty a day the fact that she just lost her mother to cancer aND her dad was a sht hole. Maybe that's why she is depressed at 12 years old.

It's all bull ****.

Very insensitive. More importantly, very wrong. This attitude is why many people who could be helped don't take advantage of the help that's available to them. We lose people from this. More days of work are lost to depression than heart disease last year and for each of the 30 years before that. It is a real disease, diagnosed by physicians, and treated with medications that have been proven effective in very respected peer reviewed, double blinded clinical trials since the 1960s.

There are malingerers, the unmotivated people who just don't care what they do. But that doesn't take away from the number of clinically depressed people who need help the same way cancer sufferers do. Weight loss leading to death, as well as extreme weight gain, can be symptoms of a major depression. Lack of restorative sleep, loss of motivation, pleasure, and even disruption of thought processes can occur in some patients. Not every patient can be helped. Medications don't always works. As of now, they remain the best hope of most people who suffer from depression.

[BKlutch]

I think it's a real thing for sure, but it's a combination of all sorts of things that they don't really understand yet. Everybody has jumped on the PTSD bandwagon right now, and that it kind of an extreme version of the same kind of thing. I agree that the meds don't really fix anything. All the meds do are level you out, and make you care about everything a whole lot less.

Which in turn makes everything much worse. Some doctor tried to diagnose me with Big Polar when I was 16 cuz I was acting up and had a short temper. Told him to fk off with his medication. Never took medication in my life and I'm fine.

You tell a teenage kid there is something wrong with then they are going to believe you. Their brain is going to believe what you tell then.

Imagine being 12 years old and being told you will never be normal or happy for the rest of your life.

These doctors are criminals and pieces of **** in my eyes.

My brother was on anti depressents for 5 years. When he was 17-22. Why was he diagnosed? Cuz he felt suicidal and was sad all the time.

Why though? Did the doctor try to help him? No.. just gave him some pills to swallow.

But the real reason... his first girlfriend ever and a girl he loved a lot cheated on him and he was heart broken.

Last summer I told him to get off the shi . And he did. And now he feels 100% better then he did before.

My sons mother was diagnosed at 12 with depression also... why? Cuz she didn't want to go to school, hated school and acted out.

But why did she do that? Why didn't she want to go to school? Because her parents didn't have a lot of money so she wore hand me down cloths, big beat up glasses and got made fun of every day she went.

Hmmn.. if I got made fun of every day in school, I sure ad hell wouldn't be happy and not want to go to school either.

It's a bull **** disease and anybody who takes medication for it is just making it worse.

Everyone goes through periods of depression. Some worse the others, but there I'd always a cause for it.. and that cause isn't being born with it.

What you're describing is a problem with the American (and Canada) healthcare system and doesn't really have much to do with the reality of the condition. It doesn't have anything to do with being "sad" and getting over it. There are a hundred things that could make a person have depression, including psychological issues stemming from trauma or your childhood, your diet, chemical imbalance, substance abuse, etc... but usually some combination of these things. The drugs are a lazy bandaid handed out by Drs who often don't give a crap. If your brother was suicidal it wasn't because he was sad, and he really needed counseling. Part of that of course is the rashness of youth, but healthy balanced people are not suicidal. I'm generally not for medicating at all except in extreme cases. I agree that most kids that are diagnosed are just normal kids that are bored at school and home.

King of Canada, you're right.

[moocow007]

Looking back i still think sweetney had the highest ceiling of all our lottery picks in the last 15 years until now, porzingis potential is unreal. But yeah sweets had a higher ceiling than gallinari, hill and frye.

Really? I didn't. Sweetney IMO was a stereotypical college big man star. He didn't have the athleticism, explosiveness or height to be one in the NBA. Elton Brand was someone that some folks were comparing him to but I don't think those folks actually saw Brand play. Brand was very athletic for his size, could jump real well, was explosive and had a gigantic wingspan (nearly 7'6" for a 6'8" guy). Sweetney lacked most/all of those traits.

[riter]

I'd rather sign Sweets for the min instead of Boozer.

[BodyCount]

He could be our mini shaq

[moocow007]

He could be our mini shaq

He'd actually be perfect for the Thing or the Hulk. You just need the orange or green coloring applied, the size and shape is already there.

[Jeff Van Gully]

He could be our mini shaq

He'd actually be perfect for the Thing or the Hulk. You just need the orange or green coloring applied, the size and shape is already there.

who is that?

[moocow007]

He could be our mini shaq

He'd actually be perfect for the Thing or the Hulk. You just need the orange or green coloring applied, the size and shape is already there.

who is that?

That's Sofoklis Schortsanitis...he was referred to as "Baby Shaq". He's a guy that the Knicks could have drafted instead of Sweetney back in 2003. He was actually getting a lot of play time before the draft. A lot of folks on this board was crazy for him. He was thinner in 2003. He's been a lil fatter as well.



This was him around the time of the draft.

[BallSacBounce]

Again this is a failure of the team to identify a problem a player is having and take the necessary steps to fix its. I know there are sports psychologists but they should and I hope are mandatory for all athletes as they are in a unique position to begin with and I truly believe this would be helpful too all of them


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Yeah you would think the teams would be interested in the mental health of players it's investing millions upon millions of dollars on.

Was reading an article on Delonte West and in Cleveland they did nothing about it to help and instead it was Lebron James and some of the veterans (West mentioned specifically the late Lorenzen Wright) who took it upon themselves to try to help their teammate (West) with his mental issues.

Sidebar: Yes, West actually said that Lebron James actually was the biggest help in terms of support (and this was both before and after the supposed "sleeping with Gloria James" rumor (which everyone has said never happened) while they were teammates.

Dallas was apparently a bit better as Cuban was aware and actually did, have and apparently still is trying to help West deal with his bi-polar issues by trying to get him involved in things and keeping tabs on him.

That COULD have been part of the therapy you know.

[BallSacBounce]

I'm very happy you chose the correct path and dealt with your issues the way you did. Having somebody to talk to really helps.

I am currently going through a depression myself. But I know why and what I did wrong. And I'm dealing with it.

I take anti depressents every day... it's called marijuana and it definitely helps lol. But there Is also no long term side affects and I'm not dependant on it (don't smoke a ton either)

I'm pro weed for about every thing. There arnt many things a pill can do for you that weed can't.

Heh - that was my approach when I was younger. I suspect there are psychological applications for MJ that will eventually become a part of the suite of clinical treatment. For me, ultimately it turned on me and fueled the anxiety. Now... very occasional entertainment.

i'm pro-weed too. but it's not an anti-depressant. it's anti-anxiety. it's definitely a depressant. people with clinical depression are at great risk of exacerbating their symptoms by using marijuana and alcohol.

but again, i'm wasting brain cells on someone who doesn't know what he's talking about. why?

there is a big difference between "being depressed about something" and having clinical depression. and hopefully you don't have the latter, knickfan20. if you did, your attitude toward the disease could lead you to never seek help and maybe hurt yourself or others. but it's not the same as, "i'm bummed about something bad i did in my life." and the reduction of depression to situations like that is insulting. it also contributes to the reasons why people end up not getting help. a damn shame.

Hopefully no one is listening to that idiot.

[louieOrr]

I remember Kendall Gill had severe depression

The thing that is so frightening about depression/bi-polar is that there would seem to be no escape in the extreme cases. Its like you cant even live in your own skin. Internally feelings so intolerable you prefer to be unconscious, live in the subconscious or cease to exist altogether. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I pray for everyone that struggles with this Psychological and Medical issue.

Teddy Roosevelt lost both his Mother and Wife to Brights disease on the SAME DAY. This man accomplished so much because he couldn't stop moving, doing, pursuing greatness with no fear. In reality he was running from idle time, as that would leave him alone with the depression and grief.

Think about Robin Williams for christ sake. So much to live for, and so much had left to contribute to society. Ironically, one of his final Roles was of Teddy.

[Jeff Van Gully]

He'd actually be perfect for the Thing or the Hulk. You just need the orange or green coloring applied, the size and shape is already there.

who is that?

That's Sofoklis Schortsanitis...he was referred to as "Baby Shaq". He's a guy that the Knicks could have drafted instead of Sweetney back in 2003. He was actually getting a lot of play time before the draft. A lot of folks on this board was crazy for him. He was thinner in 2003. He's been a lil fatter as well.



This was him around the time of the draft.

i wondered if that was baby shaq.

i never knew his real name. hahhaha.

[Knicksfan20]

Eddy Curry had depression too for sure.

Also - did you know that many depression meds make you put on a ton of weight, which reduces testosterone, which makes you feel low on energy? It's a pretty crappy cycle. You can pick out athletes with depression very easily.

Or maybe depression isn't a real thing and just a made up disease like obesity.

Everyone goes through depression. You arnt born with it. Certain things happen in people's lives which can cause depression which can last days months or years.

Medication Doesn't fix it, just makes it worse. I have seen many people diagnosed with depression and for stupid reasons. One of my good friends got diagnosed when she was 12. Had her on all types of ****. Why? Cuz she started to act up and was sad all the time.

But did the doctors take the time to figure out why? Nope... Let's just disregard puberty a day the fact that she just lost her mother to cancer aND her dad was a sht hole. Maybe that's why she is depressed at 12 years old.

It's all bull ****.

There are people who are more genetically inclined to develop conditions like obesity and depression

Has nothing to do with genetics. Has everything to do with the parents.

If the mom is eating Nothing but McDonald's while she is pregnant and processed snacks.. chances are the kid will be in worse position then a kid who is fed and breast fed a healthy diet.

Now think of most obese or overweight people.. they have a kid, do you think they are changing their eating habits? Probably not. The kids are going to eat what the parents eat. And the kids will be as healthy as the parents are. If Dad wants to watch TV all night and eat chips.. that's what t he kid will be doing.

Depression I feel is also caused and not perminent just like obesity. (Except for rare cases such ad being molested or raped or something extreme like that)

Depression can be fixed by finding happyness and working through your issues without drugs. Maybe talking to a psychiatrist. Much easier said then done, but its possible.

Now I am one of the few people here who didn't bash Eddy Curry (outside of during the season) Eddy went through some terrible stuff and I couldn't imagine being in that guys head for a day. People here are quick to judge others without knowing a thing about them. You can probably find posts of mine where I defend Eddy Curry (because he still has random topics made of him and is brought up as a joke often) Eddy went through some **** man. I can't blame him for being out of shape or playing badly.... He went through a lot during his time here in NY and I hope he is getting better.

[Knicksfan20]

i'm pro-weed too. but it's not an anti-depressant. it's anti-anxiety. it's definitely a depressant. people with clinical depression are at great risk of exacerbating their symptoms by using marijuana and alcohol.

but again, i'm wasting brain cells on someone who doesn't know what he's talking about. why?

there is a big difference between "being depressed about something" and having clinical depression. and hopefully you don't have the latter, knickfan20. if you did, your attitude toward the disease could lead you to never seek help and maybe hurt yourself or others. but it's not the same as, "i'm bummed about something bad i did in my life." and the reduction of depression to situations like that is insulting. it also contributes to the reasons why people end up not getting help. a damn shame.

Weed does the exact opposite for me. If I'm mad or upset, it calms me down. But at the same time makes me anxious. I dont feel that way when I'm sober at all.

And I hAve a job where I take random tests, so I'm sober plenty and not a big drinker.

You are making an opinions of me yet know nothing about me. I have my opinion and will debate this all day because I feel like Mt views are right.