Player's Tribune Eddy Curry: The truth was way worse

[m1kenoff]

The guy was pure trash, on and off the court.
Had no work ethic, or any discipline for that matter, was terrible at about every aspect of the game except scoring under the rim.
Really dumb with money, relationships, you name it.
And yeah, he was fat NBA player! This is so ridiculous, it can't be not funny.

So now he what, thinks it all just doesn't matter because he had some tragedy in his life. Everybody have tragedies in their life.

How about instead of sponsoring your "homies" you take care of your second family, if you were dumb enough to make it, buy them some nice house and move them to safe neighborhood? How about you actually do your job, especially if it's one of the greatest job in the world.

I have no sympathy for this guy. Life gave him a lot of chances, chances 99.9999% of us don't have, and he blew them all and now he tries to act like a victim. He's not, he's just a dumb, lazy dude and people have the right to ridicule him for it.

i don't know man. Everyone gets a chance to turn their life around. Maybe it comes later for some, and appears to be for Eddy Curry.

And I'm not saying I don't wish him best of luck. But respect is earned not given. And if he thinks he can earn it acting like a victim when he's not, he's wrong.

People can criticize Curry all they want and say they don't feel sorry or whatever, but no way do I not feel sorry for any person in this world who has to find out they lost a child. I just can't imagine that feeling no matter who it is, and I have empathy for that kind of loss even though there is no way I can truly understand it.

It's heartbreaking. But I blame him. We have one job in this world, and it's protecting our women and children. Did he do a good job at it? No. Did he do anything for it? No.

There are at least a billion people in the world who would probably look at you and I and think 'wow, what a waste of opportunity'. To whom more is given, more is expected, this is true. The problem is 'judging others' is very hard to do because people are not the same. This is why, in courts, often times, logic and reason supersedes law.

If you see the same story over and over again, Lamar Odom, Eddy Curry, AI, and so many others, you should be able to deduce that there is a systemic problem. Clearly, everyone has their vices and demons, but you act as if you are an angel and as if you are 100% sure you would succeed given the same circumstances, environment and character traits.

I hope it is becoming less and less frequent where players are entering the league misinformed and getting abused by the system.

Perhaps the NBA needs to take more responsibility on financial planning and ethics training for their players. Perhaps they need to defer their salaries and mandate a much larger pension contribution. Ofcourse people will argue that they have no right to take so much control over people's lives, bla bla.

If I was an agent or someone in the NBA's HR department I would make this the number 1 requirement for rookies entering the league. You will not be eligible to play until you pass a rigorous financial planning course and take an oath to act responsibly with your earnings, most importantly, responsible to yourself.

[Hero_Panda]

The lack of empathy in this thread is disturbing.
From a kid being forced to play basketball because of his genes, to being thrown millions of dollars before they're even allowed to drink, let alone before knowing what it means to be responsible, to experiencing the death of a partner and their very own infant. seeing their son covered in said victim's blood.

Based from all this, it's no surprise why his career spiraled down to catastrophic.

I'm glad he found Patrice later on in his life, but who was there for him before than? WTF were his parents doing other than profiting off his genes?

As someone who has depression, I applaud Eddy Curry for being strong enough to get through all this and to find another purpose in life. I hope nothing but the best for him and his family.

[rickbrunson]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

[Nuntius]

Perhaps one of the most honest pieces in The Players' Tribune.

i know at some point i made those Eddy Curry jokes (and more than half of Real GM) and i feel guilty now.

My main takeaway is that it's very easy for us to criticize these players but we forget that these are human beings, with real struggles (outside basketball) too.

The Truth Was Way Worse

Before I knew it, I was on a plane flying back to New York, and even just within those few hours more and more details became clear. I found out that my son Noah was right there when his mother and sister were shot. But he was so little that he didn’t really understand what had happened. He’d tried to wake up his mom after the shooting, so when the officers went in and found him there, he had blood all over him. He actually laid down next to her and had fallen asleep.

Noah hadn’t been able to wake up his mom or his sister, and probably thought they were sleeping, so he went to sleep, too.

These were the lines that hit me, guess being older and being a father now changes a lot of perspective and made me feel guilty about the jokes.

In behalf of RealGM, i'd like to apologize to Eddy Curry and every other player we made fun of-- especially the personal ones where we really don't know the entire story.

There's nothing wrong with being gay. Why does he keep bringing that up like it bothers him?

Because one's identity is for them to decide and not for anyone else. I don't think that there's anyone in the world who would be cool with someone else deciding their identity. Plus, the accusation of sexual harassment is extremely serious in and of itself as well so, yeah, I get why he keeps bringing that up.

Anyway, on to the main topic. Thanks for the article, OP. It was a really well-written piece. I fully agree with your takeaway that it is very easy to criticize these players and forget that they are human beings, just like us. And when some fans decide to make it personal and comment on things going on in the player's personal lives then it becomes really, really vile. Unfortunately, the internet has made it very easy for people to publicly share their callousness. Not that it didn't exist before. It always existed. It just wasn't possible to broadcast it to the rest of the world with the touch of a button, like it is now.

[Sulico]

i don't know man. Everyone gets a chance to turn their life around. Maybe it comes later for some, and appears to be for Eddy Curry.

And I'm not saying I don't wish him best of luck. But respect is earned not given. And if he thinks he can earn it acting like a victim when he's not, he's wrong.

People can criticize Curry all they want and say they don't feel sorry or whatever, but no way do I not feel sorry for any person in this world who has to find out they lost a child. I just can't imagine that feeling no matter who it is, and I have empathy for that kind of loss even though there is no way I can truly understand it.

It's heartbreaking. But I blame him. We have one job in this world, and it's protecting our women and children. Did he do a good job at it? No. Did he do anything for it? No.

There are at least a billion people in the world who would probably look at you and I and think 'wow, what a waste of opportunity'. To whom more is given, more is expected, this is true. The problem is 'judging others' is very hard to do because people are not the same. This is why, in courts, often times, logic and reason supersedes law.

If you see the same story over and over again, Lamar Odom, Eddy Curry, AI, and so many others, you should be able to deduce that there is a systemic problem. Clearly, everyone has their vices and demons, but you act as if you are an angel and as if you are 100% sure you would succeed given the same circumstances, environment and character traits.

I hope it is becoming less and less frequent where players are entering the league misinformed and getting abused by the system.

Perhaps the NBA needs to take more responsibility on financial planning and ethics training for their players. Perhaps they need to defer their salaries and mandate a much larger pension contribution. Ofcourse people will argue that they have no right to take so much control over people's lives, bla bla.

If I was an agent or someone in the NBA's HR department I would make this the number 1 requirement for rookies entering the league. You will not be eligible to play until you pass a rigorous financial planning course and take an oath to act responsibly with your earnings, most importantly, responsible to yourself.

Most of your post is right and I couldn't agree more.

But I didn't say that I would succeed in the same environment. That's not my point at all.
I'm sure if I would become laughingstock, I wouldn't be surprised that people laugh at me. I wouldn't try to play victim.
I did my fair share of mistakes when I was younger, and never ever was I thinking that people talk bad about me and laugh at me in those situations because they just mean. I learned valuable lessons and next time I did better and people were just as quick to praise me.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I feel bad for him. He never had the proper education in money management and that wasn't his fault. The early 00's were a somewhat dark ages for the NBA. They signed these guys out of HS with no structure and no support system in place and they blew all their money.

I just googled and he took out a $4M mortgage in 2006 with payments of $25k monthly. That's insane

Its just a lack of common sense, no sympathy for these millionaires. NBA has a great program for them too

The NBA has “a” program now I don’t know that I’d call it great. Remember when you were in HS? I do, and I would not have been able to responsibly manage millions. Hell, I think it’s a big issue that 18 year old kids can make student loan decisions without appreciating the consequences. Yes, it’s a first world problem, but guys like Curry get stuck in a situation that’s ripe for exploitation

[Capn'O]

I feel bad for him. He never had the proper education in money management and that wasn't his fault. The early 00's were a somewhat dark ages for the NBA. They signed these guys out of HS with no structure and no support system in place and they blew all their money.

I just googled and he took out a $4M mortgage in 2006 with payments of $25k monthly. That's insane

Its just a lack of common sense, no sympathy for these millionaires. NBA has a great program for them too

The NBA has “a” program now I don’t know that I’d call it great. Remember when you were in HS? I do, and I would not have been able to responsibly manage millions. Hell, I think it’s a big issue that 18 year old kids can make student loan decisions without appreciating the consequences. Yes, it’s a first world problem, but guys like Curry get stuck in a situation that’s ripe for exploitation

Especially with his personality type. Very shy and deferential. Don't think Kobe or LeBron ever had that issue, for example.

A lot of people see this as him asking people to feel sorry for him but I see it as a person saying how they learned to set boundaries and know what and who around them to value.

[Hero_Panda]

Especially with his personality type. Very shy and deferential. Don't think Kobe or LeBron ever had that issue, for example.

Very good point about Kobe and Lebron. As much disdain one might have for Lebron, you have to respect the fact he was able to deal with and succeed in the NBA with all those Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan comparisons. His ability to deal with pressure probably exhumes his ability on the court IMO.

A lot of people see this as him asking people to feel sorry for him but I see it as a person saying how they learned to set boundaries.

Never thought of it that way.
My initial reaction after reading the article is very similar to other NBA players' tribune articles, and that is the life outside of basketball for some of these athletes, and they're human too and kind of things these athletes have to deal with when they're outside the fame of glamour of the NBA.

[Capn'O]

Especially with his personality type. Very shy and deferential. Don't think Kobe or LeBron ever had that issue, for example.

A lot of people see this as him asking people to feel sorry for him but I see it as a person saying how they learned to set boundaries.

Very good point about Kobe and Lebron. As much disdain one might have for Lebron, you have to respect the fact he was able to deal with and succeed in the NBA with all those Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan comparisons. His ability to deal with pressure probably exhumes his ability on the court IMO.

Never thought of it that way.
My initial reaction after reading the article is very similar to other NBA players' tribune articles, and that is the life outside of basketball for some of these athletes, and they're human too and kind of things these athletes have to deal with when they're outside the fame of glamour of the NBA.

It has been a good resource to bring the human element to the game. A lot of players have great stories to tell.



Shaq's another guy who like Curry was basically a larger than life kid. But he was ruthless on the court. Kindest guy in the world but the buck stopped with business.

As a Knick fan I got to observe a lot of these stories happening in real time for Eddy. For such a big guy, he was such a passive player and you got the sense that the same issues that plagued him on the court hampered him off of it too. You'd see a story and feel for him but in the back of your mind it's like "dude, get those people out of your life."

[KingDavid]

Someone shot his kid dead man. Everything could have been avoided if he was ready to be an adult and deal with everything accordingly but he wasn't ready and paid dire consequences for it. As a fellow father, I feel bad for him, nothing but pain from the bottom of my heart.. As a man, I feel he was begging for the rest of what occurred to happen to him.

Glad he's got it together.

[johanliebert]

The guy was pure trash, on and off the court.
Had no work ethic, or any discipline for that matter, was terrible at about every aspect of the game except scoring under the rim.
Really dumb with money, relationships, you name it.
And yeah, he was fat NBA player! This is so ridiculous, it can't be not funny.

So now he what, thinks it all just doesn't matter because he had some tragedy in his life. Everybody have tragedies in their life.

How about instead of sponsoring your "homies" you take care of your second family, if you were dumb enough to make it, buy them some nice house and move them to safe neighborhood? How about you actually do your job, especially if it's one of the greatest job in the world.

I have no sympathy for this guy. Life gave him a lot of chances, chances 99.9999% of us don't have, and he blew them all and now he tries to act like a victim. He's not, he's just a dumb, lazy dude and people have the right to ridicule him for it.

eh you don't know the situation with his other family. Normal people don't get shot alongside their children..she could have been extorting him you don't know at the end of the day he lost a child.

Why should he support other grown ass men and purchase them a house? how can you speak on a work ethic from your couch you guys are something else.

[LuDux1]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

[GordanFreeman]

The guy was pure trash, on and off the court.
Had no work ethic, or any discipline for that matter, was terrible at about every aspect of the game except scoring under the rim.
Really dumb with money, relationships, you name it.
And yeah, he was fat NBA player! This is so ridiculous, it can't be not funny.

So now he what, thinks it all just doesn't matter because he had some tragedy in his life. Everybody have tragedies in their life.

How about instead of sponsoring your "homies" you take care of your second family, if you were dumb enough to make it, buy them some nice house and move them to safe neighborhood? How about you actually do your job, especially if it's one of the greatest job in the world.

I have no sympathy for this guy. Life gave him a lot of chances, chances 99.9999% of us don't have, and he blew them all and now he tries to act like a victim. He's not, he's just a dumb, lazy dude and people have the right to ridicule him for it.

What made him 'trash' off the court?

[rickbrunson]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

Literally the first words of the article:

People got jokes.
Everyone, it seems like.
Jokes for days.
When the topic is Eddy Curry, the jokes just come easy. It’s been that way for more than a decade. And even after all these years that I’ve been out of the league, when my name comes up online or on social media or whatever, somehow a bunch of people … still got jokes.

/readingcomprehension

[Capn'O]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

Literally the first words of the article:

People got jokes.
Everyone, it seems like.
Jokes for days.
When the topic is Eddy Curry, the jokes just come easy. It’s been that way for more than a decade. And even after all these years that I’ve been out of the league, when my name comes up online or on social media or whatever, somehow a bunch of people … still got jokes.

/readingcomprehension

Asking people to understand him better before they make fun of him is not the same as claiming immunity to criticism.

/readingcomprehension

[Nuntius]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

Literally the first words of the article:

People got jokes.
Everyone, it seems like.
Jokes for days.
When the topic is Eddy Curry, the jokes just come easy. It’s been that way for more than a decade. And even after all these years that I’ve been out of the league, when my name comes up online or on social media or whatever, somehow a bunch of people … still got jokes.

/readingcomprehension

LuDux1's point still stands. Just because you interpreted it this way, it doesn't make it accurate.

[Hero_Panda]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

Literally the first words of the article:

People got jokes.
Everyone, it seems like.
Jokes for days.
When the topic is Eddy Curry, the jokes just come easy. It’s been that way for more than a decade. And even after all these years that I’ve been out of the league, when my name comes up online or on social media or whatever, somehow a bunch of people … still got jokes.

/readingcomprehension

Ok, but where does it say "you can't criticize anything I've ever done."

Here's some more excerpts from the article:

As a father — as a man — you’re responsible for the children you bring into this world, no matter what the situation is. You need to be accountable and look out for those little ones. I needed to do that. I needed to protect my daughter.

And I didn’t.

In so many ways.

I failed her.

And the what-ifs still haunt me to this day.

Now, when you Google my name, you get links to articles with titles like “Top 10 Athletes Who Are Rumored To Be Gay” and “Which Athletes Have the Gay Rumor Mill Buzzing.”

Hahahah fat-ass, broke-ass, GAY-ASS Eddy Curry. LOLOLOL.

People will always have jokes.

That’s just how it goes. Especially when you don’t end up being what everyone thought you would be.

With me, when I was going through my most painful **** — the most difficult times in my entire life, stuff that was just unimaginably rough for me — people have always been right there, ready to step up to make fun of it.

It used to really bug me.

But now … you know what? Now, in some ways, I almost view it as a blessing. Seeing that nastiness take place, again and again, has enabled me to realize that maybe even just having one person who isn’t looking to tear you down and laugh at your failures and make you feel less than human … maybe that can actually be enough to get you through.

And for me that person, without a doubt, is my wife, Patrice.

And on those days when I for some reason get sucked into the comments section online and end up seeing some of the stuff people still say about me all these years later, all I have to do is look across the room at my children, or at Patrice, and I instantly realize the difference between what’s not important….

And what is.

You can criticize him all you want if that your prerogative. The article doesn't scream out that people aren't allowed to criticize him.

[GeorgeMarcus]

The guy was pure trash, on and off the court.
Had no work ethic, or any discipline for that matter, was terrible at about every aspect of the game except scoring under the rim.
Really dumb with money, relationships, you name it.
And yeah, he was fat NBA player! This is so ridiculous, it can't be not funny.

So now he what, thinks it all just doesn't matter because he had some tragedy in his life. Everybody have tragedies in their life.

How about instead of sponsoring your "homies" you take care of your second family, if you were dumb enough to make it, buy them some nice house and move them to safe neighborhood? How about you actually do your job, especially if it's one of the greatest job in the world.

I have no sympathy for this guy. Life gave him a lot of chances, chances 99.9999% of us don't have, and he blew them all and now he tries to act like a victim. He's not, he's just a dumb, lazy dude and people have the right to ridicule him for it.

You think being fat or lazy makes him a terrible person? Imo judging someone harshly from a distance is much worse than what you condemn him for. He doesn't need your sympathy, but the alternative to that isn't being a dick. Indifference is fine.

[MrCheerios]

I love the concept of "bad things happened to me, therefore, you can't criticize anything I've ever done."
Nobody laughed at Eddy Curry because his side piece got killed, or because he went bankrupt.
We laughed at Eddy Curry because he was lazy, entitled, and never worked hard to live up to expectations his entire career.
Those are legitimate criticisms that are purely his own fault. Him trying to parlay his victimhood into saying he can't be criticized/laughed at is a joke itself.

I didn't notice that in the article

Literally the first words of the article:

People got jokes.
Everyone, it seems like.
Jokes for days.
When the topic is Eddy Curry, the jokes just come easy. It’s been that way for more than a decade. And even after all these years that I’ve been out of the league, when my name comes up online or on social media or whatever, somehow a bunch of people … still got jokes.

/readingcomprehension

In your mind "People often make jokes at my expense" equates to "No one can ever criticize me for anything ever on account of personal tragedy"? I have no doubt that you have adequate reading comprehension, but you're pretty good at ignoring all other context in the article. Literally a few lines down from what you quoted:

"I’m 37 now, a grown-ass man. So I can take it. People can say whatever they want. I’ll live."

What's your interpretation of that? Is that also "you can't criticize anything I've ever done"?

[Sprewell4Three]

Before reading any of the comment, I’m thinking the main theme is going to be “ oh these are millionaire athletes , they need to shut up & deal with it”

“Oh I’m a single father with 3 jobs , these athletes needs to stop complaining”

Blah, blah , blah . You know the deal!