Sad news. On the court he was one of my favorite players to be honest. Had all the tools except the most important one between your ears. Sad for him because he's had a tough life. At some point you have to grow up and take accountability and he obviously has never done that.
Rysheed Jordan
- Thread starter MarkRedman
- Start date
Just the opposite of Harrison, who also had a tough upbringing and some bumps along the way but did what he needed to do to get his life on track. I sincerely hope the kid that got shot is fine and that some jail time will be the recipe Jordan needs to turn his life around. Maybe facing consequences for his actions will do the trick.
Fair point Redken. He definitely gets credit for helping D'Lo. I don't blame Lavin for Jordan's behavior. I blame him for continuously tolerating his actions and making excuses for him. In large part because he pretty much couldn't field a team of D1 players without him. So he took a kid that lots of other schools backed off of(lack of other options), then tolerated his behavior the entire time he was here(lack of other options).
L J S A
Well-known member
Not just his career . . . what little hope there was of one. I think his life is done at 22. He's never shown that he's capable of any sound decisions, so I really believe he'll be in and out of prison for the rest of his life.
And he wasn't even as half as good as all the enabling would have made him out to be.
I wish the school would have conducted some sort of psychological evaluation of Lavin before hiring him. As for Mullin saying semi-positive things, that is to be expected regardless of what he really thought about the kid. Especially if there was any shot at all that the kid would return. My sense if that if Rysheed had been responsible as a student and as an athlete, then this may not have happened. The tell-tale signs were all there. It's all part and parcel, to some degree.
Thanks Monte. The reality with any testing be it NFL NBA NCAA is that the results and omens are not always clear cut.
Furthermore a decent coach could be made aware of some psych/ behavior issues yet still take a chance - (for noble reasons - I'm not cynical) - and hope the kid can straighten his life out and avail himself of a positive college atmosphere.
We don't want to discard a kid with a sketchy background if the overall facts warrant a chance.
It is possible for Ryheed to get his act together and not return to other crimes, other jail time. Then again the majority of kids in his position go one way in the hill. The wrong way.
I am an
optimistic hopeful persevering guy - but not in this case.
That word again scattered throughout this topic:
SAD.
redfanO10101llkkjjj
Member
You know, it's really sad when this doesn't actually surprise you. It's not even about wasted talent at this point..
we are sju
Active member
Surprising thing for me is he got much less grief on the boards than did Harrison while they were here. Harrison labeled a "punk" more times than I can recall when in fact Jordan was actually a bad guy and for the most part escaped the same wrath.
Jordan got less flak because his issues were always covered up. It was "rumored" that he wasn't at practice, or back in philly. But the company line was he was grieving or had a sick relative.
Harrison was treated differently. He was benched for rolling his eyes or yelling at a ref.
we are sju
Active member
For what it is worth, I do happen to agree with Fun's theory regarding Harrison. It is the same reason Lavin sabotaged games by inexplicably starting and playing walkons in big games. I think he felt he was not going to make the tourney so he gave himself a built in excuse of being above it all in playing walkons and trying to send a message about the evils of the eye roll. He basically changed the story from his lack of on court success to Lavin the builder of men.
Then we he started to feel the pressure to make the tourney and have success he found himself totally at the mercy of a misguided, spoiled kid and he did not have the will to do anything about it. He felt at that point it was more important to save his job.
Though for the record, suspending Jordan or throwing him off the team would have still led Jordan to the point he is at now.
beast of the east
Active member
It's pretty disgusting to somehow pin this on Lavin. I really don't care to repeat the things I've heard about some former players in our program that are held up by most of us as real contributors, but some of it rises to criminal. What's clear is that Jordan chose not to become a college student, and never gave up his questionable associations in Philly.
Harrison didn't get suspended for screaming at refs. The final straw was cursing out coaches loudly in ear shot of fans seated courtside while Lavin was away at his father's funeral. Do that at your job and see what happens. Lavin gave Harrison a summer to work on himself and come back with a different attitude. He did, and as such was a Lavin success story. Harrison did the work for sure, but nearly any D1 coach of a major program would have tossed Harrison immediately.
Anyone here who said he shouldn't have been recruited is a gigantic hypocrite. After seeing him here for 2 seasons, just about everyone wanted him back for a third, and projected him as the leader of the team who would have a breakout season.
Bottom line, Jordan is responsible for Jordan, and chose a path to self destruction. He's extremely fortunate he didn't kill his victim, or his prison time would be much more severe. Still plenty of time to turn his life around. It's up to him though.
the kids immaturity comes to light.....was influenced by some people to leave St Johns...come back, leave again. Obviously still trying to show his boys he's still with them by partaking in criminal activity on the street. The kid had the golden ticket, oh and he is not a 16 year old kid....hes a man...stop the babying. Wasted talent is a crime, and he will pay for not seizing the opportunity when he had it. He will look back and regret his life. Damn shame! I don't blame Lav at all. He gave kids second chances, it was up to them what they did with it. DLo worked out, Sheed went the other way. Im glad he is not here to taint this team. It worked out good for us and I guess he got what he wanted...to roll with his crew. Thank goodness for LoVett and Ponds to make us forget this kid forever.
TRabinowitz
Member
Probably tweeted from one of his entourage members, who ironically, is probably the biggest reason hes in the position he's in.
You can't pin this totally on his situation at St John's or the staff, however a fall from grace this large takes contributions from many, and the staff enabling him to largely do what he wants DOES play some part in his fall. It's already been well documented. He was allowed to leave the program and go to Philly when he wanted, he was able to bring his entourage members with him into facilities in Taffner and he was never really controlled on social media. All this enabling plays a part, albeit one of many. Under a coach that could've provided more structure and be able to consistently say no to the kid, maybe he could've broken the cycle and been ripped away from the neighborhood and the people that have ended up being his ultimate downfall.