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Aug 30, 2010 - I'm going to have to agree with Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz and say that (yes) Brandon Rush is indeed an idiot and (yes) the Pacers have to dump him and his water bong for whatever they can get for them.
Only two weeks after the Pacers pulled the trigger on a slam dunk trade to land Darren Collison and James Posey, injecting some much-needed positive news into a franchise that is pretty universally disliked by the Indiana sports community, fans were then promptly slapped across the face with the charge that 2010 rookie Lance Stephenson likes to hit women before tossing them down a flight of stairs followed by the news of Brandon Rush getting suspended five games for violating the NBA's drug policy. It is assumed Rush tested positive during the 2009-2010 NBA season for marijuana. It was his third violation. The first two are not made public to the media nor was the team itself notified.
No offense, but that's a pretty screwed up drug policy.
So, like Lance Stephenson, Brandon Rush has next to no chance of taking the court next season as a Pacer. If he does, Larry Bird, David Morway, and owner Herb Simon should expect to see lots of empty seats at Conseco Fieldhouse. While Stephenson's allegations are, by far, more severe, both players have seemingly displayed a level of conduct that is, quite frankly, unacceptable to the Indiana fan community.
Both should consider themselves lucky they are NBA players. If they played football for the Indianapolis Colts, a team more closely knitted with the Indiana community, they'd be unemployed right now.
Now, before you dismiss me as yet another uptight Midwesterner who is over-reacting to a young guy getting caught smoking weed, let me just make it clear that I don't think smoking up is a 'bad thing.'
However, if one such as Rush is playing for a Midwestern team whose fans are paying $10 million a year to help finance the Fieldhouse Rush plays in, with another $3.5 million in tax money going toward improvements, then it's probably not a good idea to be smoking weed during the friggin season! It kind of suggests to the tax-strapped fans paying all those millions that Rush is less interested in returning on the team's investment in him and more interested in getting high.
It also does not help that Rush's reputation on the court in college was described as lazy, unfocused, and uninspiring. However, when he came to the Pacers, people claimed the 'laziness' was all in his past. Since turning pro, Rush has been been in and out of starting lineups, and despite his massive wingspan he has not shown the tenacity on defense that one would expect from someone of his talent level.
I guess now we know why.
While Rush's overall numbers went up from year one to year two, it's worth noting that the Pacers traded their No. 11 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, which they used by selecting Jerryd Bayless, for Rush. At the time of that trade Larry Bird said:
The culture of the team's going to change and we're not done yet. We're going to continue to work on the team throughout the summer. If you look at some of the guys in the proposed trade, they're a little bit older, they went to school for at least three years and that's part of the change, more mature kids, some experience and getting guys we think can come in here and play right away.
Clearly, Bird over-valued Rush's 'maturity.' This is a re-occurring theme for Bird, who botched his character evaluations for Stephenson, Ron Artest, and Shawne Williams. Mature adults do not smoke weed during the NBA season when they know they will be tested. We can debate until we are blue in the face the morality of marijuana being 'illegal,' but we are not here to do such things. Nor is Brandon Rush. His job is to win basketball games, and it's kind of hard to do that when you are suspended for violating drug policies.
It's pretty clear to me that Rush has not matured since his rowdy days at Kansas [Warning: Deadspin link, meaning it probably isn't work safe]. More importantly, the pledge made by Pacers Sports & Entertainment president Jim Morris last year that 'We will not have bums anymore' on the Pacers roster appears hollow. Professional athletes who smoke weed during seasons define the term 'bum,' and if the team wants to see fans in seats when they unveil their new line-up next season, featuring Collison, Posey, Roy Hibbert, and Danny Granger, it would be wise to not have Brandon Rush on the roster.
6 comments
Comments
You should probably warn people about clicking on that link to Rush’s rowdy days at KU. There’s some NSFW pictures on that one buddy.
by ThirtyOne on Aug 30, 2010 11:47 AM EDT reply actions
Done
Gotta love Deadspin.
SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue and editor of SB Nation Indiana.
by Brad Wells on Aug 30, 2010 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree with everything except the critique of his defense.
Some Pacer fans might be sick of seeing it, but I wrote a piece about his defense at Hickory-High earlier this summer. His individual numbers last season were stellar, among the best in the league. He just didn’t stand out as well because the overall team defense was not as good.
by Ian Levy on Aug 30, 2010 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Do you think
Rush should stay on this team moving forward?
SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue and editor of SB Nation Indiana.
by Brad Wells on Aug 30, 2010 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions
To be completely honest, I don't know
I guess I am just really glad I don’t have the responsibility of making that decision. I don’t think it will keep me from rooting for him if he stays in a Pacers uniform. I am also less offended by the personal decision to smoke marijuana, than the lack of respect it showed for the organization and fans; especially as a repeat offender. On a side note, I haven’t heard any mention in the coverage on whether Brandon gets notified after each failed test. I know the team doesn’t hear about it until the 3rd, but it’s incredibly infuriating if he knew he had already failed two tests and it didn’t change his behavior.
One thing that I have found frustrating about the discussion is the argument that getting rid of him kills two birds with one stone. I don’t like the idea that he stinks on the court and is a knucklehead off it, so getting rid of him is a win-win. A knucklehead he may be, but I think he is a solid contributor.
As I alluded to in that post, I think his defense is much better than he gets credit for and has the potential to be great. In addition, he was one of only 26 players in the league last season who made better than 40% of his 3PTs. He was also 6th out of those 26 in terms of 3PTA, so it’s not like he put that number up on just a handful of shots. Teams kill themselves to find solid wing role players who can defend and hit the 3PT. I am bothered by the fact that so much of the opinion on Brandon seems to be about what he doesn’t do well, and ignores the things he does do well.
He joined the Pacers with very high expectations, ones which may be a little unrealistic. Maybe he is not an all-star, but he has two above average NBA skills, and the potential to be a great role player. I honestly don’t know how I feel about him being a part of the team next year, I feel differently almost everyday. (I know that’s a huge cop-out.) I just think the argument that this is an easy decision because of his performance ON and OFF the court is not true.
by Ian Levy on Aug 30, 2010 3:55 PM EDT reply actions
That was supposed to be a reply to Brad's comment, hit the wrong button
by Ian Levy on Aug 30, 2010 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
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